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Contact: Mark Shwartz
mshwartz@stanford.edu
650-723-9296
Stanford University
A tale of two atolls
Stanford researchers study the impact of fishing on remote coral reefs
Coral reefs – kaleidoscopes of pink anemones and silver sharks – are the planet's most colorful ecosystems and among its most endangered, say marine scientists.
As global warming raises ocean temperatures, many corals blanch and die, a phenomenon called "coral bleaching." And pumping large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere could make the ocean more acidic, further decimating corals and the fish that depend on them for food and shelter.