Coral reef bleaching, which is the whitening of diverse invertebrate taxa. The cause of the whitening is “from the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae and/or a reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentrations in zooxanthellae residing within the gastrodermal tissues of host animals.” (P.W.Glynn) The reason why coral reef bleaching is such a concern is because the “consequences of bleaching large numbers of reef-building scleractinian corals and hydrocorals.”(P.W.Glynn)
Sunscreen causes coral bleaching by promoting viral infections.
The goal of this experiment was to see how sunblock ingredients have an impact on hard coral and their symbiotic algae. The experiments were conducted in many different tropical regions for example the Atlantic, Red Sea, Indian, and Pacific oceans by supplementing coral branches with aliquots of sunscreens and common UV filters contained in sunblock formula. Zooxanthellae were checked for viral infection by transmission electron microscopy analyses and epifluorescence. Sunblock does cause the rapid and complete bleaching of hard coral, even when it's at extremely low concentrations. The effect of sunblock is due to organic UV filters, which are able to activate the lytic viral cycle in symbiotic zooxanthellae with latent infections. In the end sunblock, by promoting viral infection, it will most likely play an important role in coral bleaching in areas prone to high levels of recreational used …show more content…
With the global climate changing so are the coral like many other things and sadly they are dying off because of the temperature changing. Which is causing coral reef bleaching which is when the whitening of diverse invertebrate taxa it is caused by when zooxanthellae decline and or the concentration of photosynthetic pigments within the zooxanthellae