It’s October, a time when eerie legends come alive and the world’s most frightening monsters are out to play. But among the goblins, ghosts, and creepy clowns, here at CORAL, there’s a different type of beast that truly spooks us—climate change. Sure, climate change doesn’t look like a typical monster. It doesn’t have fangs like… Continue Reading →
On September 8, 2021, it was officially announced that a comprehensive map and monitoring system of the world’s shallow water coral reefs, the Allen Coral Atlas, was completed. This tremendous effort was led by Arizona State University in collaboration with scientists, universities, private entities, and NGOs across the globe—including the Coral Reef Alliance. The tool… Continue Reading →
In a lot of ways, corals are like trees—they stay rooted in one spot their whole lives, and they disperse their young into the environment. With many trees, their young typically fall to the ground and stay relatively close. But with corals, their young are moved by ocean currents that can carry them thousands of… Continue Reading →
Coral bleaching events make headlines every year. And each year, bleaching events have become more frequent and severe. Take Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, for example: In the last five years, the reef has been hit by three record-breaking coral bleaching events—one in 2016, one in 2017 and another in 2020. But the Allen Coral Atlas… Continue Reading →
Atlases and maps are helpful for planning trips and exploring geography, but researchers believe they may also serve another, more important purpose: Identifying priority coral reef conservation areas. With a new three-year $300,000 grant from Lyda Hill Philanthropies, the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) and partners can begin to test their hypothesis that satellite-based imagery and… Continue Reading →
We’re incredibly excited to announce that we just received a new $850,000, three-year grant from the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation to support facilitating a global network to monitor coral bleaching and water quality threat alerts from the Allen Coral Atlas. A new partner of ours, the Atlas is a collaboration of scientists and researchers… Continue Reading →
By Dr. Madhavi Colton At CORAL, our mission is Saving the World’s Coral Reefs. That means finding a solution to the biggest threat facing corals today- climate change. Troubled by warming ocean temperatures and mass coral bleaching events, we launched the Modeling Adaptation Potential (MAP) Project in 2016 to ask a critical question: Can… Continue Reading →
In a pioneering peer-reviewed study, scientists from the Coral Reef Alliance demonstrate that coral reef management that takes evolution and adaptation into account can help rescue coral reefs from the effects of climate change. The study titled, “Management for network diversity speeds evolutionary adaptation to climate change” is the result of the collaborative… Continue Reading →
It’s a clear fall night in the Caribbean. High in the sky is a full moon and the water is perfectly warm. Once a year, the conclusion of a full moon and warmer water temperatures sets the mood for an incredible event – coral spawning. On this night, coral polyps release bundles of eggs and… Continue Reading →