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• Sea surface temps have risen substantially over the last 80-100 years
• Reef-building corals are essentially tropical organisms. Most have adapted to a highly stable environment where ambient temperatures only fluctuate over 3-4°C during a typical year
• Under changing climates higher temperatures are being recorded in all areas. Corals are one of the most sensitive keystone organisms to these temperatures rises.
• El Nino events have always produced periods of extreme temperatures and precipitation. We now have to consider such events to lie superimposed over a rising background. The extremes, as well as the background averages, are rising.