Coral Bleaching In The Great Barrier Reef

Corals build colonies that secrete calcium carbonate to form ocean reefs. When they're healthy, coral reefs provide shelter and food for animals all along the food chain, including the top: us. Across the planet, half a billion people rely, directly and indirectly, on corals for their living. That's why what happens to the 9,000-year-old Great Barrier Reef, as well as to other reefs worldwide, is critical. The floods in Queensland have hurt the Great Barrier Reef by funnelling into the ocean vast plumes of freshwater and agricultural runoff that could severely damage the coral. Besides the extreme rain that sparked the floods, rising ocean temperatures, changes to the ocean's chemistry and the global trade in natural resources — all symptoms of our fossil-fuel economy — are waging a multiform war on the marine

Coral bleaching is a somewhat recent phenomenon that has prompted many communities and countries around the world to enact policies and legislation that deal with their dying coral reefs. In early 1998, a mass coral bleaching event took place on the Australian Great Barrier Reef, and broad scale aerial surveys confirmed that most of the inland reefs had experienced at least some bleaching (Lally 1999). The following analysis of the Great Barrier Reef will illustrate that a successful policy process must incorporate the people who live, work, and depend on the fragile environment into the decision-making about

Coral reefs are found in shallow tropical waters along the shores of islands and continents. Coral bleaching is a topic that gets left in the dust. Not many people really pay attention or show much interest in it. Widespread bleaching, involving major coral reef regions and resulting in mass coral mortality has raised concerns about linkage of the events to global phenomenons including global warming or climate change and increased UV radiation from ozone depletion. Corals provide a lot not just for us humans but for marine life as well. Marine Biology provides information about how bleaching happens and how it affects the coral. Buchheims’ article is full of logos and a few pathos while the other source is full of ethos. In The Nature Conservancy’s director Stephanie Wear provides us with lots of professional opinions

Worldwide we are facing an epidemic of large-scale Coral Reefs bleaching themselves white. Although white coral is not dead it is likely to die shortly after bleaching. The main problem is global warming, this causes overfishing, pollution and rising ocean temperatures with more acidity. Global warming is an issue that affects our planet, especially in the ocean. This problem has also an economic and political impact because "If the reefs vanished, experts say, hunger, poverty and political instability could ensue."

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

Coral bleaching may seem new and a strange topic, but it has been around and wreaking havoc for many of years. Bleaching starts to happen when the water temperatures rise slightly above average temps for more than several days, which then kills the vibrant coral (“Global Warming”). The coral reefs get their vivid color from algae and other small organisms. They are found in the coral’s tissue. Algae helps supply food for the reef through carbohydrates. The algae creates the carbohydrates through photosynthesis (“Coral Reefs”). Coral bleaching

One particularly visible sight that brings climate change to the attention of the public is the series of large tracts of bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef resulting from unusually warm summers. The Great Barrier Reef is an Australian icon, symbolic of the wealth of Australia's biological diversity. It is the nursery to fishing industries and is visited by thousands of tourists each year, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars into our community. While the high visibility of coral bleaching has made us aware of this impact of climate change we should be equally concerned

That's very bad for marine ecology and size of Great Barrier Reef, notes student Rachel Levin. On a genetical level, there have some reactions too. "We found they can switch on genes to produce proteins that neutralize the toxic chemicals," explains Levin, whose article on coral bleaching was published in the Molecular Biology and Evolution.

The Great Barrier Reef is bleaching at a significantly alarming rate. As scientists figured out it is contributed by three main perpetrators. The main culprit of the bleaching of the bleaching of the reefs is record warming water. This has been linked to El Niño and global warming. Next, acidification of the ocean from mainly human causes. Finally, fishing impacts have hurt the barrier a great deal. The northern part of Australia is bleaching much more rapidly than the south. The reef brings in a lot of tourism and money for Australia and losing it would also mean losing a lot of jobs for people as well. Scientists have noticed through the bleaching some coral species have survived and

