{"id":83763,"date":"2026-09-03T18:37:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=83763"},"modified":"2026-09-03T18:37:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T13:07:19","slug":"coral-bleaching-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/03-09-2026\/coral-bleaching-events","title":{"rendered":"Coral Bleaching Events Becoming More Frequent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Biodiversity and Conservation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The seventh Status of Coral Reefs of the World report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) said <strong>recovery periods had shortened dramatically.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Coral reefs<\/strong> are facing <strong>bleaching events <\/strong>more frequently, leaving them less time to recover between periods of severe heat stress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Major Highlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Major disturbances are occurring <strong>every four to six years<\/strong> in many regions after 2010, compared with roughly once a decade in the past.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Global hard coral cover has declined<\/strong> by an estimated<strong> 9.5%<\/strong> compared with the 1980\u20132009 reference period.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>More than 40% of reefs <\/strong>experienced heat stress severe enough to risk bleaching and mortality in 2024.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The report warned that <strong>marine heatwaves,<\/strong> driven by climate change and compounded by local pressures, could push reefs towards sustained decline.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Without significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, <strong>global warming would exceed 2 degrees Celsius <\/strong>and marine heatwaves would persist and intensify, causing further declines in coral reefs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What are Corals?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Corals are <strong>invertebrates <\/strong>that belong to a large group of animals called <strong>Cnidaria<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Corals are formed by <strong>multiple small, soft organisms known as polyps.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They secrete a<strong> rocky chalk-like (calcium carbonate) exoskeleton<\/strong> around themselves for protection.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Coral reefs<\/strong> are therefore created by <strong>millions of tiny polyps forming large carbonate structures.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Appearance: <\/strong>Corals range in colour from <strong>red to purple and even blue,<\/strong> but are most commonly shades of<strong> brown and green.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Coral are bright and colorful because of microscopic algae called <strong>zooxanthellae<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>There are three types of coral reefs \u2013<\/strong> fringing reefs, barrier reefs and atolls.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Fringing reefs <strong>form along shorelines, barrier reefs form in open water <\/strong>and <strong>atolls are circular reefs <\/strong>that have formed around <strong>sunken volcanoes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Coral reefs in India: <\/strong>Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar, Andaman &amp; Nicobar, Lakshadweep Island and Malvan.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Significance:<\/strong> They provide food, shelter, resting and breeding grounds to a quarter of all marine life, acting as nurseries and refuges to protect critical biodiversity.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They also support more than 1 billion people living in coastal regions around the world by providing food, livelihoods and recreation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Coral Bleaching<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Coral bleaching occurs when<strong> corals expel the colourful algae<\/strong> living in their tissues.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Without these helpful algae, the<strong> corals become pale<\/strong> and are vulnerable to <strong>starvation and disease.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A bleached coral is not dead, but<strong> ocean temperatures need to cool off for any hope of recovery.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Reasons for Coral Bleaching<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Marine Heatwaves &amp; Climate Change:<\/strong> Rising sea surface temperatures disrupt the symbiotic relationship between corals and algae, causing mass bleaching and mortality.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Ocean Acidification:<\/strong> Increased CO\u2082 dissolving into oceans reduces water pH, making it harder for corals to grow skeletons.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pollution:<\/strong> Runoff from land containing fertilizers, pesticides, and heavy metals like lead damages coral health and resilience.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Physical Disturbance:<\/strong> Coastal development, unsustainable fishing, sedimentation, and coral mining physically damage or smother reefs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Overfishing: <\/strong>Reduces fish populations that control algae growth on reefs, further degrading coral environments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Can corals recover from bleaching?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Corals can recover from bleaching over time, but<strong> only if temperatures drop and conditions return to normal.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When this happens, the <strong>algae returns<\/strong> and the corals gradually regain their health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/wildlife-biodiversity\/coral-bleaching-events-becoming-more-frequent-leaving-reefs-little-time-to-recover\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> The seventh Status of Coral Reefs of the World report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) said recovery periods had shortened dramatically. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Major Highlights <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Major disturbances are occurring every four to six years in many regions after 2010, compared with roughly once a decade in the past.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Global hard coral cover has declined by an estimated 9.5% compared with the 1980\u20132009 reference period. <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/03-09-2026\/coral-bleaching-events\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83763"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83765,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83763\/revisions\/83765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}