India, Feb. 11 -- Benefits to society from coral reefs, including fisheries, tourism, coastal protection, pharmaceutical discovery and more, are estimated at about $9.8 trillion per year.

For the first time, an international team led by Smithsonian researchers estimated the extent of coral bleaching worldwide during a global marine heatwave, finding that half of the world's reefs experienced significant damage. Another heatwave began in 2023 and is ongoing.

The analysis was published recently in Nature Communications.

Bleaching occurs under heat stress, when the partnership breaks down, and the coral loses its algal symbionts-its source of energy-and turns white. Bleaching leads to reduced growth, less reproduction and even death when ...