IMPACT OF WARMING ON CORAL REEFS AND FOREST TREES
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FIGURE 14.29 As the oceans warm, reef-building corals are suffering elevated mortality, shown in this photograph as bleached, whitish corals (top). Meanwhile, on land, elevated temperatures and drought have combined to induce physiological stress in these lodgepole pines, Pinus contorta, in northern Colorado. Warmer winters have also reduced the mortality of beetles that attack the trees. In a state of stress, the trees did not mount sufficient defense against a massive beetle attack, which was the direct cause of death across this swath of mountain landscape.
(Rainer von Brandis/E+/Getty Images); (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)