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Still got to go with animal since the polyps are animals (cnidarians, related to jellyfish and anemones). We have bacteria in our gut that form a symbiotic relationship and allow us to gain nutrients more easily, yet we are still animals. The calcium carbonate exoskeleton of the dead coral polyp allows larval coral polyps to settle, eat and grow to lay down future reef.

Some coral reefs could survive environmental changes for a very unexpected reason

http://io9.com/5939049/new-research-suggests-some-coral-reefs-could-survive-for-a-very-unexpected-reason

This fungus attaches itself to plants and makes the soil belch carbon

http://io9.com/5939074/fungus-is-messing-with-our-carbon-sequestering So, lets go down the line: Recycling, as it is now, does not work.
http://io9.com/5928108/earth-is-about-to-belch-out-laughing-gas-and-why-thats-a-bad-thing

Earth is about to belch out laughing gas (and why that's a bad thing)

Nitrous oxide is best known as the mild anesthetic laughing gas, but making people feel a bit loopy during dental surgery is the least of its effects. The gas can warm our planet 300 times faster than carbon dioxide.
It may be known as a tropical paradise, an archipelago of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean. But the traditional image of the Maldives hides a dirty secret: the world's biggest rubbish island.

Environment: Paradise lost on Maldives' rubbish island | Environment

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/03/maldives-thilafushi-rubbish-landfill-pollution
http://io9.com/5916605/were-breaking-our-planet-once-and-for-all-warn-scientists

We're breaking our planet once and for all, warn scientists

I wasn't able to read the full article, but it sounds pretty similar to what I've heard many other scientists say about what is going to happen to our planet if we don't change our ways. Now my problem isn't that I'm necessarily skeptical about the changes in the bio-diversity of our planet, its more that: A) could we even fix it if we tried? B) Could these changes be for the better?

Before environmental regulations, Pittsburgh looked like the capital of Hell

As soon as I saw the headline, I wondered if St. Louis was going to come up. http://io9.com/5915418/before-environmental-regulations-pittsburgh-looked-like-the-capital-of-hell
The comments on this article are making me lose faith in the rationality and intelligence of io9 commentors.

Global warming changes tundras into forests much faster than anyone expected

http://io9.com/5915489/global-warming-changes-tundras-into-forests-much-faster-than-anyone-expected

Could we build a weather machine to stop climate change?

everytime this comes up in discussion as an uncertainty, it always kinda makes me laugh at just how short sighted we are. http://io9.com/5915251/could-we-build-a-weather-machine-to-stop-climate-change
False. Nothing has changed in the accepted norms for text communications, except that kids these days have no damn manners.

Lies You've Been Told About the Pacific Garbage Patch

Let me make my understanding of your two arguments in this comments thread as clear as possible.

Climate change ended one of the great ancient civilizations

Pacific 'garbage patch' changing insect mating habits | Environment

Seaplex researchers Matt Durham and Miriam Goldstein encounter netting and plastic in the Pacific. Photograph: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Marine insects in the Pacific Ocean are changing their reproduction habitats in response to environmental changes from the accumulating amount of rubbish in the north Pacific subtropical gyre, also known as the great Pacific garbage patch, according to researchers.

The Arctic is farting ancient methane into the atmosphere

I don't necessarily get all antsy about the issues with the environment, mainly because I'm so numb to people just being either willfully ignorant or outright hostile to any even sensible approaches to responsible resource usage in our society...but methane is different.