It’s been said time and time again that climate change is killing coral reefs. Rising ocean temperatures cause bleaching, which damages huge chunks of coral ecosystems from Australia to the southern United States.
But heat isn’t the only reason reefs are dying. Nitrogen runoff from human activities could be damaging corals around the world.
Over the course of three decades, researchers from Florida Atlantic University collected nutrient samples in the Looe Key, a protected reef in South Florida. They found that rising nitrogen levels made it harder for corals to resist bleaching in hot temperatures, leading them to be more susceptible to warming oceans.
And the cause of this increase? Humans, most likely.
The increases in nitrogen also came at the same time that phosphorus levels, an essential nutrient for coral growth, were decreasing.
Phosphorus is good for corals, while too much nitrogen is damaging. But water samples from the ...
