The ring-shaped coral islands known as atolls, like this one in the Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean, may trace their formation to sea levels repeatedly rising and falling over hundreds of ...

Beneath the beauty of coral reefs lies a hidden universe of microbes unlike anything scientists expected. Each coral species ...

Coral reefs, once thriving underwater cities teeming with life, now face an unprecedented crisis. Scientists have declared that coral reefs have become the first major environmental system on Earth to ...

Mass coral bleaching occurs when unusually warm ocean temperatures disrupt the partnership between corals and the microscopic algae that supply most of their energy, leaving corals weakened and often ...

Benefits to society from coral reefs, including fisheries, tourism, coastal protection, pharmaceutical discovery and more, are estimated at about $9.8 trillion per year. For the first time, an ...