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Great Barrier Reef Research Paper

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The lands and seas of Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia/Oceania are no longer what they used to be. Animals are becoming endangered, the Great Barrier reef is dying, and the land has become eroded due to human impact. The main causes of loss in biodiversity include invasive species, deforestation, land and water use change, over hunting, pollution, and climate change.
Southeast Asia and Oceania regions supports areas of significant biodiversity, endemic wildlife and a major proportion of the world’s threatened species. Development and expansion along with rapid economic growth within the region has resulted in regional decline in biodiversity (Iwmi, 13). Human-induced disturbance of natural ecosystems can alter species composition and ecological processes.
Southeast Asia’s benefits of its marine ecosystem services however, have been eroding since the mid-1960s as …show more content…

Moderate to extensive bleaching were reported throughout Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, bleaching started in early 1998 in West Sumatra resulting in over ninety percent mortality. It then spread to other reefs throughout the country causing decreases in live coral cover ranging from thirty to ninety percent (Chao, 44). Then in Australia the Great Barrier Reef, a surveyor discovered up to 50 percent mortality in the reef from coral bleaching near Cape York, Australia. “Scientists have predicted that nearly half of these reefs (more than 4,600 square miles or 12,000 square kilometers, or more than five percent of reefs) could disappear forever” (National Geographic). As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rises due to emissions of fossil fuels, the gas dissolves into the ocean. Which causes the pH of the water to lower, causing it to become more acidic, which can make it harder for reef-building organisms to construct their hard

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