The climate is changing faster than many species can adapt, so scientists are trying to speed up evolution by fostering the spread of creatures who can take the heat. Think of it as natural...
The coral reef crisis continues thanks to threats like climate change and pollution. With that in mind, the National Academy of Sciences released a major report last week detailing the high-tech interventions...
Wetlands around the world are disappearing at an alarming rate. New research shows that these valuable ecosystems are vanishing at a rate three times that of forests. Unless significant changes are made,...
Hawaii's knobby finger coral careened toward extinction in 2015. The species was so rare that scientists could only find a few fragments in the wild, scattered across the seabed of Oahu's Kaneohe...
Last year was the warmest ever recorded on Earth that didn’t feature an El Niño, a periodic climatic event that warms the Pacific Ocean, according to the annual state of the climate...
A domino-like cascade of melting ice, warming seas, shifting currents and dying forests could tilt the Earth into a “hothouse” state beyond which human efforts to reduce emissions will be increasingly futile,...
Scientists have uncovered a new threat to the world’s endangered coral reefs. They have found that most are incapable of growing quickly enough to compensate for rising sea levels triggered by global...
The devastating consequences climate change is already having on coral reefs is well known, but now scientists have discovered that yet another unique marine ecosystem is threatened by rising carbon dioxide levels.
A...
Coral reefs and sunshine keep tourists flocking to Hawaii but add sunscreen to that holiday mix and the result can be serious damage to the marine environment that makes the islands so...
The vast majority of the world’s coral reefs are now reaching the point of no return — the point at which it wouldn’t even theoretically be possible to save them from disappearing...
A report from United States Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recommends shrinking three ocean monuments and opening them up to commercial fishing. The monuments, two in the Pacific Ocean and one...
Coral reefs are home to a vast array of ocean creatures. They provide food, protection against storm damage, sustain tourism and inspire wonder. “If we lose corals, we lose a vital piece...
The Smithsonian Institution calls coralline algae “the unsung architects of coral reefs.” These pink-colored seaweed, with a skeletal structure that resembles honeycomb, live in harmony with coral.
They strengthen the corals’ foundation by...
The survival of the Great Barrier Reef hinges on urgent moves to cut global warming because nothing else will protect coral from the coming cycle of mass bleaching events, new research has...
Photo: 50reefs.org
Unless we act now, we could lose all reefs by 2050, risking the food source and livelihood of half a billion people.
Coral reefs are a critical global ecosystem. They support 25%...
Current targets for reducing damaging greenhouse gas emissions are not enough to prevent catastrophic loss of the world’s coral reefs, marine biologists have warned.
Rising sea surface temperatures are having a devastating effect...
