https://phys.org/news/2018-06-nutrient-pollution-ocean-acidification-worse.html

"There is a long history of examining the impacts of nutrient pollution and ocean acidification on coral reefs," said lead author Nyssa Silbiger, assistant professor at California State University, Northridge and alumna of the UH Manoa Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at SOEST. "However, little is known about how these two stressors interact and influence coral reef ecosystem functioning."

Prior research showed that stressors associated with human-derived carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, such as ocean acidification, are shifting coral reefs towards net loss, which would lead to the loss of the three-dimensional framework in the future. The new study in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences showed that nutrient pollution could make coral reefs more vulnerable to ocean acidification and accelerate the predicted shift from net growth to overall loss.