The Once and Future Corals

Ari Daniel Shapiro, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

This narrated slide show gives a brief overview of coral biology and how coral reefs are in danger from pollution, ocean temperature change, ocean acidification, and climate change. In addition, scientists discuss how taking cores from corals yields information on past changes in ocean temperature.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

Teachers may want to provide the linked Oceanus articles to their students for more background information.
An overview of how human activity is damaging coral reefs, and how coral can be used to investigate past climate changes. Paleoclimatology, ocean acidification, ecology, and pollution are all linked topics. Comments from expert scientist: This video is narrated by Konrad Hughen, a respected geochemist who works with coral skeletal records. The video has good visuals and the narration tells a nice story about what corals are, and how coral reefs grow and record information on ocean history in their skeletons.