Caribbean countries are in the tropical area between latitudes 11 and 18 degrees north, mainly

The Dominican Republic usually goes through sessions of droughts but, experience a lot of rain from late April to October.Since DR has a many mountain ranges, trade winds add to a very humid climate. In Lake Eniquillo less than 25 inches of rain is produced to land per year. Because of the location of the  Dominican Republic in the Caribbean it is open to a lot of hurricanes which can be devastating. A hurricane occurs in the Dominican Republic on average once every two years. The Dominican Republic has seven drainage basins, or an area where precipitation occurs. Five of these basins are in the Cordillera Central. Most if not all soil on the island is very fertile. The only are that soil cannot be used is around Lake Enriquillo because, of the salt left around creating the country’s only unproductive

Elevated sea temperatures caused by climate change and extra-bright sunlight can result in coral bleaching. As the water gets warmer, corals will expel the algae known as zooxanthellae that lives in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. When temperatures drop, the corals can recover, but they might be vulnerable to disease and when

The bleaching of coral reefs is when warm water forces algae to leave the reef. Once the algae disappear, the coral goes from a vibrant color to a pale white. As one marine biologist said, “You go from a vibrant, three-dimensional structure teeming with life, teeming with color, to a flat pavement...” This bleaching makes the coral more vulnerable to diseases and a greater risk of death. The biggest bleaching events to have occurred in

Costa Ricas geography is very different. First, Costa Rica is an agricultural country, although tourism and industry are being developed at a moderate pace (“Costa Rica”). For example, they have coffee, bananas, sugar, rice, and rainforest plants. Second, Costa Rica is small with a lot of mountains (“Costa Rica”). Another example, the mountain ranges that are around the beaches are huge and take up tons of land. Also, There are 800 miles of coastline in Costa Rica between the Pacific and

Coral reefs are threatened by global warming. They can only live in waters between 18 C and 30 C. Therefore, with the increase in temperature of the surrounding water, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of coral bleaching events during the past 2 decades (which have had some of the warmest years in history). When ocean temperatures get too high, coral polyps lose the symbiotic algae inside them, causing them to turn white, or "bleach," and eventually die.

David Attenborough, a well-known naturalist, introduce us to our modern day “Darwin,” J.E.N. Veron, a former chief scientist whom is the world’s greatest scientific authorities on corals and coral reefs. Veron who has lived and worked on the Great Barrier Reef for most his life has discovered over 20 percent of the known coral species today. And today, he gives us an insight on why the earth’s reefs face a likely mass extinction within the lifespan of the younger generation. During his time as a scientist, he researched particularly on the diversity and evolution of the world’s corals and became aware of their troubles. He then began his studies on the analyses of previous reef extinctions and accrued more evidence of the effects of changing sea levels, temperature stresses, predation by crown of thorns starfish, and human influenced changes in nutrient levels. Veron had witnessed his first patch of coral bleaching off the Great Barrier Reef’s Palm Island in the early 1980s, a tiny clump of white skeleton. Everything started turning white and dies, it was the fast-growing branching corals, but some of the others were horrible to see. After witnessing the mass bleaching, the global damage confirmed a close connection with El Nino weather cycles. By being susceptible to increases in heat and light, corals were alerting scientists to climatic changes. When corals are exposed to temperatures two or three degrees hotter than their evolved maximum, along

Currently due to CO2 emissions changing the waters pH and climate, change warming up the water coral bleaching is occurring. This is when zooxanthellae are release from the symbiotic relationship with coral leading to the death of the coral.

Oceans have a major part in protecting Earth; however ocean acidification, rising sea levels, and melting ice caps, are endangering our planet. The sea is the world's biggest carbon reservoir. As more man-made CO2 has entered the environment, a greater amount of the gas has entered the sea, and the abundance of CO2 results in ocean acidification. Warner water temperatures brought on by environmental change stress corals since they are extremely touchy to changes in temperature. On the off chance that water temperatures stay higher than common for a long time, the zooxanthella they rely on for food leave their tissue. Without zooxanthella, corals turn white since zooxanthellae give corals their color. White corals are called bleached. Bleached

