The Importance Of An Ecosystem

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders around the world. It is approximately 344,400 kilometers long. The Great Barrier Reef is home to many marine organisms. More than 1,500 species of fish live in the Great Barrier Reef. The coral that forms The Great Barrier Reef is made of polyps. Billions of living coral polyps are attached to the reef. The colour of these polyps range from blue, green, purple, red and yellow. As the largest living structure on the planet, the Great Barrier Reef is incredibly plentiful and various. Stretching 2300 kilometers, this natural icon is so large it can even be seen from outer space. While it’s known mostly for its large maze of colorful reefs, its intricate architecture also provides a home for a huge number of plants and creatures. There are multiple reasons as why the Great Barrier Reef is important, as it helps protect coastlines from the detrimental effects of waves and storms, provides habitats and protection for many marine organisms, help in nutrient recycling and is the source of nitrogen and other essential foods for marine food chains.

As defined by “Environmental Science- 14th Edition”, an ecosystem is “a set of organisms within a defined area or volume that interact with one another and with their environment of nonliving matter and energy.” I will be using the computer simulation to alter the interactions of the organisms in the ecosystem to see what changes occur.

The Great Barrier Reef is known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is believed to be one of the most incredible places on this earth. This reef is the largest living organism on this planet and the only living thing on earth visible from space (2011). The warm waters of the southwest Pacific Ocean are the perfect environments to create the world's largest system of coral reefs. The Great Barrier Reef is in such pristine condition that it was listed by the World Heritage Trust as a protected site and is therefore, managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to ensure that its beauty is maintained for many travelers and sightseers (Edgar 2010). Due to the complexity of this natural phenomenon, human practices have led

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most complex natural ecosystems and was listed on the World Heritage List in 1981. It has a large biodiversity with a great variety of habitats and threatened species including over 400 species of corals, 4,000 species of molluscs, over 1,500 species of fish and a huge diversity of sponges, marine worms, anemones and crustaceans.

An ecosystem is a community of interacting organisms and their environment. If one of the organisms is disturbed, it can change the trophic cascade which is a sequence of impacts down the food chain. Hannibal supports this statement by writing “keeping these connections going ensures healthy, functioning ecosystems, which in turn support human life.”(578) An example of this is if all of the beavers died the other organisms would go somewhere else or die due because they no longer will have dams to support their ideal habitat.

Ecosystem: a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment

-Ecosystem: any environment containing living organisms interacting with each other and with the non-living parts of that environment.

Echinoderms such as starfish, sea cucumbers, and urchins are identified by their symmetry and central mouth. This species is found decorating the coral reefs by their variety of color and sizes. Because some of these animals like to burrow in the sand, they can supply oxygen to some of the depths in the ocean. Echinoderms are a staple food in many sea animals diet.

Ecology is the branch of biology that studies the interactions of organisms with each other, and with their physical and chemical environments. Another main topic discussed in this chapter is ecosystems. Ecosystems are habitats or areas that consists of two basic components. Ecosystems include such things as biotic and abiotic components. Biotic components are living organisms within an ecosystem and abiotic components are things like sunlight, temperature, and rainfall. Within an ecosystem are producer and autotrophs. Producers and autotrophs consist of plants, algae, and bacteria. These two organisms obtain food from inorganic materials and light energy. As to where consumer and heterotrophs obtain energy by eating plants or the animals that eat the plants. An ecosystem is made up of several different parts. Each part of an ecosystem is different from the other. None of these parts within the ecosystem rely on the other. They are all interdependent being either predators or

The Crown of thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) is another large threat to the reef. These starfish consumes coral tissue faster than the corals can grow. This is commonly known as a crown-of-thorns starfish ‘outbreak’.

Managing the land for the full range of public benefits and goods: The Peak District National Park provides a wide range of public benefits (ecosystem services) some of which are not widely recognised.

The Great Barrier Reef is an oceanic/costal ecosystem off the coastline of Port Douglas, Australia. There are man costal systems that are significant to the role of the Reef including coral reefs, wetlands, and rainforests etc. The reef consists of many diverse corals and is a home for over 1,500 different species of fish. The reef is unique for many distinctive reasons; a reason that is unique is that it is acknowledged as one of the most imperative biological possessions. The Reef is a complex ecosystem with numerous organisms trusting on each other for nourishment and endurance. Broadly all collections of maritime plants and animals are extravagantly signified in the Reef. The animals range from dugongs

An ecosystem is the dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment as a functional unit. Ecosystems are systems through which incoming solar energy is captured and channelled through a hierarchy of life forms. Each ecosystem has its own characteristic plant and animal community.

As the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)in Australia is the natural heritage, whose ecosystem is subject to

An ecosystem is a community of living organisms coinciding with the nonliving components of a specific environment. One example includes the freshwater ecosystem contributing to Earth’s aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes and ponds, rivers, streams, springs and wetlands consisting of low salt concentrations (University of California