Climate change could wipe out almost all coral reef habitats around the world by 2100, according to research released Monday.
The bleak outlook forecasts that warming oceans and rising seas could have a devastating impact on ocean ecosystems, suggesting that current efforts to restore dying corals will likely encounter difficulties as global warming continues to decimate habitats that could once support healthy reef systems, NBC News reports.
"By 2100, it’s looking quite grim," Renee Setter, a biogeographer at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, said in a statement. She presented her findings at the annual Ocean Sciences Meeting, which is being held from Feb. 16 to 21 in San Diego.