Global warming and climate change is the biggest threat the reef is having to face. Global warming is an effect of pollution caused by humans. Rapid urban development causes an increase ic carbon emissions which leads to an increase in greenhouse gases. A build-up of these gases cause temperatures to rise which will also increase the ocean temperature. This will have a negative affect on coral and put them under stress because they need a stable climate to thrive. During times of stress algae called zooxanthellae (gives coral vibrant colors) is expelled leaving the coral bleached white. This is called coral bleaching (Smithsonian). There have been two mass coral bleaching events in 1998 and 2002 (Great Barrier Reef). But, scientists anounce that these events aren’t over with yet. In fact, they will start to become more common with the rise of oean temperatures. Scientists are predicting that the biggest coral bleaching event yet will take place in the next few months (Smithsonian). Pollution and waste are also big factors in the decline of the reef. Not only do they affect the Great Barrier Reef, but many other ecosystems as well. Eight percent of the coastline along the Great Barrier Reef is used for cattle grazing or crop growing. Fertilisers, pesticides, and animal waste are all things that farms either use or produce and

There are several dominant theories concerning the cause of reef bleaching. Some scientists believe that the complex causation of the GBR’s endangerment is from El Nino effects or the warming of ocean waters naturally. Another theory is that human impact has caused the GBR’s endangerment, but the topic is debated heavily by scientists and scholars. Support is given to natural causes being the cause of bleaching partly because of the money that is generated from tourism and fishing from the GBR. Some people believe humans have had an adverse effect on the GBR through pollution, overfishing, and the poisoning of the reefs. In 2016, an article announced to the world that the GBR died and an obituary was released. In reality, the GBR is not completely dead, but it is dying. This damage has been happening for decades, but scientists can trace the major damages to at least 3 major bleaching events since the 80’s. Some scientists say that the reef can still recover from the bleaching while others say that it cannot. The scope of this event is significant as humans realize that the damage to coral reefs goes

Coral reefs around the world are in danger. One of the causes is global warming, which has been increasing the temperature of the ocean water resulting in coral bleaching. This essay will focus on damage occurring to the Great Barrier Reef.

Coral bleaching occurs when the microscopic plants (zooxanthellae) are expelled by rising ocean temperature. When there are no microscopic plants such as zooxanthellae, the coral turns white and die. The studies show that throughout the worlds ocean, from the Florida Keys to the Great Barrier Reef of the Australia have been evidence of unique coral bleaching caused by the rising of ocean temperature. In the early 1980s the coral bleaching event has increased because of rapid increase of sea water temperature. Esther et al., investigates growth of Oculina patagonica at multiple environmental conditions in the western Mediterranean Sea. The Oculina patagonia is stony coral specie which is found mostly in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. The coral was basically Atlantic origin which was transferred to Mediterranean Sea.

When looking at the word coral reef bleaching one might have a visual image of a red coral reef graphic t-shirt which has ventured in the wash well over the normal limit. In reality coral reef bleaching is when a coral reef expels the algae living in its tissues due to stress in the coral. The stress in the coral can be caused by warmer water temperature, a change in water lighting, or a lack or abundance of nutrients in the reef. At this point you are probably wondering what all this has to due with the changing climate of the earth. The answer to that question will be answered later on in the paper. Before going any farther I would like to mention (a very big word which I can not pronounce) zooxanthellae. Zooxanthellae is the relation between

Corals are highly sensitive even to slight temperature and so the warmer temperatures that result from climate change cause stress to the corals. If the temperature of the water remains higher than usual for a long period of time, the zooxanthellae on which the corals depend for food leave the tissues. The corals become white and unhealthy and are said to be bleached. Corals that are bleached are very weak and are not able to combat diseases. Cases of massive coral bleaching around the globe were observed in 1998 (Jones, 2017). Some Pacific Islands experience coral bleaching in summer, there are however cases of intensive bleaching in this area. For instance, in 1994, 2002 and 2003, there was more than normal bleaching in the National Park of American Samoa (Jones, 2017). If climate change goes on uncontrolled, cases of coral bleaching will become more common that they are now, this means that the health of coral reefs will continue to decline.