What is coral bleaching? List the environmental conditions that contribute to the development of coral bleaching

What will be an ideal response?


Coral bleaching describes the loss of color in corals that causes them to turn white, as if bleach has been poured on the reef. Corals are very temperature sensitive and coral bleaching is usually associated with elevated water temperatures that cause the coral's colorful symbiotic partner—zooxanthellae algae—to be expelled. Scientific studies suggest that reactive oxygen builds up in the coral's tissues and becomes toxic when temperatures are excessively warm, causing the coral to shed its normally beneficial algae.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

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Past sea surface temperatures can be determined from fossils found in deep ocean sediments

a. True b. False

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

What religion has been growing in Africa and attracts more than 10% of the population?

A) Roman Catholicism B) Islam C) Animism D) Evangelical Christianity E) none of the above

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

What kind of flow is important in driving the ocean surface currents?

a. Wave frequency b. West Wind Drift c. Progressive waves d. Stokes drift

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences

A fine-grained, greasy metamorphic rock composed of serpentine is classified as a(n)

A) greenstone. B) amphibolite. C) marble. D) serpentinite.

Environmental & Atmospheric Sciences