Battered by rising ocean temperatures and this year’s powerful El Niño, many of the world’s coral reefs are slowly dying. Scientists have found that Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is experiencing the worst coral bleaching event they’ve ever seen (bleaching happens when warm water temperatures cause the corals to expel the symbiotic algae that supply the reef with oxygen and nutrients). As a result, the focus of marine biologists has moved from protecting existing reefs to finding ways to restore and rebuild them.
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