This is not the first time corals in the Florida Keys have endured bleaching. Seven species of the coral found in Florida’s reef - elkhorn, staghorn, boulder star, mountainous star, lobed star, rough cactus and pillar - are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

In the last four decades, this intricate stretch of shallow reef formations that came into existence around the last Ice Age has lost about 98% of its corals from a combination of polluted water, disease, abnormal ocean temperatures, overfishing and other human impacts. Protecting and restoring the corals of Florida’s degraded barrier reefs is no easy task. She swam on - past a turtle scratching its back near a cluster of completely bleached elkhorn - in search of corals that showed signs of resilience. Maybe the corals that retained their color were more resistant to heat stress. Smith wasn’t sure what accounted for the variation in the slow-growing species. Then, another cluster planted in May that was a little pale, but already starting to fuse. Now it was light and paling.īut a few feet deeper, she spotted a brain coral that was a healthy, greenish brown. Smith circled the coral, which had been cared for in a nursery for two years and had been doing well since being transplanted in May.

She neared what had been a promising colony of knobby brain coral, tiny and dome-shaped with undulating ridges.

That could make coastal flooding and erosion even worse. Climate & Environment Global warming is making big(ger) waves off the California coast, scientists sayĪ hotter planet is generating more winter storms in the North Pacific Ocean, which in turn is producing taller waves, according to a new study.

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