Coral Ocean Trade

In this episode of the BBC Documentary series, “The Blue Planet: Coral Sea” examines the roles and effects of coral reefs on other marine species. Coral reefs play a major part in the marine food web since they are responsible for about one quarter of all ocean species. Coral reefs are one of the most diversified species in the marine, even though they only covered a tiny portion of the earth. This species can reproduce both asexual and sexual. In sexual reproduction, larva is developed through egg and sperm fertilization. On the other hand in asexual reproduction, they can clone themselves through budding or fragmentation. Coral reefs, however, has been threatening due to overfishing, pollution, climate change, increasing in ocean acidity

Consisting of less than 1% of the world oceans, the coral reefs are ancient animals comprising of thin calcium carbonate deposits within the photic layer. Aside from its biologically diverse ecosystems, coral reefs are major source of food for millions and provides habitats and nursery areas for many marine organisms. Coral reefs also act as a physical buffer to protect the coastlines from tropical storms and erosion. In addition, many local communities rely on coral reefs to generate an income through activities such as fishing and diving. However, 75% of the coral reefs are under threat from induced impacts of humans and climate change (Burke, et al., 2011). This essay looks at the human impacts constantly being inflicted on coral reefs.

First, I am going to talk about the importance of coral reefs. Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. They are home to 4,000 species of fish, 800 species of hard coral, and hundreds of other species. Scientists believe that there are another 1 to 8 million unidentified species (NOAA). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, new drugs are being developed from

Coral reef ecosystems around the globe are threatened by human interferences and climate change. This has led to many scientists conducting studies on global coral reef ecosystems to gain a better understanding of the cause and effects of coral reef damage. In both Hodgson’s (1999) and Carpenter et al.’s (2008) studies, they are aware of the continuous degradation of global coral reef ecosystems. Hodgson's study involved conducting a survey on global coral reef ecosystems to see whether human actions were affecting the health of supposed pristine Coral reefs. Carpenter et al. incorporated Hodgson’s study into a compiled study about the possible extinction of reef building corals due to climate change and anthropogenic effects. Carpenter’s

The Indian Ocean, considered the third largest ocean, is located between Australia and Antarctica. This Ocean is a major sea lane connecting the Middle East, East Asia and Africa with Europe and the Americas. The Ocean is essential because of its location. The location helps to boast the production of trade global around the world. It is rich with resources such as natural oil and marine life. The ships that travel the ocean contain over half the world’s international trade cargo and shipment. The trade system is the way of life for people all over

With nearly 5,000 square kilometers of reef area, Cuba’s coral reefs are considered among the most preserved and successfully managed coral reefs in the world. In a 2008 study by Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, Cuba was among the few Caribbean nations with over 30% coral cover. Three quarters of the Caribbean nations showed coral degradation of at least 50% from the average coral cover before 1984, making Cuba’s record of environmental protection particularly impressive.

As it was already established, a myriad of marine species depend on coral reefs because of the favorable conditions they have to offer. The formation of complex food webs and symbiotic relationships is directly related to specific, stable properties, that if changed, certain organisms would be sure to disappear, disrupting the natural order of the ecosystem. Accordingly, if the water temperature in coral reefs rises, it suddenly becomes an unsuitable environment for algae to bloom, resulting in a lesser number of symbiotic relationships between plankton and corals. Consequently, not only will water filtration systems be hindered, but herbivore grazing will become less common; causing several species of fish to stop frequenting this waters,

Without the coral, marine animals would die, snowballing into more marine life dying. They provide food and protection to marine animals. Coral reefs not only produce food for other fish, but they also provide shelter. The reefs hold a colossal amount of the world’s biodiversity. About 9 million different species live on the coral reefs; these animals would diminish if the coral were to go extinct. Brian Skoloff says, “If reefs vanished, experts say, hunger, poverty and political stability could ensue,” meaning these effects could result if the reefs were to vanish (Skoloff, 1). Not only do marine animals rely on the reefs, but humans do as well. Thousands of people indirectly rely on coral reefs. Humans rely on fish weather it is for food

