AirPollution

Source of Pollution

Human Activity Natural Activity (volcano, etc.)

Impacts of Pollution

Dusts and aerosols

The aerosols in the atmosphere as a result of burning coals or woods can help scatter incoming sunlight and create cloudier, more reflective conditions. The sunlight reaching the sea will reduce, resulting in cooler sea temperature and less photosynthesis. Those results will slow the growth of the coral reefs.

Global Warming

The rapid buildup of greenhouse gases can cause global warming, which will gradually increase the sea surface temperature (SST). Higher temperature will trigger the coral bleaching. Rise of sea-level and more frequent natural disasters including hurricanes and tropical storms as results of changed climate will also influence the coral.

Acidification

some gaseous pollutants will dissolve into water and increase the acidity of surface water, in turn affecting the solubility of other compounds

References

Seminal article about African dust and the effects on Caribbean coral reefs. African dust can carry heavy metals, pesticides, fungi, and bacteria, and may contribute to coral disease:

Shinn, Eugene A., et al. "African dust and the demise of Caribbean coral reefs." Geophysical Research Letters 27.19 (2000): 3029-3032.

Dust documentary from USGS:

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/african_dust/documentary.html

Maybe African dust doesn't carry the pathogens causing aspergillosis:

Krystal L. Rypien, Jason P. Andras and C. Drew Harvell. Globally panmictic population structure in the opportunistic fungal pathogen Aspergillus sydowii. Molecular Ecology (2008) 17, 4068–4078 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2008.03894.x

http://theconversation.com/air-pollution-casts-a-cloud-over-coral-reef-growth-13319?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+9+April+2013&utm_content=Latest+from+The+Conversation+for+9+April+2013+CID_108dc635aa87df8ce801c5c3cc26a4cd&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Air%20pollution%20casts%20a%20cloud%20over%20coral%20reef%20growth

Burke L., Maidens J. Reefs at Risk in the Caribbean. World Resources Institute (2004).

The effects of aerosols on coral reef growth: Lester Kwiatkowski, Peter M. Cox, Theo Economou, Paul R. Halloran, Peter J. Mumby, Ben B. B. Booth, Jessica Carilli, et al. (2013). Caribbean coral growth influenced by anthropogenic aerosol emissions. Nature Geoscience. doi:10.1038/ngeo1780