How doesaffect coral reefs? The warmer air and ocean surface
temperatures brought on by climate change impact corals and
alter coral reef communities by prompting coral events and
altering ocean chemistry. These impacts affect corals and the
many organisms that use coral reefs as . Warmer water
temperatures brought on by climate change stress corals because
they are very sensitive to changes in temperature. If water
temperatures stay higher than usual for many weeks, the
zooxanthellae they depend on for some of their food leave their
tissue. Without zooxanthellae, corals turn white because
zooxanthellae give corals their color. White, unhealthy corals
are called bleached. Bleached corals are weak and less able to
combat disease. Bleaching events on coral reefs around the globe
were observed in 1998 (West and Salm 2003). In some Pacific
islands, a little bit of bleaching is common in the summer;
however, there have been times when bleaching is particularly
bad in this region (Craig 2009). For example, larger t