Coral reefs might be the poster child of how climate change dismantles ecosystems. Around the world, the color in these underwater marvels is draining away. And while disease or disasters like ship groundings used to be the main reasons for a reef’s destruction, climate change has emerged as the dominant cause. Rising oceans temperatures are pushing each colony of tiny organisms to (or past) their survival limits.
When vibrant corals turn into white, lifeless shells, other reef inhabitants disappear — along with associated tourism and fishing industries. The value of reefs for ocean creatures and humans has motivated biologists, activists, nonprofits and even resorts and to try and build the corals back up again. “The development of coral restoration is unique in that it’s really been a bottom up, grassroots, volunteer-based field,” says Lisa Boström-Einarsson, a marine ecologist at Lancaster University in the UK.
