Coral Reef Climate Change

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef zone in Australia and it is now being suffered by the coral bleaching. The coral reefs usually have colorful outfits and it provides a great habitat to many of ocean creatures. Nonetheless the many coral reefs in Great Barrier Reef are deforming to be white colored. There are microscopic plant cells in symbiosis with coral reefs, which requires the sun’s energy. However, since the temperature went up, the balance of symbiosis goes out, so the coral reefs releases the plant cells to the water and it makes its white color. The video states that anything that helps the climate change will also helps the coral bleaching. The coral reef zones like Great Barrier Reef are deeply related to the ocean ecosystem, so the if the destruction goes on and on, in close future our eyes might not able to see that magnificently beautiful corals anymore and many of ocean creatures. The destruction of one ecosystem doesn’t only hazardous to those creatures in that ecosystem, but it gives dangers to all ecosystem and could lead to another destruction of other

“Unusually high water temperatures have caused many coral species to lose their zooxanthellae, turn white, and die prematurely, thereby leading to a decline in reef building. Scientists predict bleaching will reduce diversity among corals and the creatures that depend on them” (“Great” World Book). Additionally, changes in the salinity of the water affects the Great Barrier Reef. Salinity is changing because of changes in climate. This is because warmer air from climate change can absorb more water than cooler air, therefore changing evaporation cycles. In places where there is more rainfall than evaporation, rainfall is increasing. In places where evaporation exceeds rainfall, evaporation is increasing. This process is widening the gap between humid and arid regions. This proves to scientists that climate change is affecting salinity (Calif). Furthermore, diseases are produced among coral because of climate change as well as pollution. Increasing temperatures are so effective on the reef that the only disease that can be treated is black-band disease (“Coral”). Ultimately, the coral in the Great Barrier Reef becomes brittle and pale because of these

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

Global declines in coral reef abundance are closely associated with increasing human pressures (Hughes et al., 2003 and Pandolfi et al., 2003). Projected trends of ocean warming and acidification will exacerbate coral reef degradation, creating adverse human and ecological consequences in locations such as the Hawaiian Islands where economic benefits of coral reefs are estimated to exceed $360 million yr−1 (Cesar and Van Beukering, 2004 and Nicholls et al., 2007). Corals face additional local stressors which may intensify climate change induced effects and act synergistically to alter benthic community structure (Ateweberhan et al., 2013 and Smith et al., 2001). The impact of local stressors such as water pollution on coral health will rise as anthropogenic disturbances persist in the coastal environment.

Another huge impact climate change is having on our planet is the effect it’s having on the Great Barrier Reef. It is 2,300 kilometers long and stretches along the Queensland coast in Australia. I read an article in which they stated this quote "This year is the third time in 18 years that the Great Barrier Reef has experienced mass bleaching due to global warming, and the current event is much more extreme than we've measured before," said Hughes. (Plumer,

Coral cannot survive when the temperature of the water gets too high. Global Warming has affected many areas of the world, but it has especially taken a toll on the ecosystems of coral reefs. The increase in temperatures has caused an increase in coral bleaching. During a bleaching the algae in the coral is released and the coral turns white. Coral can survive through a bleaching period, but they are more vulnerable. In many cases the coral is not able to survive though. Bleaching can also be caused by runoff and pollution, which we all can help

The article The 27–year decline of coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef and its causes investigates the spatial and temporal dynamics of coral cover, identifies the main drivers of coral mortality, and quantifies the potential rates of recovery for the Great Barrier Reef. Authors Glenn De’ath, Katharina Fabricius, Hugh Sweatman and Marji Puotinen express concern about the continued degradation of the ocean’s coral reefs. The question the authors are interested in answering is what is cause the degradation of the reefs. They explore the effects on the reefs from things such as coral predation by crown-of-thorns starfish, tropical cyclones and coral bleaching. One popular idea is that whole reefs have been destroyed by the crown-of-thorns starfish. The starfish is known to prey on coral and digest the surface of its living tissue from the coral skeletons. These skeletons are essential for reef integrity alongside with the mass of coralline algae. Tropical cyclones serve as another disturbance for the reefs. Studies show that coral breakage increases with maximum cyclone wind both inshore and offshore. On average about 5% of corals are broken on reefs at “22 cm s-1 winds”, while 50% are broken at the reefs with strongest winds (Fabricius, 2010). Coral bleaching is defined as the loss of intracellular endosymbionts from reefs coral through either way of expulsion and or loss of algal pigmentation. Bleaching happens when conditions necessary for sustaining coral 's

