Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The Destruction of the World’s Coral Reefs
Anthropogenic threats to coral reefs
Anthropogenic threats to coral reefs
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The Destruction of the World’s Coral Reefs
Ocean reefs have provided habitats for many different types of species for thousands of years. In the past 25 years, reefs have become increasingly threatened by a number of things resulting in a change under the surface of the water. Over the past few decades, the mass destruction on coral reefs using a variety of methods such as coral bleaching has resulted in permanent damage to reefs, severe carnage to marine life, as well as threatening the future on a global scale. If it continues, the destruction could cripple nation’s economies and impair marine life. Coral reef destruction has caused mass eradication that affects life under the water as well as above it. Because coral is so important to animals and species whose habitat is coral itself, coral’s role serves a huge purpose in its environment. This is why the destruction of coral is such a huge issue.
Coral is a complex underwater structure that is currently being threatened by many different types of destruction. Made from calcium carbonate, when coral is meshed together with other coral, it is formed into a solid configuration called a coral reef. This usually happens when free-swimming coral larvae attach to submerged rocks or other hard surfaces. When the reef is made, there can be three different types of reefs: Fringing Reefs, which are reefs that grow directly off of the shore, Barrier Reefs, which are linear reefs that parallel the shore with a lagoon in between, and Atolls, which are large circular reefs that surround a lagoon. Coral gets their food source due to a partnership with tiny algae called zooxanthellae. These algae produce sugar using sunlight that is transferred into the coral, providing a source of energy and food. Coral reefs are in danger because of...
... middle of paper ...
...e across the board, but I see areas of incredible resilience in even the most severely hit ecosystems.” Rick states, “There are so many places you can go where reefs, if not bouncing back, are at least holding their own in a suppressed state.”
For the last 30 or 40 years, the many different types of coral reef destruction has made heavy impacts on coral. Destruction such as coral bleaching, global warming, pollution, and human harm, reefs have suffered substantially over time. Not only does this affect the economy of nations, but also destroys many lives underwater. Marine life forms such as fish and turtles are greatly impacted by this continuous tarnish to coral reefs everywhere throughout the globe. The future of many lives of underwater animals and the welfare of lives about the surface relies on the hope that coral reefs will one day be safe from destruction.
Earth, an endless source of wonder and beauty, produced the Great Barrier Reef. Hustling and bustling, the Reef thrives like a busy city, teeming with life. Sheltering thousands, corals, maintain the well-being of the Reef; however, the world threatens its nature and delicacy. Populations growing and technological advances increasing, the world becomes more and more disconnected with the natural world, posing an alarming risk for the planet we live on. Although many organizations try to keep the oceans clean, because of human interference and unnatural occurrences, the Great Barrier Reef needs scientific help to adapt corals to new conditions for means of survival, putting pressure on the Australian government to save their ocean environment.
Around the world, their are beautiful places called “the seven wonders of the natural world”. These sites are fantastic because of there fascinating views and the fact that they were naturally made, not by humans. One of these seven natural wonders of the natural world is the Great Barrier Reef. The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The Great Barrier Reef was formed by corals growing on submerged islands. The sea level then continued to rise, “leading to more corals growing and forming.” (Zimmerman). The Great Barrier Reef is “a mosaic of 2,900 individual reefs” and can be “seen from space and is not only the world's largest coral reef system but also the largest structure
In absence of calcium carbonate, coral and shellfish can’t survive. The ecosystem of ocean depends on these organisms because they offer a large source of food at the bottom of the food chain. They need to be abundant in order t...
We need coral reefs, and not just to make the ocean look pretty and colourful, they are more than just that…
The outer layer of a reef consists of living animals, or polyps, of coral. Single-celled algae called zooxanthellae live within the coral polyps, and a skeleton containing filamentous green algae surrounds them. The photosynthetic zooxanthellae and green algae transfer food energy directly to the coral polyps, while acquiring scarce nutrients from the coral. The numerous micro habitats of coral reefs and the high biological productivity support a great diversity of other life.
