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What is a coral?
-A coral is actually a coral colony -Rocky limestone base -Surface is covered by thousands of tiny coral animals, called polyps -Polyps are filled with microscopic algae
Algae
Fish
Shrimp
Healthy coral
Bleached coral
Coral bleaching is caused by stress Poll question: what might be stressful for a coral? Well get back to the answer later.
- As a stress response, corals expel the symbiotic zooxanthellae from their tissues - The coral tissue is clear, so you see the white limestone skeleton underneath
Thermal stress
-Corals live close to their thermal maximum limit -If water gets 1 or 2C higher than the summer average, corals get stressed and bleach -NOAA satellites measure global ocean temperature and thermal stress
Question: what is something that happens to people when they are highly stressed? Gain weight Get sick Turn orange
Question: what is something that happens to people when they are highly stressed? Answer: more likely to get sick
The same warm water that causes corals to bleach can also lead to strong hurricanes.
22 Aug 2005
2 Sept 2005
Dennis 9 July
Wilma 24 Oct
Each passing hurricane in 2005 cooled the water in the Florida Keys.
http://www.projectaware.org/americas/english/10TYCD.as