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Beauty and Bleakness: The Efforts to Conserve Coral Reefs

A massive reef in the Red Sea.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence

A somber lecture on the future of coral reefs changed the future of Alexis Rosenfeld and Alexie Valois. The 2016 lecture, focusing on the need for coral ecological restoration, resonated so deeply that it prompted Mr. Rosenfeld, a veteran underwater photographer, and Ms. Valois, a journalist in France, to spend the next two years exploring the problems facing these endangered marine colonies.

Reefs are diverse ecosystems formed by the calcium secretions of coral clusters. These vast structures provide shelter and food for a huge variety of species, including crustaceans and fish mollusks.

“The main idea is to discover an incredible biodiversity and show that it is threatened,” Mr. Rosenfeld said by email. “It is also to present all the services provided by the reefs in term of coast protection, food resources, nursery for a huge part of the marine species.”

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When a portion of a coral reef is healthy, such as this one in the Maldives, it abounds with life and hosts an entire food chain.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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Partially broken elkhorn coral in St. Martin, where colonies withstood the passage of Hurricane Irma relatively well but still sustained damage.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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A concentration of giant sea fans growing in the Mayotte lagoon of the Comoros archipelago.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence

The ensuing project, “Coral Reefs, a Challenge for Humanity,” photographed by Mr. Rosenfeld and reported on by Ms. Valois, examines the state of numerous coral ecosystems around the world, along with the circumstances — climate change, oil spills, overfishing — contributing to their decline. It is on exhibit outside the Paris headquarters of Unesco through Aug. 30 as part of this year’s International Year of Reefs, a recurring campaign to raise awareness and support for these disappearing colonies.

The exhibit, Mr. Rosenfeld said, aims especially to inform younger generations before these oceanic populations are changed beyond recognition, and features images and reporting by Mr. Rosenfeld and Ms. Valois, as well as immersive media such as 360-degree photos by the Ocean Agency and 3D coral models by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Because of human interference, there is a crisis of coral deaths, and approximately half of the shallow-water reefs on the planet have died.

“Changes are particularly visible in Maldives,” said Mr. Rosenfeld, who worked there in 1990 and 2000. “Maldives was like a lush and unique coral garden, one of the most beautiful of the world. When I came back in 2017, one year after the bleaching episode, landscapes had completely changed.”

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Ecological restoration workers known as reefscapers lay metal foundations in the Maldives in the hopes that new coral will grow.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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A bleached coral colony in Egypt’s Red Sea.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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Franck Roncuzzi, a member of the French Agency for Biodiversity who works at the Marine Natural Park of St. Martin, encountered objects from vessels and the island on the reefs after Hurricane Irma.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence

The photographs are as striking as they are troubling in showing the problems faced by various coral ecosystems. Mr. Rosenfeld’s photographs from the Mayotte lagoon of the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean reveal patches of dead coral amid otherwise relatively healthy reef systems. In the seabeds of St. Martin, the damage left by Hurricane Irma in 2017 is still visible in broken coral fronds and the flotsam of damaged vessels. And everywhere, from the Maldives to Egypt’s Red Sea, both the majesty of these organisms and their destruction are contrasted with efforts to save them.

Some photos also show the finned denizens of this world, still vibrant in their vanishing habitat, and calling to mind the colossal ripple effect on marine life that stems from the global threat to coral reefs.

“We intentionally selected very different areas to explore,” Mr. Rosenfeld said.

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The coral reefs of Mayotte are largely healthy with relatively few damaged areas, and the Marine Nature Park of Mayotte was established by France in 2010.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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Corals are composed of polyps, the basic units of coral, which make a calcareous skeleton that form the reefs.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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A diver monitors the state of the reefs and factors, such as changes in temperature, that allow changes to be tracked in the different areas of Mayotte’s corals.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence

Working with the French laboratory CRIOBE, the Center of Island Research and Environmental Observatory, along with other organizations, Mr. Rosenfeld and Ms. Valois followed marine biologists and natural marine park workers as they tracked changes in reef health, monitored temperatures, and planted metal structures to aid in reef restoration and regrowth. It is a process they intend to continue chronicling.

To see the devastation of coral colonies, with their vast skeletal remains stretching across the sea floor, is a disheartening experience. But even though this future may be bleak, it does not mean that conservation efforts are wasted. Mr. Rosenfeld and Ms. Valois are interested in turning their sights on mesophotic ecosystems: deep sea cold-water corals that have been more resilient in the face of environmental stressors.

“Some species are disappearing, but some species that are more resistant will stay,” said Ms. Valois. “It’s necessary to be very careful and to monitor.”

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A rotating camera system allows scientists and park workers to track marine life in Mayotte without the presence of a diver.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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Coral reefs are biodiverse environments, and provide shelter for many species.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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A temperature monitoring probe is set up by Bruno Garel, a marine park worker in Mayotte, one of many distributed throughout the lagoon.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence
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A coralline Acropora colony in the Maldives shows partial bleaching.Credit...Alexis Rosenfeld/Divergence

Follow @nytimesphoto on Twitter. Alexis Rosenfeld and Ania Bartkowiak are also on Instagram. You can also find Lens on Facebook and Instagram.

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