What are the effects of plastic pollution on corals and reef ecosystems?

Feb 27, 2017 ... What is happening to corals in the Great Barrier Reef? This infographic explains the process of coral bleaching. What is Coral Bleaching? ... Coral bleaching occurs when a coral loses its symbiotic relationship with its algal partner (termed "zooxanthellae"). This occurs ... Climate change is causing coral bleaching to occur more intensely across larger areas, more often, with greater impacts to reefs. Corals are animals, even though they may exhibit some of the characteristics of plants and are often mistaken for rocks. Coral communities can be found in shallow or deep waters. However, coral reef development occurs only in areas with specific environmental characteristics. Feb 5, 2025 ... Coral reefs provide habitat for a large variety of marine life, including various sponges, oysters, clams, crabs, sea stars, sea urchins, and ... May 5, 2022 ... Let's look at it under a microscope. Firstly, what you generally see as coral is not 'a' single individual. Rather it is a huge collection of ... Nov 7, 2024 ... As the Earth's temperature rises, these animals go through a process called coral bleaching that leaves them looking pale — and sometimes, they ... Aug 8, 2021 ... A diverse spectrum of ecosystems services provided by coral reefs was identified and translated using the FEGS structured framework into related ... Nov 2, 2016 ... Symbiosis also helps build reefs — corals that host algae can deposit calcium carbonate, the hard skeleton that forms the reefs, up to 10 times ...