More than a quarter of the world’s reef-building corals are threatened with extinction, says a new survey in Science. That makes corals the world’s most endangered group of animal species, along with frogs and toads. Climate change and human activity are disrupting the reefs: The corals’ symbiotic relationships with algae are being disturbed by warming waters, and untreated sewage released into oceans is causing massive algal blooms that suffocate the tiny organisms. In 1998, a single reef destruction caused by warming seas killed an area half the size of the Amazon. In less than 50 years, one scientist who participated in the survey said, there could be no coral reefs left in some regions, including the Caribbean.
Survey Finds Corals Are Among the Most Imperiled Species on Earth
More From E360
-
INTERVIEW
On Controlling Fire, New Lessons from a Deep Indigenous Past
-
Solutions
Paying the People: Liberia’s Novel Plan to Save Its Forests
-
OPINION
Forest Service Plan Threatens the Heart of an Alaskan Wilderness
-
INTERVIEW
Pakistan’s Solar Revolution Is Bringing Power to the People
-
Food & Agriculture
In Uganda, Deadly Landslides Force an Agricultural Reckoning
-
Energy
Why U.S. Geothermal May Advance, Despite Political Headwinds
-
Food & Agriculture
In War Zones, a Race to Save Key Seeds Needed to Feed the World
-
Climate
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North?
-
RIVERS
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath
-
Solutions
Deconstructing Buildings: The Quest for New Life for Old Wood
-
NATURAL DEFENSES
How Restored Wetlands Can Protect Europe from Russian Invasion
-
Solutions
Birds vs. Wind Turbines: New Research Aims to Prevent Deaths