coral bleaching

Researchers have long suspected that an ingredient in sunscreen called oxybenzone was harming corals, but no one knew how. A new study shows how corals turn oxybenzone into a sunlight-activated toxin.

Scientists have documented examples of corals “remembering” prior exposure to heat stress in the field, and are now simulating these phenomena in the lab to better understand their cellular and molecular underpinnings.

Corals that previously experienced heat stress respond better the next time around. Researchers are trying to figure out how, and hope to one day take advantage of the phenomenon to improve coral restoration efforts. 

Single-cell RNA sequencing helps to catalog the dozens of cell types present in a stony coral, including its elusive immune cells.

By growing mountainous star corals in the lab and outplanting them to dying reefs, we were able to grow sexually mature corals that could help reef recovery.

Novel technologies establish a new paradigm for global coral reef restoration, with in situ spawning of mature, environmentally resilient corals in five years instead of decades.

Our novel technique involves planting several small fragments of slow-growing corals onto dead coral heads. The fragments eventually fuse, forming a large colony in a fraction of the time that it takes wild corals to build reefs.

Some corals can adjust to a range of temperatures, but this ability may be limited in a consistently warmer environment.

Bleaching killed 34 percent of the island’s reefs between 2013 and 2017, a study finds.

Runoff and waste may be more harmful to the animals than climate change.

Gates was director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and a strong advocate for coral conservation.

Both deep and shallow reefs are prone to bleaching, concludes a new study.

Historically thought to be a refuge for coral growing in the shallows, coral reefs from oceanic depths face similar threats, finds a new study.

The reef has bounced back from “death events” in the past, but that doesn’t mean it will be resilient over the next few decades.

Not only did many corals die in recent years, but some were actually killed by the hotter temperatures themselves, rather than bleaching.

Researchers exposed a coral reef to carbonated water to study the effects of ocean acidification.

Mary Hagedorn is racing to save Earth’s coral reefs by developing techniques for freezing the colonial animals’ gametes.

The most destructive global coral bleaching event on record shows signs of remission in the Indian Ocean. 

Nearly half of the corals in a nature preserve off Oahu bleached in recent years, according to a study.