Reefs have long been under threat from destructive fishing practices, sediment and nutrient runoff, coral mining, reckless tourism and coastal development. Now, scientists say, global warming is accelerating the destruction.
One of the worst episodes of coral bleaching began last spring and summer, and affected reefs in virtually all the world’s tropical waters, from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean.
“In Panama, the bleaching was the most graphic I’ve ever seen,” said Nancy Knowlton, a marine biologist with the Smithsonian Institution. “Everything was just bone white.”
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