the coal bleaches and crumbles

While corals are one of the major sources of life and biodiversity in the ocean, they are fragile animals and are not safe from human influence. Because of the exponential rise of ocean temperatures and carbon dioxide levels in recent years, coral bleaching has become a serious environmental problem. While bleaching can be caused by a number of factors (ocean acidification, overfishing, pollution, etc.), the connection to climate change is undeniable and poses the greatest threat to coral reefs. A bleaching event occurs when a population of coral loses its outer algae coating and thus loses its color, only the mineral skeleton left behind. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are extremely vulnerable and can die from starvation leaving nothing but dead, white skeletons behind. When a coral reef dies, an ecosystem is lost. The animals that inhabited the corals have nowhere to go, left to find shelter on the ocean floor. The ocean, along with the animals, loses a protector. Without the photosynthesis of the algae, the sunlight that reaches the ocean floor has nowhere to go, making the waters even warmer, further exacerbating the problem and repeating the cycle. Scientists estimate that within just a few decades, ocean waters will be acidic enough that corals around the world will begin to dissolve completely. Without coral, life in the ocean cannot exist. Without our awareness and our help, corals around the world will continue to bleach, die, and crumble; each turn of the cycle happening faster and with more force than the last.