Coral Bleaching
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Provided by: BioInteractive|Published on: October 15, 2021
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Scientist Reviewed This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this downloadable animation, students explore the symbiotic relationship between algae and corals, seeing what happens when ocean temperatures get too hot.
- Students will learn how and why coral bleaching happens and see the parts of the algae and coral cells that are involved.
Subjects: Chemistry, Biology
Authors: BioInteractive
Region: Global
Languages: English, Spanish
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The animation starts from a satellite image of the Earth and zooms all the way in to see the inner workings of an individual coral and its symbiotic algae cells.
Additional Prerequisites
- There is a PDF transcript of the video that can be downloaded and the video is available in a number of different formats (in HD or SD).
- The material is also available in Spanish.
- You must download the video before watching it.
Differentiation
- It may be helpful for students to pause the animation at various points to discuss specific parts of the corals or algae, as well as different steps in the process.
- The teacher could ask advanced students to use the video as a basis for a presentation of their own to explain the coral bleaching process to their classmates.
- After watching this video, students could graph and analyze ocean temperature data for coral reef sites around the world.
- This would be an excellent animation to accompany lessons about photosynthesis, cellular respiration, organelles, cells, symbiotic relationships, heat energy, ocean ecosystems, and chemical reactions.
- Other recommended resources include Resistance to Coral Bleaching and Interactive Exploration of Coral Bleaching.
The resource outlines the main process of coral bleaching to enable students to explore and measure bleaching as it relates to temperature change. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
About the Partner Provider
BioInteractive
BioInteractive brings the power of real science stories into tens of thousands of high school and undergraduate life science classrooms.
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
