How Did The Coral Reef Decline

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

Scientist are interested in this research because by establishing critical levels for heat exposure we are able to assess the resilience of coral reef ecosystems and predict how areas will be affected by future heat episodes. In this study the authors found that northern areas in the Great Barrier Reef showed mortality at lower levels than previously established. We show that

"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."

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.

Irreversible destruction is occurring to our coral reef system. The majority of this destruction is caused by the human race. It is important that the people of the world come together to determine how to keep our precious resources in tact for future generations.

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.

These increasing ocean temperatures, which result in global warming, are mostly due to the amount of CO2 released in the air, therefore threatening the existence of the coral reef systems (Cole, Pratchett and Jones). The reduction of the coral reef ecosystems are attributed to the climate induced bleaching from the past decade. The loss of coral reef environments has direct affects to the habitat of an organism within the reefs (Cole, Pratchett and Jones), leading to a decrease in biodiversity (Coker, Pratchett and Munday).

C: Even though an abundance of research is being conducted by scientists in order to help save the coral reef, their efforts seem to be getting nowhere due to the ignorance of people who do not know how bad the problem truly is. E: Scientists are currently using Google Maps technology to take pictures of the reefs to showcase the severity of the problem (Chasing Coral). A: This makes pictures of the reef’s condition accessible to anyone anywhere on earth, therefore making education about the reef more accessible. E: NOAA is transforming the ways reefs are researched by using satellites to detect where bleaching is occurring and at what level (Chasing Coral). A: By doing this, NOAA is providing useful information to scientists

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

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.

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

By comparing the actual amount of sea life from the census with the predicted natural amount and plotting that against human populations, the researchers were able to put a clear number on the influence of humans on the sustainability of our coral reefs. And this number is very

Mr. KrupensHow Can We Preserve the World’s Coral Reefs Critical Thinking Questions and AnswersHow does the current state of the world’s coral reefs illustrate each of the six key themes of this book?

The deterioration of coral reefs is mainly linked to human activities – 88% of coral reefs are threatened through various reasons as

The effects of global warming touch every human, animal, plant, ocean, landmass, and atmosphere level on this planet. The numerous effects of global warming are mixes of "good" and "bad" results, depending on how your definition of "good" results and "bad" results are. A "good" effect, a person could say, would be for regions with normally cold temperatures to receive warmer temperatures for their normal. Yet, there are more "bad" effects that seem to out weight the "good" effects. Some of the effects would include increases of flooding, severe storm systems, and rising sea-levels. One major consequence would be an increase of temperature globally. This would