COP26: Scotland's coral reefs are on the line at Glasgow climate change summit

By Heidi Burdett, Associate Professor, Lyell Centre for Earth and Marine Science and Technology, Heriot-Watt University
Cornelia Simon-Nutbrown, PhD Candidate in Marine Conservation, Heriot-Watt University

The demise of tropical coral reefs has come to symbolise the threat of climate change to the natural world. Teeming with life and bursting with colour, these habitats may feel a world away from the cold, windswept streets of Glasgow, where world leaders are gathering for the annual UN climate summit.

But not far offshore lie vast reefs formed by species of cold-water coral and calcified seaweed. This latter kind are commonly known as maerl beds and are created by a chalky pink seaweed filled with calcium carbonate – the same compound which makes up coral skeletons.

Cold-water…

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