Remember frozen iguanas falling from trees during Florida's 2010
record-breaking cold snap? Well, a new study led by scientists
at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine &
Atmospheric Science shows that Florida's corals also dropped in
numbers due to the cold conditions. "It was a major setback,"
said Diego Lirman, associate professor at the UM Rosenstiel
School and lead author of the study. "Centuries-old coral
colonies were lost in a matter of days." The chilly January
temperatures caused the most catastrophic loss of corals within
the Florida Reef Tract, which spans 160 miles (260 kilometers)
from Miami to the Dry Tortugas and is the only living barrier
reef in the continental U.S. Members of the Florida Reef
Resilience Program, a group comprised of Florida scientists and
resource managers, conducted a month-long survey of 76 reefs
sites from Martin County to Key West, both during and shortly
after the unusually cold weather. The research team compared the
mortality rates of corals from t