Global warming: As global warming causes ocean temperatures to rise, coral loses the *zooxanthellae that gives it its nutrients and colors. The coral begins to starve and turn white, a phenomenon called "coral bleaching." Higher sea temperatures and the spread of dust blowing from drought-ridden Africa are also causing a rise in coral disease. As the atmosphere's temperature rises, scientists expect that rapid melting of glaciers and sea ice will result in a rise in sea level. Since sea level may riser faster than reefs grow, the coral reefs may find themselves in water too deep for the *zooxanthellae to receive the sunlight necessary for photosynthesis.Thus, the *zooxanthellae might die and the coral will too soon after!

*Zooxanthellae means unicellular yellow-brown (dinoflagellate) algae which live symbiotically in the gastrodermis of reef-building coral.