Global Warming on Coral Reefs The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world. According to Lewis (2016), it covers more than 300,000 square kilometers and has more than 3,000 reefs, 600 islands, and 300 coral cays. (Immediate response on social media section, para. 4). Because of high sea temperatures, the algae on the coral become stressed and release from the coral, which causes coral bleaching. As the coral reef is normally bright with color, the bleaching has caused the coral to become dull and lifeless. The marine life use this coral for shelter and food. Without the live coral reefs, the fish are dying of illness, variety of species are disappearing, and economy businesses are not productive. Richard Vevers is the chief executive of the Ocean Agency and a professional diver. Vevers is chief of coral bleaching, which he travels the world documenting dead and dying coral reefs. On one of his dives, Vevers (2016) stated, I can’t even tell you how bad I smelt after the dive – the smell of millions of rotting animals. The hard corals were dead and covered in algae, looking like they’ve been dead for years. The soft corals were still dying and the flesh of the animals was decomposing and dripping off the reef structure. Fish can no longer use the coral structure as shelter – blocked by the plants – and before long the coral structures themselves are likely to collapse, leaving little chance of full recovery within the next 10 years.
Corals build colonies that secrete calcium carbonate to form ocean reefs. When they're healthy, coral reefs provide shelter and food for animals all along the food chain, including the top: us. Across the planet, half a billion people rely, directly and indirectly, on corals for their living. That's why what happens to the 9,000-year-old Great Barrier Reef, as well as to other reefs worldwide, is critical. The floods in Queensland have hurt the Great Barrier Reef by funnelling into the ocean vast plumes of freshwater and agricultural runoff that could severely damage the coral. Besides the extreme rain that sparked the floods, rising ocean temperatures, changes to the ocean's chemistry and the global trade in natural resources — all symptoms of our fossil-fuel economy — are waging a multiform war on the marine
Coral reefs not only protect coastlines and beaches from wave damage and erosion, but also are the basis for the fishing and tourism industries. Dying reefs is a worldwide problem, and evidence shows that 10% of the entire world’s coral has died, and 60% will die by 2020 if existing conditions continue (NOAA 2000). The reason that the Australian Great Barrier Reef is so important is because not only is it the largest barrier reef in the world, but it is also one of the most evolved models of how to best manage and protect the world’s largest reef system (Ornitz 1996). It extends for 2,340 kilometers (km), covers 345,000 square km and contains 2,900 reefs, 300 coral cays and 600 continental islands (White 1999). Historically, it has been ahead of the rest of the world in terms of recognizing and addressing problems associated with reef degradation.
The Ocean is a miraculous place filled to the brim with foreign creatures and wondrous wildlife. From the Great Orcas of the Antarctic waters to the minuscule plankton, these marine life conquer the ocean's depths, but it's not just the creatures that reside here. Coral occupy their fair share of space upon the ocean's floor filling the waters with their glamour and residential charm for those in search of shelter.
Coral reefs are about 6% of the Great Barrier Reef. However the warmer the air and the water temperature is the more corals it kill. This is a major concern because of the damages it can cause other creatures using corals as a home and protection from predators. Many sea creatures could become extinct if there are no coral reefs.
According to source 6, the Great Barrier Reef is extremely vulnerable to climate change. For example, an increase in carbon dioxide concentration from 380 ppm to 450 ppm in the atmosphere will increase the sea temperature by one degree which is enough to cause severe coral bleaching. On top of that the sea water will become more acidic and the sea levels will rise, posing more threats to the reef.
"Coral reefs… are fragile structures living within a narrow range of temperature, clarity, salinity and chemistry. Even a slight increase in ocean temperature, or increased CO2… can cause stresses such as bleaching… These stresses slow the rate of growth of the corrals… With some 60 percent of the world’s coral reefs now losing productivity, it’s becoming a global crisis and a scientific mystery."
Bleached corals have reduced growth rates and have an elevated mortality rate. Coral bleaching also affects species such as fish and invertebrates that depend on living coral for food and shelter. Changes in the population and composition of reef fish occur when the corals they utilized are killed as a result of coral bleaching. Reefs affected by coral bleaching lose the aesthetic appeal that is fundamental to reef tourism. This aspect is highly relevant to the Great Barrier Reef because it is a popular tourist destination. It is estimated that the current bleached state of the Great Barrier Reef will cause Australia a loss of $1 billion in tourist income. Finally, coral reefs can be farmed for pharmaceutical compounds used to treat heart disease and cancer among other diseases. Bleached and dead corals are far less likely to provide these
A third problem the coral reefs face is strangulation by seaweed. The over-fishing of the coral reefs leads to a decrease in plant-eating fish. This leads to an overgrowth of seaweed which block the light from the coral causing death to the coral reefs. (Denecke, 2001)
“The experts on our Ecosystem Reef Advisory Committee are however still continuing their in-depth look into the incident and its effect on the surrounding environments.”
While government officials looked the other way, half of the coral has disappeared from along the length of the Great Barrier Reef. Additionally, vast areas of the reef’s coral have suffered serious degradation. It isn’t surprising that the area’s unique level of biodiversity is being threatened by the damage as well.
as they begin to reject the tiny plants that soak up the sun and give the coral
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.
The Great Barrier Reef is a huge, complex ecosystem located off the east coast of northern Queensland and is considered as an ecosystem at risk. It stretches approximately 2300km from Papua New Guinea’s Fly River in the north (8⁰S) to Fraser Island in the south (24⁰S) and has become the largest World Heritage site in the world. It has 1500 of the worlds 13 000 fish species in it area, 200 bird species, 5oo species of seaweed, 600 species of echinoderm, 125 species of shark and ray and around 360 species of hard coral.
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 animals begin life as free-floating larvae, but settle on the sea floor in sedentary colonies. The term "coral" applies both to these animals and to their skeletons, particularly the skeletons of stone-like corals (Discover 1997).