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Geography Optional 300+ Score Pack · Model answer

When corals are affected by stress it causes them to turn completely white. Explain the reasons of such an occurence.

  • UPSC 2022
  • Oceanography

Coral bleaching is the whitening of coral colonies that results when the coral polyp's symbiotic relationship with its microscopic algae, zooxanthellae, breaks down under stress — the white appearance is the coral's translucent tissue revealing its own calcium carbonate skeleton beneath, not a new pigment forming.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the Geography Optional 300+ Score Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • The Coral–Zooxanthellae Symbiotic Mechanism
  • Temperature — the Principal Driver
  • Solar Irradiance and Photoinhibition
  • Sub-Aerial Exposure
  • Freshwater Dilution
  • Compounding Anthropogenic Stressors

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