How badly does climate change affect coral? I dive to find out

The corals that my colleagues and I study in Mo‘orea, French Polynesia, are sea polyps that grow in symbiosis with unicellular algae called zooxanthellae. Most of these corals’ nutrients come from the sugars produced by algal photosynthesis.

Usually, human-built coral nurseries are located at the bottom of the sea. However, here at the Centre for Island Research and Environmental Observatory (CRIOBE) in Mo‘orea, affiliated with the University of Perpignan in mainland France, we prefer the floating mobile trees that I’m looking at in the picture. These allow us…