Impact of Climate Change on Coral Reef Ecosystems

     Topic Proposal: Coral reefs can be found in a wide range of environments, where they provide habitat and food to various organisms. Despite their importance, it is currently acknowledged that climate change is the greatest global threat to coral reef ecosystems (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2017). Recent studies have clearly indicated that the atmosphere of the planet Earth and oceans are warming, and that these changes occur primarily due to greenhouse gases derived from human activities (Chen, 2021). Unfortunately, as temperatures rise, mass coral bleaching events are becoming more frequent. Additionally, calcification rates in reef-building and reef-associated organisms have already begun to decrease due to carbon dioxide absorbed in the oceans from the atmosphere. This process is called ocean acidification and has been found to result in altered seawater chemistry through decreases in pH (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2017). When combined with other processes associated with climate change, such as altered ocean circulation patterns, changes to the intensity and frequency of tropical storms, and sea level rise, ocean acidification and warming temperatures dramatically alter ecosystem function, resulting in rapid degradation of coral reef ecosystems and the goods and services that they provide to both the human and animal worlds around the globe.