The Effects Of Coral Bleaching On Coral Reefs

Death, murder and betrayal these are probably not the words any leader wants to hear. In the book the lord of the flies which is a fiction by William golding. In this book a plane crashes on an island and a group of schoolboys get stuck on the island. There's a struggle for power on the island, Ralph and jack both want to lead the kids' on the island. But the most superior leader on the island is jack he gets the kids, food, gets them to listen to him, and gets them saved.

For a reef to develop successfully, it needs to grow in water that is greater than 18°C and less than 29°C and live in shallow clear water to allow for maximal light penetration, key for photosynthesis. However if the temperatures exceed more than 29 degrees for several hours upon end, coral bleaching is apparent. When corals begin to bleach they expel Zooxanthellae algae (which lives within the coral tissue), the coral transforms a pale white and in turn means it is extremely vulnerable and subject to increased fatalities. Furthermore, the presence of Tropical Cyclones can cause heavy physical damage to the reef, by breaking down coral colonies and displacing them from the reef structure.

The coral reef’s ecosystem are in major threat of the current bleaching events. Coral reefs are the main marine environment, which includes a variety of over 4,000 fish, and 800 different type of hard coral (“Corals”). Over 25 percent of marine animals are supported by the coral environment (“Coral Reefs”). The reefs are a key element of the ocean’s ecosystem (“Coral Reef Destruction”). Water temperatures are estimated to keep rising in the decades to come, which intensifies coral bleaching and other problems like black band disease, and white plague. These illnesses cause a majority of the coral to die, which will then lead to their ecosystem to plummet (“Global Warming”). Research as estimated that one to eight million organisms are yet unknown to scientists

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 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."

Coral bleaching usually occurs when the surface of a sea with coral in it becomes too warm for the coral. When the water heats to as little as one degree higher than normal, coral expels the algae living in its tissue, which causes it to turn completely white. The rise in temperature of the sea surface has been linked mainly to global warming. Other causes of coral bleaching include oxygen starvation caused by an increase in zooplankton, increased solar irradiance, increased sedimentation, bacterial infections, changes in salinity, herbicides, low tide and exposure, cyanide fishing and elevated sea levels. Bleaching events in 2016 were unprecedented, nearly 90% of the coral in the Great

According to the latest research of scientist team led by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), tropical corals cannot survive without the Symbiodinium algae that live inside them. These photosynthetic organisms supply the corals with all their food, more than 90 percent. UNSW specialists say that increased water temperatures stress the algae, provoking them to produce an excess of toxic substances, which called reactive oxygen species. As a result of intoxication, damage both the algae and the corals.

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

Coral reefs are threatened by global warming. They can only live in waters between 18 C and 30 C. Therefore, with the increase in temperature of the surrounding water, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of coral bleaching events during the past 2 decades (which have had some of the warmest years in history). When ocean temperatures get too high, coral polyps lose the symbiotic algae inside them, causing them to turn white, or "bleach," and eventually die.

“Unusually high water temperatures have caused many coral species to lose their zooxanthellae, turn white, and die prematurely, thereby leading to a decline in reef building. Scientists predict bleaching will reduce diversity among corals and the creatures that depend on them” (“Great” World Book). Additionally, changes in the salinity of the water affects the Great Barrier Reef. Salinity is changing because of changes in climate. This is because warmer air from climate change can absorb more water than cooler air, therefore changing evaporation cycles. In places where there is more rainfall than evaporation, rainfall is increasing. In places where evaporation exceeds rainfall, evaporation is increasing. This process is widening the gap between humid and arid regions. This proves to scientists that climate change is affecting salinity (Calif). Furthermore, diseases are produced among coral because of climate change as well as pollution. Increasing temperatures are so effective on the reef that the only disease that can be treated is black-band disease (“Coral”). Ultimately, the coral in the Great Barrier Reef becomes brittle and pale because of these

The Pharaoh demanded that all the Hebrew baby boys be put to death (thrown in the Nile). I think the person telling this story is possibly Moses's sister because it explains that “his sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him”. This is how she could tell the story because I feel as if she was always keeping an eye on him. In the story, Moses is found by the Pharaoh’s daughter, who decided to find him a nurse and keep him as her own (her son) when she grew up. I feel like the Pharaoh would find out that Moses is not her child and be killed. I think the purpose of this story is to show hope and love even in the worst of times.

Dr. James Kerry from James Cook University (2017) explains that, “A temperature change of only one or two degrees for three or four weeks is enough to push corals out of their comfort zones and they then have more stress put upon them” (para. 30). This ethos argument is very effective. Doctor James Cook gives a lot of input on coral bleaching that is very interesting. If coral bleaching isn’t on your radar yet, it will be soon. The coral reef provides homes to an abundant amount of marine life. Bleaching could cause the extinction of many coral species. According to Stephanie Wear, The Nature Conservancy’s director of coral reef conservation (2017), “Recent steamy temperatures indicate a rough year ahead for the world’s coral reefs” (para. 1). About ninety-three percent of climate change heat is absorbed by the ocean. One thing to understand is that corals have a very small

Coral bleaching is a broad yet complex topic that involves the mutualistic and obligate symbiosis between corals and dinoflagellate algae of the genus Symbiodinium, commonly referred to as zooxanthellae. Bleaching occurs when a significant concentration of the zooxanthellae are no longer fixed on the coral, which occurs due to an inability to perform their role (Wooldridge and Done 2009). With the often colorful dinoflagellate algae gone, the coral is left as a white carbonate skeleton (Douglas 2003). There are many effects, symptoms, and chemical changes that occur to arrive at that point; bleaching, therefore, can be thought of as a broad term describing the multiple different symptoms and mechanisms causing these deleterious responses of coral. These effects influence not only the endosymbiotic relationship of the corals and dinoflagellates but also the myriad of organisms that depend on the corals.

Since early 1998, climate change has been demonstrating its effects in increasing the ocean 's temperature (West & Salm, 2003). Warm water stress corals causing the phenomenon known as coral bleaching, by which expulsion of colourful symbiotic algae the zooxanthellae, vital for

Coral reefs contain symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae which gives the coral its healthy brownish color. The algae "utilizes sunlight and the coral animal's respired CO2 to produce energy rich compounds that feed the coral host" (AIMS, 2003). When stress factors such as "heat, solar radiation, pollution, reduced salinity and changes in oxygenation" occur around the coral, bleaching can begin (Dennis). When bleaching occurs, the algae, which create nutrients for the coral to feed from, is released due to stresses to the reef. Thus the coral starves and its white calcium carbonate skeleton of the coral becomes visible (AIMS, 2003). But one of the main stresses that contributes to the lifeless white appearance of the coral is the warmer temperatures of the sea surface water.