Stressed-Out Corals

This activity explores images of a coral bleaching event, which serve as phenomena for learning about marine ecosystems, human impacts, and climate change.

Stressful environmental conditions may cause corals to force out their symbiotic algae in a process called coral bleaching. Though corals can survive short-term bleaching, their risk of disease and death increases. Human activities have led to an increase in coral bleaching worldwide. This impacts corals, coral reef ecosystems, and human communities that rely on coral reefs. 

The “Educator Materials” document includes background information and implementation suggestions for using the images as phenomena. The “Student Handout” includes the images and background information. Note there are two groups of images: the images used in the main activity (Figures a and c), which can be used to introduce coral bleaching concepts, and “extension” images (Figures b, d, and e), which can be used to explore deoxygenation as one cause of coral bleaching. 

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