Two Views of Coral Reefs: Thriving and Threatened

Coral reefs are beautiful, vibrant ecosystems that house roughly one quarter of all marine species and provide billions of dollars in products and services to humans each year. But they are also vulnerable to human activities – both direct disturbances and small, indirect effects that build up over time. Read about why it's important for coral to be resistant and resilient, in a blog post by Smithsonian marine scientist Dr. Nancy Knowlton.

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Hawaii’s Maro Coral Reef

Hawaii’s Maro Coral Reef:

A bluefin trevally swims in Hawaii’s Maro Coral Reef, part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.

CREDIT: ©James D. Watt/Ocean Stock

Bleached Corals, Pacific Ocean

Bleached Corals, Pacific Ocean:

Compare the healthy coral on the left with the bleached coral on the right.

CREDIT: Wolcott Henry

Close-up of a Coral Polyp

Close-up photograph of translucent coral polyps, showing the symbiotic algae living inside.

Close-up of a Coral Polyp:

The brownish-green specks are the zooxanthellae that most shallow, warm-water corals depend on for much of their food.

Corals Threatened by Acid Seas

Photo of coral polyp, with a single bleach polyp.

Corals Threatened by Acid Seas:

A single bleached coral polyp foretells a grim future for this colony. In the 2011 issue of National Geographic, writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells the story of how scientists are trying to address ocean acidification before it's too late.

CREDIT: Andy (Flickr user amell)

Deep-Sea Coral Habitat

Deep-Sea Coral Habitat:

Rockfish, anemones, and other invertebrates inhabit this deep-sea coral reef in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary off the coast of California.

CREDIT: Jodi Pirtle/Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary

Dead Coral Overgrown with Algae

Dead Coral Overgrown with Algae:

These corals are dead—smothered in sediments and overgrown with algae.

CREDIT: Wolcott Henry

Kingman’s Reef, Line Islands

Kingman’s Reef, Line Islands:

A red snapper hunts for prey on Kingman’s Reef, a healthy reef in the Line Islands.

CREDIT: Brian Skerry/National Geographic

Unhealthy Coral Reef, Kiritimi, Line Islands

Unhealthy Coral Reef, Kiritimi, Line Islands:

Algae has overtaken this coral reef off heavily populated Kiritimati, or Christmas Island.

CREDIT: Jennifer E. Smith/Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Indonesian Coral Reef

Indonesian Coral Reef:

A variety of organisms make their home on this tropical coral reef in Indonesia.

CREDIT: © Chris Newbert/Minden Pictures

Bleached Corals

Bleached Corals:

These bleached corals in the Gulf of Mexico are the result of increased water temperatures.

CREDIT: Emma Hickerson/NOAA

Diver Cleaning Up Reef

Diver Cleaning Up Reef:

A diver cares for the reef by cleaning up discarded fishing gear and garbage.

CREDIT: Amos Nachoum 2005/Marine Photobank

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Repeating what I wrote in the "Feedback" box:

Site is very beautiful, and engaging. Congratulations!

One serious suggestion: change the position and size of the photo credits.

The photo credits are now tacked on to the photo captions. Each caption ends with a photo credit.

This weakens the impact of the captions by distracting the reader with secondary information. The effect is that the caption is partly forgotten as the photo credit replaces it in the reader's mind. Moving to the next photo, the reader readjusts into processing the information contained in the caption -- only to be distracted once again by a photo credit.

By making the photo credits smaller -- using a smaller font than one used for the captions -- and by moving the photo credit to the right, vertical border of the photo itself-- the credit information is still available to any reader who wants it, but no longer interferes with the information conveyed by the caption.

Another way of analyzing each web page is by following the flow of text from introduction to caption to next caption, the way the reader's eye flows across the page. The text blocks and captions are the road the eye follows. By moving the credits out of the way, the road will flow more smoothly.

These are my impressions as a life-long reader (age 65).

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 1:20pm.

Thanks very much for your thoughtful comments! We put the suggestion you offered about reformatting the photo credits so they are not distracting on our list of changes/adjustments. Hope you enjoyed the site!

Christine
OP Team

Submitted by Ocean Portal Team on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 7:17pm.

cool i love this site

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 02/22/2013 - 6:00pm.

simply awesome

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 07/19/2011 - 11:46am.

wow this is cool

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 12/01/2011 - 1:51pm.

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