Coral reefs throughout the Caribbean have been comprehensively "flattened" over the last 40 years, according to a disturbing new study.

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There's little doubt that coral reefs the world over face threats on many fronts: pollution, diseases, destructive fishing practices and warming oceans. But reefs appear to be more resistant to one potential menace -- seaweed -- than previously thought, according to marine scientists.

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An explosion of knowledge has been made in the last few years about the basic biology of corals, researchers say in a new report, helping to explain why coral reefs around the world are collapsing and what it will take for them to survive a gauntlet of climate change and ocean acidification.

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A new report on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands provides the sharpest picture yet of the region's marine life and ecosystems. The report examines the geographic distribution of the island chain's marine life and habitats, and the conditions that determine where they are found.

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Researchers have confirmed the existence of a major new coral reef province on the southern end of the Porcupine Bank off the west coast of Ireland. The province covers an area of some 200 square kilometers and contains in the order of 40 coral reef covered carbonate mounds. These underwater hills rise as high as 100 meters above the seafloor.

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Experts say that more than half of the world's coral reefs could disappear in the next 50 years, in large part because of higher ocean temperatures caused by climate change. But now scientists have found evidence that some coral reefs are adapting and may actually survive global warming.

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A nearly complete collection of genes for a species of reef-building coral has been assembled. The scientists will use the genetic data to understand natural variations in corals from around the world and how they respond, at the genetic level, to rising water temperatures.

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Coral reefs could disappear entirely from the Coral Triangle region of the Pacific Ocean by the end of the century, threatening the food supply and livelihoods for about 100 million people, according to a new study. Averting catastrophe will depend on quick and effective global action on climate change coupled with the implementation of regional solutions to problems of over-fishing and pollution.

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