Hawaiian Ko'a Card Coral Health Assessments

The Hawaiian Ko'a Card (Coral Card) was developed by the Coral Reef Ecology Lab of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa to record changes in coral color of Hawaiian corals and provide a tool for people to monitor coral color as an indicator of coral health. The Ko'a Card was designed for use by everyone, including the community, citizen scientists, researchers, students, resource managers, recreational users, and visitors alike. Coral color health scores are based on actual colors of bleached and healthy Hawaiian corals. Each color sector corresponds to the density and performance of the symbiotic algae living in the coral tissue, which is linked to coral health. The lightest and darkest scores are recorded to allow for natural color variation across the coral.