Coral reefs

While tough on reefs directly in their path, hurricanes actually help reefs further afield by cooling oceans that have grown too warm

Parrot fish help baby coral by clearing algae; the adult coral return the favor by creating nooks and crannies for parrot fish to hide in

Warming ocean temperatures don't just bleach coral, they also leave the tiny creatures vulnerable to a mysterious disease

By tracing the dispersal of young fish from a small marine reserve, scientists have shown that most prefer to return to where their parents thrived

Acid bath? No problem. Researchers report that decreasing water pH—one consequence of rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—dissolves the stony coral's hard skeleton but does not dislodge the soft-bodied polyps from their rocky substrate.

Coral cores stretching back more than 6,000 years reveal that climate change in the Indian Ocean may mean greater droughts in Indonesia and Australia