As our oceans grow warmer, our corals die and turn white. The process is called coral bleaching and happens when the tiny plants that provide coral their food are expelled because the water is too warm. Once thought to be the death sentence of a reef, a new study has found that coral can bounce back from bleaching events. The study looked at 21 reefs over the past 20 years and found that 12 of the 21 in the study made recoveries from bleaching events in warm waters. Researchers say that the difference between life and death for a bleached reef is resiliency, water depth, nutrient levels, the amount of grazer fish and the survival rate of small corals.
Coral is remarkably resilient
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