January 27, 20006.
Gulf reefs damaged by global warming translated into warm water.
Too warm for the symbiotic relationship between algae, called zoozanthellae, and the living corals. The corals can't survive without the algae. The waters get too hot and the algae either leave or die. The corals die as they cannot move to cooler waters. The storms of the year 2005 did their work well. They delivered tropospheric heat to the oceans, in turn they warmed the water beyond tolerable for the single celled plants known as algae. The oceans are dying. Coral reefs are huge carbon sinks.
