“Coral Reefs Breathe” explores the critical, yet often overlooked, role of oxygen in the health and survival of coral reef ecosystems.
It synthesizes findings from oceanography, marine biology, and environmental science to reveal how oxygen cycles are influenced by factors like photosynthesis and respiration, and how disruptions to this balance, such as hypoxia, can devastate reef biodiversity.
The book uniquely bridges multiple disciplines to provide a comprehensive understanding of reef ecology.
Examining the impact of human activities, the book details how climate change, pollution, and other anthropogenic stressors directly affect oxygen availability in reefs, potentially leading to coral bleaching and ecosystem collapse.
It investigates the physiological responses of coral and associated organisms to varying oxygen levels and discusses potential strategies for reef conservation and reef restoration.
Presenting data from field studies, lab experiments, and numerical models, the book progresses from fundamental concepts of oxygen cycling to detailed analyses of oxygen production pathways and the influence of oceanographic processes.
