ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Resilience of coral reefs

Okay kiddo, do you know what a coral reef is? It's like a big city for tiny animals called coral polyps. These polyps make a hard skeleton out of calcium carbonate that looks like rocks. A bunch of these rocks together make a coral reef.

Now, coral reefs are very important to many animals and plants that live in them. They provide homes, food, and protection. But they can also be affected by things like pollution, global warming, and human activities like fishing and boating.

The good news is that coral reefs can bounce back from these bad things and be healthy again. That's called resilience. But it takes time and some help from people. Scientists are studying ways to help coral reefs be more resilient, like by planting new corals or creating safe zones where people can't fish or pollute.

So, in short, coral reefs are big cities for tiny animals, and they can get sick from bad things like pollution and global warming. But they can also bounce back and be healthy again with some help from humans. That's called resilience.