Synthesis: Coral Bleaching — Patterns, Processes, Causes and Consequences

Global climate is changing as a result of human activities. As we enter a rapidly warming world, “coral bleaching” has entered the lexicon of early climate change impacts. Breakdown, due to thermal stress, of the special relationship between two organisms, coral and algae, has consequences for ongoing maintenance of the structurallycomplex, biologically diverse, charasmatic and both economically and socially important ecosystems that make up tropical coral reefs. This volume brings together various perspectives on the coral bleaching phenomenon, how it is measured (Chap. 5) and what its consequences are, ranging from deep geological time through to possible future scenarios for tropical coral reef ecosystems.