Michelle Tang - 3rd place
“Coral”
In my artwork, I wanted to represent coral as the “tree of life,” symbolizing how coral is an integral part to many oceanic ecosystems, and how the death of coral can mean the death of a whole ecosystem. Coral bleaching occurs when coral expel the zooxanthellae that reside inside of them due to stress caused by overly warm waters. As a result, this causes the coral to turn white in color and become more vulnerable to disease and death. In recent years, coral bleaching has become more common with large coral reef ecosystems, such as the Great Barrier Reef. Due to climate change, these massive and necessary ecosystems become threatened as coral bleaching continues.