Hawaii’s corals were exposed to polluted water and lost energy needed to survive warming seas, with the same damage seen in two very different species

• Corals (Representative image)Human activity is changing coral reefs in ways that go far beyond what we can see on the surface.
• A new study led by researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa shows that the chemicals we release into the environment are actually becoming part of coral tissue itself, and weakening corals’ ability to cope with heat and acidifying oceans.
• The team found 25 different contaminants from agricultural, industrial and pharmaceutical sources embedded in the soft tissues of corals around Maui, Hawaiʻi.