What are mechanisms of zooxanthella expulsion from coral?

Coral bleaching, which often results in the mass mortality of corals and in the collapse of coral reef ecosystems, has become an important issue around the world, with the number of coral reefs decreasing annually. A research group has demonstrated that corals more actively digest and expel damaged symbiotic zooxanthellae under conditions of thermal stress, and that this is likely to be a mechanism that helps corals to cope with environmental change.

Read the whole article on Science Daily

More from Science Daily