CORAL AND ALGAE
CORAL AND ALGAE
Corals have a fairly easy life: they just sit back and let specially adapted algae make much of their energy for them. The algae live in the coral, feasting on waste products. Crucially, the algae can photosynthesise, using sunlight to turn carbon dioxide into sugars. After taking what it needs, the algae produces a little extra sugar for the coral. Completing the cycle, carbon dioxide from the coral is used by the algae.
The partnership may be the coral’s undoing however: worldwide, many species are losing their algae due to climate change. In a process called ‘coral bleaching’, algae are ejected when the temperature gets too warm, leaving ghostly-white reefs of dead coral in its wake.