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Zooxanthellae Expulsion Dynamics

Interactive coral-polyp simulation of the cellular mechanism behind coral bleaching: heat-driven reactive-oxygen buildup in symbiotic algae triggers host expulsion, modeled polyp-by-polyp with genetic variance in thermal tolerance.

Ecology & Conservation Biology3DModerate60 FPS📱 Mobile-adapted⇄ 2D version

This simulation models coral bleaching at the mechanism level: a colony of 520 polyps, each hosting symbiotic zooxanthellae algae, tracked individually as heat and light drive reactive-oxygen buildup that crosses a threshold and triggers the coral host to expel its own symbionts. Raise sea temperature and light irradiance to trigger a marine heatwave and watch the colony bleach polyp-by-polyp in a realistic mosaic pattern driven by each polyp's own thermal tolerance, or cool the water back down to test whether the colony can recover.

⚙ Under the hood

Simulates coral bleaching at the cellular level: 520 individually-modeled polyps accumulate heat- and light-driven reactive oxygen species until the coral host expels its symbiotic algae, producing a realistic patchy bleaching pattern shaped by each polyp's own thermal tolerance.

coral bleachingzooxanthellaethermal stressreactive oxygen speciesmarine ecologysymbiosis

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install