Coral Biologists Andrew Baker and Ross Cunning, University of Miami (IMAGE)
Caption
A new study co-authored by Ross Cunning (right) and Andrew Baker (left) at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science shows that corals may be more severely impacted by climate warming when they contain too many symbiotic algae. The single-celled algae living inside corals are usually the key to coral success, however, when temperatures become too warm algae are expelled during episodes of coral 'bleaching.' Until now, it was thought that corals with more algal symbionts would be more tolerant of bleaching because they had ‘more symbionts to lose,’ but the findings show that the opposite is true.
Credit
Andrew DeChellis
Usage Restrictions
None
License
Licensed content