Dr. John Bruno’s column “Reef Science Corner” on all things coral, climate, and conservation are coming to a close on The Reef Tank blog and we’re sad to see it go!  What originally started as merely an excerpt of a modified version of an article Dr. Bruno published last year on the Earth Portal and archived here in the Coral Reefs Collection of the Encyclopedia of Earth, which became a vast, educational tool to provide awareness of two very pertinent topics that TRT holds near and dear to its heart!

Moving from an introduction to corals on coral reefs and patterns of coral loss to climate change and all of it’s repercussions (which circles back to coral loss and also focuses on other marine conservation matters), Dr. Bruno (ironically, no pun intended) shifts from one course of action to the other, first speaking specifically about the history of corals, why they have formed where they are found to this day, and where prominent patterns of coral loss reside to the concerns raised by the world’s climate change, which are affecting these corals and also causing problems like patterns of coral loss and the threat that the world’s oceans are becoming more acidic—ocean acidification.

We learned about what could potentially happen in the future to our marine life, corals, and big, beautiful ocean if we don’t start becoming aware and doing something about these repercussions, and we learned why corals are so important to our world.  Finally, we will soon learn why we should continue to remain optimistic despite all of the troubles our marine existence is experiencing today.  That last and final post will be coming up next week.

We had an exceptional marine ecologist, conservation biologist, associate professor of Marine Science, and Climate Shifts blog (https://climateshifts.org) contributor on hand to provide us with all the information that goes into understanding and conserving the essence of marine communities and for that we are truly grateful! He has truly opened our eyes and we encourage you to read his work on The Reef Tank and continue to read his interesting, educated, and thought-provoking posts on Climate Shifts!

1. Benefits/Ecosystem Services of Coral Reefs
2. Local Threats of Reef Management
3. Future Climate Scenarios and Coral Reef Decline
4. Ocean Acidification
5. Climate Change and Coral Loss
6. Patterns of Coral Loss

—– Guest posting by Ava, The Reef Tank Blog