Marine biologists observed that corals subjected to elevated water temperatures exhibited significant _______, expelling their symbiotic algae.
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: A. bleaching
- Step 1: Identify the specific biological process described by the loss or expulsion of photosynthetic endosymbionts (zooxanthellae) due to thermal stress.
- Step 2: When ocean temperatures rise, corals expel their colorful dinoflagellate algae, leaving the transparent coral tissue over the white calcium carbonate skeleton in the phenomenon termed "bleaching".
Answer
bleaching.
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