Coral Ocean Trade

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

The article “Coral Crusader: Racing Against Time To Predict the Fate of Corals in a Warming Ocean” was written by Evan Lubofsky and was published in Volume 51, Issue 2 of the journal Oceanus in 2016. I accessed the article through the University of West Florida’s library’s website by searching for the Opposing Viewpoints in Context database under the “A-Z Database List.” Once in the database, one can search the title of the article in the search box to locate it. Lubofsky intended this article to be read by the general public who are interested in how coral reefs can survive in warming oceans. The main purpose is to inform readers how a warmer ocean will have negative effects on coral reefs.

| Indian Ocean Trade | Global Trade System beginning in the 1500s | | Kendra Turner-Phillips | 12/8/2009 | | Indian Ocean Trade Global Trade System beginning in the 1500s 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.

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.

There remains a plethora of work to be done in order to combat the global issues threatening coral reefs, such as climate change, terrestrial runoff, and unsustainable fishing practices (Mulhall 2009). The belief that coral reef conservation is best accomplished at localized level needs to be challenged by international organizations’ (IOs), non-governmental organizations’ (NGOs), and state government programs’ reports that examine the importance of global initiatives in addressing threats to the world’s reefs (Mulhall 2009). It is also crucial that more international funding is provided to coral reef host countries in order to help them end the degradation to their reefs (Mulhall 2009). Lastly, an international coral reef-specific agreement that focuses on the conservation of these ecosystems and includes sanctions for noncompliance must be implemented to better address reef degradation (Mulhall

They also provide benefit to humans in the form of food and medicine as well as an economic benefit to local communities for tourism. Along with the fact that they protect the shores from any impact of waves and storms keeping the communities around the area untouched. Coral reefs are also known for being biologically rich and economically valuable ecosystems on Earth. If coral reefs were to be completely extinct, not only will we face the dangers of losing a source of food and medicine, but also the result of losing something that is so important to our ecosystem could not be seen to actually happen. The organization World Meteorological says that tropical reefs can bring in more than $30 billion annually for their coastline protection, tourism, and food. However, not only do they cover 280,000 km2 of an area, but also provide support to thousands of species. Because Coral reefs make a huge difference to the ecosystem, they are known as the “rainforests of the seas”. The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) puts an estimated cost on how coral reefs provide economic support at $375 billion each year. The threats to coral reefs has not decreased at all, but rather have been rising these past few

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

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.

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

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

Population growth and development has altered the coral reef environment. Destructive fishing practices, land-based sources of pollution such as agricultural runoff, and excessive coastal development all have detrimental effects on delicate reefs. Global warming due to increased concentrations of greenhouse gases may result in sea-level rise and

Twenty five percent of all marine life on earth live in coral reefs. Coral reefs are very fascinating with their array of living things in the ecosystem. Coral reefs are known to be a very beautiful place though coral reefs do much more for humans than just tourism. Coral reefs provide food, resources and many other valuable things.“ Without the oceans there would be no life on earth” - Peter Benchley. That quote seems like a stretch of the truth but the oceans provide more for humans than we realize and we can’t live without the oceans including coral reefs. Unfortunately, many of coral reefs around the world are dying because of humans with corals bleaching and animals dying from inhaling or eating harmful waste dumped in the ocean but there are many ways to help. All of these concepts will be described below. Life forms, impacts of climate change/human activity, and endangered species are the topics for this essay.

1. Three steps that governments and private interests could take to protects the world’s remaining coral reefs Preventing trawler fishing boats from fishing in coral reef areas is necessary to protect them and prevent coral bleaching. Deep coral reefs that are thousands of years old are being destroyed by large numbers