Beneath liquid trails of tourism, transportation and regional tension of Japan’s southern Yaeyama archipelago are the kaleidoscopic colors of Japan’s largest and richest coral reefs. But as sea-surface temperatures rise well beyond the average (and for longer periods) in summer, the plant half of the relationship — single-celled algae called zooxanthellae — leaves and, without a source of energy, the coral animal turns bone white. If the algae don’t return when waters cool, coral eventually dies, its skeleton decays and an entire reef can collapse. Read the full story on the Japan Times website. (Cameron Allan McKean photos)
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