Australia has set aside about one-third of the reef complex as a marine protected area in which all extractive activities are banned. Overfishing and other destructive practices have been halted, but other problems still threaten the reef. Warm water has been causing bleaching (For reasons we don’t fully understand, when they’re stressed by warm water or other factors, the corals expel their algae symbionts. If the bleaching is too severe, the corals die). In recent years, bleaching incidents have become increasingly widespread and severe. In 2002, between 65 and 90 percent of the corals within the 284,000 km2 of the Great Barrier Reef showed signs of bleaching. Global warming can only make this situation worse. Another serious concern is that the increased CO2 concentrations are making ocean water more acidic, which interferes with the coral’s ability to create the calcium carbonate exoskeletons that create the reef. Some marine biologists warn that if current trends continue, all the coral could be dead within the next 50 years.

Coral bleaching has increased dramatically over the past 50 years, as the oceans temperature and acidification has risen, all a result of the increasing amounts of CO2. “Rising Carbon Dioxide levels in the world’s oceans due to climate change combined with rising sea temperatures, could accelerate coral bleaching, destroying some reefs before 2050” (Sayer, 2008). Susannah Sayler (Australian scientist) tested this theory on 30 large aquarias in the waters off Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef. Using CO2 and temperatures predicted for the middle and end of the century, the scientists found ocean acidification from CO2, which reduces coral calcification, had the potential to increase bleaching and the death of reef-building organisms (Perry,

Scientists say that climate change is making coral bleach. Coral bleaching is the process of coral turning white. This happens when the water gets too warm for the coral to prosper. Even in the cooler parts of the reef coral is bleaching slowly. The Great Barrier Reef has been hit with a big loss of coral and it is important to our economy because it provides protection. It works as natural barrier between floods and populated land. Oceanservice.noaa.gov says “When reefs are damaged or destroyed, the absence of this natural barrier can increase the damage to coastal communities from normal wave action and violent storms.” This means that if each coral reef is slowly dying than when they all are gone not only will there be lack of protection

Coral is essential for the construction of coral reefs which hosts and immensely biodiverse ecosystem. Due to rising temperature caused by global warming the coral become stressed and go through a bleaching event that slows down reproduction, can make the coral susceptible to disease and can cause it to eventually die if the stressor is not fixed. If ocean temperatures continue to rise entire ecosystems will be destroyed by the death of

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

Bleaching occurs when the corals are exposed to warming waters. The heat causes the corals to release their internal photosynthetic algae. This algae is normally used by reef-building creatures as food, but once released, it’s gone and causing many of these reef-building creatures to die. One article suggests,”Bleaching events often result in the exodus of sixty to ninety percent of a coral’s zoolanthellae mass. By 2030, more than 90 percent of the world's coral reefs will be endangered by bleaching.” The beauty of the reef is slowly being destroyed by this climate change

The Great Barrier Reef alone contains 1400 different species of coral (Stokes et al., 2004), which is an aquatic invertebrate that provides a home to millions of different species of organisms. In the past decade the number of coral species classified as endangered has increased (Sarkar & Ghosh, 2013), with coral bleaching being the main, underlying cause (Lukoschek et al., 2013). Coral bleaching is part of the natural evolution of coral, however several mass bleaching incidences have occurred in recent decades due too human activity (Lesser, 2007). A mass global bleaching event in 2010 sparked the attention of scientists around the world as to the impact coral bleaching has on the surrounding environment and urged scientists to further pursue possible methods to overcome coral bleaching. This essay will outline what coral bleaching is and the overall impact it has on the environment. Additionally, a conclusion will be drawn as to whether enough is being done to decrease coral bleaching incidences.

The average temperature of the earth rises every year due to the emission of greenhouse gases like CO2 to the atmosphere for example by burning fossil fuels or by operating factory farming, particularly by cow farms which produce enormous quantities of methane. The world's increased temperature ensure that the poles start to melt and associated with that the sea level rises and the salinity of the ocean decreases, droughts and storms occur more frequent and more intense. These changes of course have an impact on the Great Barrier Reef.