Environmental bleaching results long-term coral reproduction

Bleaching is a process where high water temperatures or UV light stresses the coral to the point where it loses its symbiotic algal partner that provides the coral with color and is also affecting the long-term fertility of the coral.Most corals reproduce by releasing sperm and eggs into the ocean during brief annual spawning events. The chance of sperm finding and fertilizing an egg depends on corals spawning in close proximity and in synchrony with each other. Its going to be hard for coral populations to recover, because the surviving corals might not successfully produce enough offspring to repopulate reefs.