Climate change, overfishing, not pollution, blamed for Caribbean coral demise

From an article by Juliet Eilperin of The Washington Post as published on Sun-Sentinel.com:

Climate change and overfishing, rather than pollution, are primarily responsible for killing off coral reefs in the Caribbean, according to a new study.

The paper, by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, Columbia University and the University of Maryland, examined the effects of two of the most common pollutants: phosphorus and nitrogen. They concluded that nitrogen is the more damaging of the two, but its effects are mostly felt after a reef is dead or dying, because it stimulates the growth of microscopic green algae that break down the calcium carbonate skeleton of the coral.

The team concluded that the massive die-offs of Caribbean corals in recent decades stemmed mostly from warming ocean temperatures and declines in fish and invertebrates that protect reefs by feeding on the algae.