In the future, sea turtles in the US will find it harder to find suitable nesting habitat, due to climate change, rising sea levels and coastal development.

A team led by Florida State University came to this conclusion after their research which modelled the suitability of coastal habitats in the eastern United States by 2050 for sea turtle nesting, after considering predicted sea-level rise and future climates.

Their findings were recently published in the Regional Environmental Change journal.

Typically, coral reef environments are low in nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous compounds. However, such conditions are not set in stone as sometimes, passing ocean currents can bring in nutrients from elsewhere. In addition, man-made fertilisers and stormwater runoff from adjacent coastlines can also contribute to the nutrient levels.

And, high levels of nutrients are bad news for corals.