Seasonal Variation in Coral Reef Bleaching Indicators Across 427 Sampling Sites

Abstract

Despite sustained attention from the research community, coral reef bleaching indicators remains difficult to study outside well-funded laboratories. Our protocol combines field-deployable estimation with a lightweight validation pipeline designed to be reproducible by student laboratories. We observe a statistically significant effect (p < 0.04) that persists across all tested conditions. We discuss limitations and outline directions for follow-up work at the undergraduate level.