coral mortality
3 stories filed under coral mortality on World Data Ocean. The newest of them: “Transplanted Coral Reveals Local Histories Shape Bleaching Survival”, “Simulate coral bleaching in real time with a free NOAA-powered 3D reef”, and “Florida Keys Reef Accretion Diminished by Repeated Bleaching Events”. Inshore and offshore coral from the same species tell very different stories under extreme heat. A single summer heatwave can transform a vibrant reef into a graveyard. A Global Hub for Ocean Intelligence 4 World Data Ocean is a centralized digital platform where researchers, scientists, and ocean enthusiasts converge to… The list below is every coral mortality story on World Data Ocean, newest first.
Transplanted Coral Reveals Local Histories Shape Bleaching Survival
Inshore and offshore coral from the same species tell very different stories under extreme heat. A year-long reciprocal transplant experiment with *Orbicella annularis* in St. Thomas found that where a coral came from mattered more for *when* it bleached than for how severely it suffered. Hassel Island fragments reached the bleaching threshold significantly later than others, suggesting local environmental history shapes survival timing. Growth and mortality depended on transplant location.
Simulate coral bleaching in real time with a free NOAA-powered 3D reef
A single summer heatwave can transform a vibrant reef into a graveyard. One builder, moved by witnessing bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef in 2019, created a free 3D simulation where you set the temperature and watch each coral species bleach, recover, or die according to its own validated heat tolerance. This is empirical, interactive ocean intelligence. For another look at citizen science in action, see our piece on a browser game that turns seahorse identification into a research tool.
Florida Keys Reef Accretion Diminished by Repeated Bleaching Events
The Florida Keys' reef-accretion potential has fallen from 1.65 millimeters per year in 1996 to net erosion following the 2023 bleaching event, with four thermal-stress episodes driving over 75 percent of the total decline. The 1997-1998 event alone accounted for roughly half of that loss, largely through the collapse of *Acropora palmata*. This is not a distant threat; it is a measurable, documented trajectory.