Environmental Effects Of Coral Bleaching

It is estimated that by the end of the century, climate change and warmer oceans will kill coral reefs. Lubofsky follows the studies of graduate student Hannah Barkley in this article. Hannah Barkley has been studying coral health in the western Pacific. She investigates how coral reefs respond to climate change and which corals can survive in this climate change. Coral reefs “provide habitats for 25 percent of all marine species” (Lubofsky 28) and protect shorelines from storm damage. Barkley moved her research from “Cape Cod to the Rock Islands of Palau to study reef communities” (Lubofsky 28) since temperature and acidity have risen in some Palauan bays. To obtain the temperatures in the Palauan reefs, Barkley and her colleagues set up a network of underwater temperature sensors around the barrier reef and inside the lagoons. One of Barkley’s advisors, Cohen, found that “ocean warming affects coral reefs in at least two ways” (Lubofsky 29). First, an increase in temperature by 1oC can break down the symbiotic relationship between the coral and algae causing the corals to become bleached and die. Coral bleaching happens when the symbiotic relationship is gone and photosynthesis ceases to occur. Second, warming “stratifies the ocean into warmer surface layers and denser,

Part 1: The film Chasing Coral was created to serve as a point of awareness to the crisis surrounding coral. Coral bleaching has only recently been an issue, especially since 2014. Coral death, bleaching, and boiling have swept through the tropical oceans, causing the destruction of a keystone habitat that supports 25% of marine life. This film aims to highlight these issues, show their severity, and how they impact these ecosystems. The documentary succeeded in exposing these issues to the world and showing how much destruction is being done in such little time.

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 is normally characterized by the expulsion of the zooxanthellae algae, loss of algal pigmentation, or both. Coral bleaching events have had serious effects on corals and reefs worldwide. What is crucial to the understanding of zooxanthellae expulsion and bleaching is how the density of zooxanthellae within the coral is changing, if at all, under the prevailing range of environmental conditions (Gates and Edmunds, 1999). Over the last twenty years, there has been a dramatic increase in both the frequency and intensity of coral bleaching events. Sixty major bleaching events have been reported between 1960 and 1979, whereas only nine were reported prior to 1979 (Huppert and Stone, 1998). Given the dependence of the coral on this symbiotic algae, it is important to determine the cause of these bleaching events. According to Helvarg (2000, p.12):

In 1980, NOAA’s marine biologist started noticing the coral bleaching. There has been three important coral reef bleaching events in the history. The first global bleaching event “El Niño” was in 1998, it was a “huge underwater heatwave killed 16% of the corals on reefs around the world” . The second bleaching event was in 2010 and was called La Niña. This event affected especially areas near Palau and Micronesia in the Pacific. In October of 2015, NOAA announced the third global bleaching event in which has already become the longest event recorded, affecting coral reefs for consecutive years.

Coral bleaching is a phenomenal threat that occurs in response to fluctuating water temperatures, salinity levels, light exposure and disease (Veron, 2009). Embedded within the tissues of coral is a photosynthetic algae known as Zooxanthellae. Both coral and zooxanthellae share an integral symbiotic relationship each allowing each other to function. Zooxanthellae provide the coral with carbohydrates through the process of photosynthesis, allowing the coral to form its calcium carbonate skeleton. In response, the coral provides the zooxanthellae with nutrients needed for its survival. The ‘bleaching’ of the coral is a stress response to the breakdown of the coral-zooxanthellae relationship through the expulsion of the algae from the coral. When

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

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 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

The important issue of coral reefs recovering from bleaching is one of the most relevant issues for our local area. Coral reefs bleach the top coral as a way of saving the other coral when it is being put in tough conditions. This only kills the top of the coral and allows the bottom coral to continue living. The coral uses bleaching to protect itself from further damage from the external conditions. The relevance of coral bleaching is very relevant in our area as we are experiencing changes from climate change as it is getting worse and worse. Coral bleaches for more than one reason. Although there are many ways that they can protect themselves before and after this has happened. Resistance, tolerance and recovery

In particular, rising levels and increased temperatures of the seas, along with ocean acidification, negatively impact the integrity of this magnificent ecosystem and its inhabitants. The abundant microscopic organisms beneath the sea are crucial to the reef’s survival in that the phytoplankton transfer carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and into food, and under the influence of rising temperatures, growth and reproduction decreases dramatically. Known as coral bleaching, this occurrence is a result of the discharging of algae from the coral tissue, and to add, a normally beneficial player in the game, the crown-of-thorns starfish is smothering the already ailing reef. Also, due to rising sea temperatures comes changes in ocean currents, which essentially is responsible for depleting food sources, and with that, transportation of larvae and eggs becomes impeded. Like the domino effect, every action triggers yet another action, and so

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

Microalgae plants called zooxanthellae coexist in symbiosis with corals. The algae provide for the corals beautiful colours and other important factors (Nace, 2016). When the algae plant dies, the colours on the corals disappear and when the corals turn white - they are basically considered as dead (Cotes, 1998, p. 26). This is why it’s called coral bleaching! The relationship between corals and zooxanthellae are so critical that if the symbiosis between them gets disturbed - the corals cannot survive without. Further zooxanthellae plants can not survive when the water temperature becomes abnormally warm or contaminated (Nace, 2016). This explains how mass coral bleaching appears. Mass coral bleaching won’t only cause the destruction of corals, but also the habitat for the fish would be long gone. And without the coral reefs incredible colours or the fishes, it’s arguably that GBR won’t appeal to visitors in the same way, and that the reef may end up with an ecosystem that will not longer attract visitors (Newsome et al, 2002, p. 60). This might further lead Queensland to lose a billion dollar tourism industry and in addition a workplace for thousands of people (Armbruster,

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.

Coral Reef bleaching events have increased in the past 20 years in frequency and extent worldwide.