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Corals and carbon

MIT-WHOI Joint Program student Hannah Barkley studies the impacts that warmer, more acidic seawater may have on corals. As atmospheric carbon dioxide rises, the ocean is absorbing more of the gas, resulting in more acidic waters and that makes it harder for corals to grow their skeletons. In an experiment funded by The Tiffany and Co. Foundation, Barkley exposed living corals to different levels of carbon dioxide dissolved in seawater. A study led by Barkely found corals in Palau that appear to be resilient to ocean acidification still face threats from bioerosion, as organisms bore into their skeletons.(Photo by Anne Cohen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)