What Is Australia's Great Barrier Reef?

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.

The sheer enormity of the Great Barrier Reef, in addition to its great age, are two of the most well-known features of this natural phenomenon. It is composed of living coral, dead coral, algae, sponges, fish, snakes and thousands of other species, both plants and animals (2011). Currently, no evidence has been discovered as to when the first human contact occurred at the reef, but the Aboriginal population may have been the first, due to their occupation of Australia for over 40,000 years (Lunar).

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef system. It is located in Queensland and stretches 2,300 km along the coast, covering 348,000 km2. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority was established in 1975 in order to sustainably manage the natural heritage for future generations.

To summarize Rowan Jacobsen’s article in Outside magazine, Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-2016), it is titled the complete death and passing of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Jacobsen says the famous Barrier Reef passed away in 2016 at 25 million years old. He says the Barrier Reef is the largest living structure; stretching 1,400 miles long, 2,900 individual reefs, and 1,050 islands. This grand reef harbors thousands of species. The

The Barrier Reef is the largest reef in the world, and it is located in Australia. It is made up of different types of coral and fish, but sadly the reef is bleaching. Bleaching is the process of water temperatures getting too warm and as a result coral reefs can bleach. When water gets too warm, corals will get rid of the algae living inside their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. Although, when coral reefs turn white this does not mean that they are dead, coral reefs can actually survive a bleaching event. It just means that the coral is under a lot of stress and

Many issues have contributed to the Great Barrier Reef’s decline. The majority of these issues are human caused. This makes the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef so much more disappointing. The Great Barrier Reef is basically dying off. The amount of coral dying is increasing at an alarming rate. An issue that has contributed the most is Global Warming (Board). A journal called Nature stated,

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.

The Great Barrier Reef is a vast organic structure that has existed longer than man. It has always been present underneath the water surface near the coast of Australia, harboring many different types of sea creatures. Over the past few decades, the reef has slowly been dying. Humans have been negatively affecting it for a while now, although they may not have known it at that time. We, as humans, have the duty to correct our mistake and take responsibility for our actions by doing everything in our power to nourish and tend to the reef. Governments all across the globe have come together to collaborate and discuss what they can do to save the reef from extinction. Many solutions have been talked about and some have been put into place, but the effects of these won’t be seen until a number of years later. We must wait and hope that our ignorance up until this point won’t destroy an iconic landmark before we can try and save it.

One of the world’s largest living structure, the Great Barrier Reef is biologically rich and diverse and is Australia’s most remarkable, valued and remarkable environmental resources (Australian government). As the world’s most comprehensive coral reef ecosystem, the Great Barrier Reef is a site of unparalleled natural beauty on the north-east coast of Australia (unesco).

Besides being a spectacle to look at, coral reefs are also one of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. In addition to ⅓ of all fish (not just species) spend at least a portion of their lives on a reef, they are also home to mollusks, sponges, turtles, and a plethora of different species of coral (Basic Facts, 2014). Coral reefs also can protect coastlines from wave erosion and also help support fisherman that depend on the reef as their livelihood. Contrary to the

The mission is called CORAL and it “...combines aerial surveys using imaging spectrometer technology…with ‘in-water validation’ provided by CSIRO and the University of Queensland” (“NASA begins study of the Great Barrier Reef” 1). A:Dr. Tim Malthus, research leader of CSIRO’s coastal monitoring, modeling, and informatics group, believes that a larger understanding of the reef will help researchers gain a better understanding of how it can be protected (“NASA begins study of the Great Barrier Reef” 2). E: CORAL is unlike any research done ever before because it will study the health of corals in the Torres Strait along with surveying large sections of the reef (“NASA begins study of the Great Barrier Reef” 2). Dr Tim Malthus stated that the Torres Strait is a “complex high tide area that has been historically less studied “ and by researching it, scientists might gain more information about the causes of decline in that area. In order to gain this unstudied data, CORAL will describe coral reef condition and measure three key places of reef health where data is currently limited: composition, primary productivity,

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

The total area the Marine Park covers is 35 million hectares, 33% of which is comprised of special protection zones. (Zonation MAP Pg.X) The reef system comprises of 600 types of soft and hard corals, more than 100 species of jellyfish, 3000 varieties of mollusks, 500 species of worms, 1625 types of fish, 133 varieties of sharks and rays, and over 30 species of whales and dolphins. Marine Turtles continue to be threatened throughout the world and are the most vulnerable species that inhabit the Marine Park. The Great Barrier Reef is a home for 6/7 global species of marine turtles. In attempts to protect the habitats that support the life of many reef fish and creatures, the park management has to regulate the commercial use; fishing mass amounts and the non-commercial use of the environment;

First of all The Great Barrier Reef was discovered in, June 11, 1770. It has been around for more than 500,000 years old that brings back to when the dinosaurs were alive. Captain James Cook, the British explorer with an amazing discovering of the Great Barrier Reef by sudden an impact. His ship, the Endeavour, ran around the Reef on June 11, 1770. Today we use this reef for snorkeling or fishing.

The Great Barrier Reef is a wonderfully magnificent creation put on this earth by God for us to enjoy. The reef is located in the Coral Sea right off the coast of Queensland. It is composed of 2,900 individual reefs and together makes up the largest structure on earth composed of living organisms these organisms are called coral polyps. The Great Barrier Reef is so enormously large that it can even be seen from outer space!