Nitrogen Pollution - Threats to Tropical Coral Coasts The University of Edinburgh

Overview

The Nitrogen Pollution - Threats to Tropical Coral Coasts course offered by The University of Edinburgh will use a mix of short topical lectures by academics at the University of Edinburgh and members of a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), Maldives Resilient Reefs.

Key facts

Nitrogen pollution is a critically important global challenge. For tropical ecosystems such as coral reefs and seagrasses (CRAS), this is a particularly pertinent issue, as they are amongst the most economically valuable and biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth, but are steadily declining in areal extent and health. 

Eutrophication (excessive nutrients causing water pollution) in these environments can not only interfere with the health and diversity of vegetation, fish and other aquatic organisms; inhibit recruitment of juvenile corals but is also thought to increase the susceptibility of corals to heat-induced bleaching events.