Great Barrier Reef Research Paper

Along the coasts of rocky beaches, an intricate ecological community inhabits the ‘rocky intertidal’ areas. The variety of rocks is home to an array of slimy, squishy, and colorful organisms. This intertidal community is comprised of nine species: three different algae, three stationary filter-feeders, and three mobile consumers. The three algae, Nori Seaweed, Black Pine, and Coral Weed, are the community’s producers and inhabit the bottom of the food chain. The next three species are stationary consumers. They are Mussel, Goose Neck Barnacle, and Acorn Barnacle. Because of their consumer status, they are more competitively dominant than algae. The last three components are the mobile consumers: Whelk, Chiton, and Starfish. They

Marine waters cover approximately four-fifths of the surface of the Earth. Such places are considered as an ecosystem because the plant life supports the animal life and vice versa. Marine ecosystems usually have quite a large biodiversity and are therefore thought to have a good resistance against invasive/introduced species. Sharks play a very important role in the oceans in a way that an average fish does not/can not. Sharks are at the top of the food chain and/or food web in virtually every single part of every ocean (Arctic, Atlantic, Indian, Pacific and Southern). Sharks keep the populations of other fish healthy and in proper proportion for the marine ecosystem; therefore if the shark population keeps decreasing there would be overpopulating species of fish and other food consumed by sharks. This could then lead on to cause many problems to the plant life as well, as some omnivorous animals may be forced to have a diet of strictly plants, which

The coastal environment I have decided to talk about today is Ningaloo Reef. The reef is on the remote western coast of Australia, it includes one of the longest nearshore reefs in the world. Temperate and tropical currents converge in the Ningaloo region resulting in highly diverse marine life including spectacular coral reefs, abundant fishes and species with special conservation significance such as turtles, whale sharks, dugongs, whales and dolphins.

There are many different creatures in the ocean. They are categorized into 3 different groups that are Zooplankton, Nekton, and Benthos. In the ocean the zooplankton eat phytoplanktons. Zooplankton are eaten by all of the larger animals. Phytoplankton self reproduce so they don’t need to eat other things. They create their own food. The Nekton eat the zooplankton because it is a smaller species than the rest.

Biophysical interactions refer to the ways in which the four spheres, atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere interact with each other, which in turn leads to their diverse ecosystem functioning and the extent and nature to which they operate. The Great Barrier Reef is a diverse underwater marine ecosystem located off the coast of northern Queensland, it stretches 2300km to Fraser Island, has 3 000 different reefs and it is considered the largest living structure on the planet. The biophysical interactions including the dynamics of weather and climate, geomorphic and hydrological process biogeographical processes and the adjustments in response to natural stress all lead to the diversity and functioning of the Great Barrier Reef

Introduction Stretching a massive 3,000 km along Queensland’s coastline, beginning at the top of the Cape York Peninsula in the north, extending down to Bundaberg in the south and covering 348,000km2 is where lays the Great Barrier Reef.

Primary producers produce their own nutrients, and make their own food through photosynthesis. Those organisms are plankton and sea weeds. The second on trophic levels are the secondary consumers such as smaller fish and sea urchins. Third on the trophic levels are decomposers. Decomposers are lobsters and sea turtles. Tertiary consumers are the top of the food chain, they are sharks and bigger fish. Predation is major in a coral reef because there is so much food supply. Mimicry is used to keep the predators away but wearing bright

The nurse shark is good at camouflaging.the sea turtles adaptation is it has retractable limbs. The seahorse is good at using its tail to attach to the plant. The starfish can regenerate amputated limbs. The nurse shark is the main predator in this food web.The energy from the sun goes to the turtle grass and gold algae.the gold algae gives energy to a reef lobster, shrimp,clownfish,sea turtle ,and sea coral.the turtle grass gives its energy to sea turtles.the shrimp gives its energy to a seahorse. The sea coral gives its energy to a butterfly fish. The nurse shark gets its energy from the butterfly fish, clownfish and sea

Consequently, there are two important factors that contribute to the ignorance of the Great Barrier Reef ‘s impacts. First, Mr. Hunt’s

living in their bodies. These plants help feed the corals, soak up their wastes and

(Principle number 3). The ocean contains many organisms and ecosystems that contribute to our life on land. These ecosystems function by transferring energy between different trophic levels. Trophic levels are the positions in which organisms are within an ecosystem. The order for this is 1. Autotrophs – things that can create their own food, 2. Herbivores – organisms that eat plants. 3. Carnivores – organisms that eat other organisms and finally 4. Decomposers – organisms which decompose organic material. For example, plants are at the very beginning of the trophic levels. They are labeled as autotrophs since they make their own food with photosynthesis, which we all knew already. This is the same for plants that lay on the bottom of the ocean, they take in the CO2 emissions we create in the atmosphere and take in sunlight to create

There are many types of plants and animals in a Marine Biome. Some of the types of plants that a person can find in the ocean would be seaweed, seagrass, mangroves, and algae. There are many different kinds of algae in the ocean, two of them are kelp, and phytoplankton. These different kinds of algae help lower the level of carbon dioxide in the water and they help produce most of the oceans oxygen (Nelson). There are many different kind of fish that cover the ocean floors.

The surface layer of the ocean is the epipelagic zone. This zone is from the surface of the ocean to about 200 meters down. Since this zone is close to the surface the currents move at a fast speed. These currents carry nutrients throughout the zone. This zone has most of the life in the ocean because the sunlight penetrates the water here. The animals that live here range from whales to small phytoplankton. These phytoplankton use the nutrients in the water and the sunlight to produce their own food. This is how the phytoplankton survived, the phytoplankton themselves were used as food for other animals. Some of these animals that eat the plankton are small fish but not only fish eat them whales also eat them. The temperature of the water ranges from

Location- The location of an ecosystem affects its functioning. At a global scale, latitude, distance from the sea and altitude play decisive roles in determining climate and ultimately the nature of particular ecosystems. The Great Barrier Reef is found along the Queensland coastline. It stretches as far north as Papa New Guinea, 8o South Latitude, to just above (north) of Fraser Island, 24o South Latitude, (an approximate 2300 Km stretch). There are four main regions along the Great Barrier Reef. These are The Northern, Central, Mackay, and Southern Region. The Great Barrier Reef also has continuity both geographically and temporally. Reef drilling data has proved that the reef in the north is 1km to 2km’s thick and existed about 15 million years ago. However the southern region of the reef is much thinner at only 120 meters thick and younger at only about 2 million years. Due to this location the corals which require a very specific conditions are able to grow due to the right amount of light which is the main food source of the zooxanthellae which are organisms contained in the corals. Corals are limited to areas of the sea where the water temperature does not fall below 17 degrees Celsius and doesn’t exceed 34 degrees Celsius and the coral system prefers to be in a relatively stable saline conditions as elevated levels stunt coral growth and low levels will result in the zooxanthellae dying. Thus creating a very vulnerable ecosystem due to the specifics of the coral

A very wide range of fish lives in coral reefs. These fish include both those who live entirely within the reefs and those that move in and out of the reef's periphery. Both types of fish eat smaller animals that also live in the reef or small plants that habitat the reef including seaweed and algae. The fish that live in coral reefs are often very brightly colored, a fact that allows that allows them to blend