Bleached coral Photo: R. Berkelmans, AIMS

Coral bleaching is the loss of colour from corals under stressful environmental conditions. While any stress can cause corals to bleach, high water temperature has been the major cause of coral bleaching events worldwide in recent decades. In 1998 and again in 2002, major bleaching events in inshore reef waters of the Great Barrier Reef raised concerns about the health of the reef. With predictions that temperatures will continue to rise as a result of global climate change, the future of tropical coral reefs is causing concern worldwide.

• Biology of coral bleaching
• The 1998 coral bleaching event
• The 2002 coral bleaching event
• Patterns in coral bleaching
• Can coral reefs recover?
• Can coral reefs adapt?
• What does the future hold?
• 'Coral bleaching and global climate change' brochure
• Reeffutures website (with maps of bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef)