Summary:
The international trade in corals today mainly focuses on live corals for the marine reef aquarium trade. The purpose of this study is to understand the overall trends over time (in this instance, 21 years between 1990-2010) as coral species enter the trade and become more commercially popular. Another reason was to assess the impact that increased aquaculture production of corals has on the trade, and predict how changes in the trade of live corals may impact coral reef ecosystems. Trade increased over 8% per year between 1990 to mid-2000s, and then decreased by 9% each year. The aquarium and trade for corals is associated with positive and negative impacts to ecosystems and societies. The timing of the peak and decline varies among
There are 4,000 species of fish and 800 species of hard coral. Healthy coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse and economically valuable ecosystems on earth. Coral reefs also protect shores against erosion by causing large waves to break and lose some of their force before reaching land. In contrast, coral reefs are one of the most endangered natural resources. Throughout the world, individuals have came to the self-realization that these reefs are dying. Native families on certain islands in Southern Caribbean are no longer able to catch their food close to the shore-line like they once could. Declining reef health is harmful not only to creatures inhabiting coral ecosystems, but also to the human populations that depend upon them. Coral reef depletion is caused inadvertently by air pollution and greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gases cause a change in the PH of the rain. Since coral is a basic substance, acid rain can cause the coral to dissolve away. America should step up to change what is happening for several reasons. These can include because of the reliance on fish for consumption, and the economic gain due to trade or purchase. America is the most powerful country and should therefore take the initiative on these types of issues. Our country has went this period of years without any criminal punishment or regulation for the destruction of our reefs.From the year 1996 to the year 2002, coral reefs onent from 70% coral coverage to below 10% coral coverage. With America’s dependence on fish biodiversity & the supply demand thereof, one can see that allowing coral reefs to undergo such a decline would be a prime example of an unjust action. Boats would purposely run over top of such ecosystems & tear up the homes of millions of organisms. When individuals do this, the economy will directly or
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
There are multiple human factors that can and are affecting the coral reef ecosystems globally. One of the simpler ones is overfishing practices on the reef. An influx of people living in the tropics has caused major stress on coral reefs as a main food source. This can cause major effects on not only fish species, but the whole ecosystem. One article from volume 5, number 9 of the Conservation biology journal written in 1995 by Callum M Roberts from the University of the Virgin Islands reported that overfishing on the coral reef leads to a reduction of species biodiversity, and potential localised extinction of both the target species and other species that are indiscriminately fished from the coral reef. Loss of keystone species, for example, predators, such as triggerfish and pufferfish, of echinoderms, such as sea urchins, through overfishing can affect not just fish communities but the entire ecosystem, leading to major effects on reef processes (Callum M Roberts).
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,
In a conclusion, coral reefs has contributed a lot not only for the aquatic and marine organisms but to human in economy sector too. Mostly organisms in the ocean depends on coral reefs for food, protection from predators and interaction between organisms that lived in the coral reefs. Example of interaction that can be seen in coral reefs is mutualism. In The Great Barrier Reefs, mutualism interaction can be observed between the sea anemone and clownfish. Both organisms obtained benefits as sea anemone is an ideal home for clownfish for protection whereas clownfish helps to lure other fishes to come closer so that sea anemone can catch them for foods (CAC, n.d.). If the coral reefs are affected, it will causing the imbalance of ecosystem
Edgar Allen Poe stories are viewed as being supernatural and tragic; however, when given a closer look there is much more to meet the eye. His stories give the readers an insight of his life and a more profound meaning than what 's on the surfaces. "Although Poe was not the social outcast that Baudelaire conceived him to be, he was, and still is, perhaps the most thoroughly misunderstood of all American write" (Stovall 417). Poe 's poems and short stories can be analyzed in serval different perspectives. Take such as, Poe 's "The Fall of the House of the Usher" can be interpreted for most people as a story about a bizarre relationship between sister and brother. The story appears to just be about a family that only marries within the
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.
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
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
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 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
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 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.
Microfinance provides the basic financial services to low income people, who have lack to access to bank related services. This includes credit for instance, micro saving’s, micro insurance and micro leasing. The main focus of European Union is on microcredit because there is only limited experience with micro savings and micro leasing exists, it is due to the strict regulation, for instance with regard to deposit taking.
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).