Coral reefs are fundamental in providing oxygen to millions of people around the world. They don’t just provide oxygen, they provide food and shelter to millions of fish in the ocean. They are so abundant that according to The Associated Press, Coral reefs are considered “underwater rainforests.” Unfortunately, these reefs are dying out. Due to global warming and rising ocean temperatures, these corals are becoming stressed and weak. The Associated Press claims, “The world has lost roughly half its coral reefs in the last 30 years.” Losing the coral reefs would seriously hurt the world’s population of plants, animals, and humans. Coral reefs provide some of the ingredients found in medicine we use each day. Some ingredients from these reefs

Coral reefs are a crucial part of the world, socially, economically, and environmentally. All over the world, coral reefs are being damaged beyond repair and are possibly facing extinction in the future because of natural reasons, such as weather, climate change, tidal changes, predation, and various diseases. Humans are also causing catastrophic damage through pollution, overfishing, and coral mining. Despite the numerous efforts being made to restore the reefs to how they used to be, there is not enough being done, and chances are they will never be the same. Coral reef degradation is manageable, if not almost completely avoidable, at least for the damage that is caused by people. The coral reefs provide crucial resources to us as humans and to the animals living in and around them that is why they should be protected no matter what the cost may be.

Corals have existed for around 500 million years and are the second most biologically diverse ecosystems on earth (NOAA). The coral reefs are showing a decline in health due to human activities which, although well known, is often overlooked in favor of research on ecological aspects (Kittinger). Certain ocean areas that previously were home of coral species may no longer be an ideal climate for the corals to thrive. Whereas properly maintained aquariums could provide a more suitable habitat to encourage re-population (Gustavson). Two agencies that are very active, with differing viewpoints, on the coral reef conservation debate

Corals are greatly complex organisms that help buffer the ocean and provided an ecosystem for many other marine organisms but the coral and therefore these ecosystems are in immense threat. The decrease of coral cover is increasing with a 50% decrease seen from the years 1985-2012 (1). This is not just due to the natural threats of predators like COTS and large scale weather events like cyclones but also due to human activities such as overfishing, pollution, disturbance in the reef and global warming. The bleaching of coral due to natural activities can be hard to control but the negative effects caused by human activities can be. Although if the reefs have any hope of recovery drastic actions needs to be taken to reduce carbon emissions, and to control policing and protection of these areas.

Despite there are more studies confirm cascading effect in coral reefs such as indirect effect on mesopredator and herbivore density( (Friedlandler and DeMartini 2002; Ruppert et al. 2013; Ritchie and Johnson 2009), algal cover sponge cover (Rasher et al 2013; Loh et al. 2015) resulting decline in coral cover and juvenile coral (Rasher et al 2013; Casey et al 2015). However, most of those research were conducted in region where confounding factors persists such as fishing pressure across many trophic levels (predator, herbivore, planktivore), pollution, and terrestrial run-off. Eventhough some research were conducted in the nearly pristine area, such as Dulvy (2004) in Lau Island Fiji with human population densities ranging between two and 42 people km-2. However, this area may not be pristine in a historical context and non exclusive predator fishing still occurs. Hence, recent unambiguous empirical evidence of trophical cascade in coral reef ecosystem with the absent of confounding factors was scarce (Ferretti et al 2010).

Coral reefs have been undergoing global degradation due to increasing natural and anthropogenic impacts for at least the last half-century. The intensity and frequency of stressors, including global climate change, have rapidly increased in number over recent years (Hughes & Connell 1999; Hoegh-Guldberg et al. 2007; Pandolfi et al. 2011). Frequent disturbances such as hurricanes/cyclones, predation outbreaks, diseases and mass bleaching events eat-away at the percent of living coral cover and without recovery, the available space is colonized by sponges, soft corals, and macroalgae. These alternative organisms are often competitive dominants in less than ideal conditions (Norström et al. 2009). The transition is termed a phase-shift from

1. Three steps that governments and private interests could take to protects the world’s remaining coral reefs