The Great Barrier Reef is the most substantial living structure on Earth; this complex aquatic system houses around 1,500 different species of fish. Coral polyps living in the GBR released their algae as water approached 88°F, resulting in the coral becoming white. These vast bleaching events are becoming increasingly critical, lasting longer, and are occurring closer together; this is undoubtedly tied to climate change. This bleaching process is typically due to pollutants, an overabundance of sunlight, or very hot waters driving corals to eject algae. This process doesn't kill corals instantly. In fact, if conditions improve, algae can re-colonize corals and recoup. Without the algae (the coral’s main source of food), however, corals become

Coral bleaching is one of the visual effect of climate change. Caused by the stress put on the coral because of the temperature of the water becoming warmer. This major effect of climate change could lead to the death of the Coral. This has been especially noticed on the Great Barrier Reef. Only recently the earth has witnessed severe coral bleaching episodes all around the world.

Families and friends from across the world often travel to the beautiful, Caribbean islands for a warm, fun vacation. Tourists go to the Caribbean islands in a variety of ways. Many choose to stay on the islands in hotels for days or weeks at a time. Others buy a vacation on board a cruise ship, and that ship will sail to different islands for the passengers to enjoy and explore. Both of these vacations, however, can have negative effects on the Caribbean employment, local development, water resources, and the environment. This research paper will give descriptive information how tourism effects the Caribbean.

Coral is the building block for a niche underwater ecosystem that consists of diverse sea life. These ecosystems are known as coral reefs and are named so due to the limestone (calcium carbonate) that is secreted by the coral lifeform. (Baker, Glynn and Riegal 2008) Coral reefs are host to such a diverse population of sea life, some of which may be endemic to the reef, that the destruction of them can cause large scale damage to populations. When under a lot of stress, the vibrant colours that are iconic to coral start to fade, thus the term coral bleaching. (Baker, Glynn and Riegal 2008) If the coral is left like this and its stressful conditions disappear it will eventually return to its vibrant colour, unfortunately if the stressor continues the coral will die. (Baker, Glynn and Riegal 2008) Reef building occurs over hundreds of years which makes the large scale coral bleaching all the more impactful on the underwater ecosystems. Bleaching events are so severe that an entire coral reef can die off from just 1 mass event. (Baker, Glynn and Riegal 2008)

From 1979 to 2006 there were at least six mass coral bleaching events, each of which were triggered by warming conditions, including higher water temperatures (Goldberg & Wilkinson, 2004). In 2005 the United States lost half of their Caribbean reefs due to one such bleaching event (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2016). The color of corals typically comes from the zooxanthellae living within the coral tissues, and the white color that is associated with coral bleaching is due to the expelling of the zooxanthellae as water temperatures increase (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2016). Therefore, as coral bleaching seems to be related to increases in water temperature, it is reasonable to predict that coral bleaching events could become more common as global climate change results in further ocean temperature increases. However, bleaching events do not kill corals, rather coral bleaching places the corals under high stress and makes them more vulnerable to other disturbances, which results in

Being one of the last islands to be colonized in the Caribbean, the island of Dominica is an impartially small island. The island was colonized last due to the “chiefly to the fierce resistance of the native Caribs” (“Lonely planet”). It is south of the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique. It is a very small island and it is only 751 square feet and is only approximately 4 times the size of Washington D.C. The geography of the island is vastly rugged. The island has 5 active volcanos making it very mountainous as well. The island was first settled by the Spanish in their search for gold. The Spanish eventually left the island due to the islanders fierce rebelling and due to the lack of gold. The island was then colonized by the French when they took over. Finally, the island was given independence in 1978. The island is primarily Roman Catholic and the people are very spiritual on the island (“CIA Fact Book”). 91% of the island is black and the other 9% is mixed races that come from refugees in the island (“A virtual Dominica”). In the past years of the island there has been many growing issues that have caught the eyes of the government officials. One of the main issues on the island are the growing environmental issues on the island. The environment of the island once was a clean and a very attractive place for people to visit for vacations, and now ever since then the issues have arisen due to the island being abused in numerous ways by the citizens. Some of the island

Tourism plays a major role on the infrastructure of the Caribbean countries. Without tourism, the Caribbean’s would perhaps be unknown territories among the ocean. The three major impacts of tourism in the Caribbean are social, cultural and environmental. Tourism impacts the Caribbean socially by proving jobs and services for the people and and generating a revenue