Description: Coral bleaching is the whitening of coral colonies due to the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae from the tissues of polyps. This loss exposes the white calcium carbonate skeletons of the coral colony.

Effect: Adverse changes in a coral's environment can cause an increase in the number of zooxanthellae lost. There are a number of stresses or environmental changes that may cause bleaching including disease, excess shade, increased levels of ultraviolet radiation, sedimentation, pollution, salinity changes, and increased temperatures.

Solution: Part of the reason why this is happening is because of global warming. Global warming is affecting the coral reefs because the temperatures of the water changes and the coral reefs aren't adapted to live in water with that temperature. So a solution would be to stop using chemicals that harm the environment, and make holes in the ozone layer.