UNC-Chapel Hill joins international consortium to tackle the crisis of coral bleaching

by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
11/23/20

New common framework developed by a team of top scientists will help research into climate-threatened ocean reefs around the world.

Bleached corals in the Caribbean Sea. Photo courtesy of Karl Castillo.

An international consortium of scientists that includes UNC-Chapel Hill’s Karl Castillo has created the first-ever common framework for comparing research findings on coral bleaching.

“Growing up in Punta Gorda Town, in southern Belize, and visiting the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef regularly, gave me a bird’s-eye view of the transition from reefs that experienced no bleaching to reefs that now bleach almost every year,” said Castillo, associate professor in the department of marine sciences and the Environment, Ecology and Energy Program. “I am thrilled to be a part of the team that has developed a common framework to tackle a crisis of direct relevance to my life and the lives of people worldwide.”

The international team developed a series of guidelines in a paper published in the journal Ecological Applications.

Read more here: https://college.unc.edu/2020/11/coral-bleaching-consortium/

Read the Ecological Applications paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/eap.2262