Coral Reefs are said to be the “tropical rainforest” of the sea. They are home to over 25% of all marine life (http://coralreefalliance.org.stories/storyReader$77). Over the past few decades they have been subjected to destructive anthropogenic practices. Some of the major threats to coral reefs include sedimentation, water pollution, harmful recreational activities, and global warming. All of these things cause stress on corals and can potentially cause mortality. Corals are made up of two parts, a polyp and zooxanthellae. A polyp is a calcerous body that grows from a hard part of the ocean floor. Zooxanthellae is a photosynthetic algae which lives in the polyp and provide energy for themselves and the coral. In many cases, corals undergo “bleaching,” which is a process where corals lose the zooxantheallae or chlorophyll pigment, and turn white (Wilkinson et all). After bleaching corals can survive for several months. It is possible for corals to recover by hosting more zooxantheallae, but it can take between 5 and 50 years for them to recover completely (Wilkinson et all, 1999).
Imagine a lush underwater place. Beautiful structures colorful animals and places that would never have been thought of before. In reality that's not what it really looks like, really the ocean is a desolate place that is barren like a desert. Many marine species have been lost by as much as 49%.(seeker) A big part of that reason is because of coral bleaching which causes as stated above a decline in species that depend on the coral as there home. Coral bleaching is a serious problem that could cause problems for everyone if we don’t fix it.
Oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface. The talk of climate change can often seem to focus on what is happening in our atmosphere, but there is a lot of change going on in our oceans. The oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat and 28% of the carbon pollution generated by human consumption of fossil fuels (Nuccitelli 2015). The purpose of this paper is to show how the effects of climate change effect the coral reefs in our oceans, with a focus on the coral reef systems in the Caribbean and of the Great Barrier Reef. The Caribbean coral reefs are well known to have suffered more damage between the two reef systems. That’s not to say that the Great Barrier Reef has not suffered its own damage. It has and will continue to suffer in the future.
This article discusses how important the organisms symbiotic with coral reefs are, as well as how important coral reefs are to our environment. Also explained is how natural and non natural things things like hurricanes and overfishing affects them. A study is quoted about how water acidity also plays a role in the bleaching of corals. Lastly, restoration and conservation efforts are discussed and how we could possibly help our oceans.
Coral reefs are well known for their colorful array of marvelous sights including a parade of exotic flora and fauna. They are said to be the foundation for a quarter of marine species, and are a crucial support for human life as well. The coral reef ecosystem is a diverse collection of species (ranging from microscopic to larger-than-life in size) that interact with each other and their physical environment. If any piece of a coral reef is harmed or removed the entire community can be seriously affected, even to the point of collapse. Unfortunately, human impact has resulted in long-term stresses that, unlike the short-term stress of natural disasters, coral reefs are not as capable to recover from. “Approximately half of the world’s coral reef ecosystem resources are considered by scientists to be in 'poor' or 'fair' condition and have declined over time due to several anthropogenic threats” (“Status of Corals” par. 2). Through poorly administered commercial practices, carelessness and ignorance among the common people, and human aggravated natural processes coral reef destruction has become a serious issue afflicting the world’s biodiversity and it’s intricate biosphere mechanics (“Human Impact on the Great Barrier Reef” 1) (“What Are Coral Reefs?” 1).
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”
Located in tropical ocean waters, coral reefs provide priceless resources to both human and marine life. The leading natural cause of destruction among the coral reefs is global warming. Other natural causes are earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons. The destruction to the coral reefs from these natural disasters is minimal compared to the dangers caused by man. Man-made destruction has a much wider impact on the health of the coral reefs. This destruction includes over-fishing, damage from anchors, aquarium industry, overgrowth of seaweed, and being smothered by sediments.
In a research article by Lotze, Coll, Magera, Ward and Airoldi (2011) they examine the positive side of how ecosystems in the ocean can recover even though they are faced with many different types of struggles every day. The authors ask the main question: How common is recovery among depleted populations and degraded ecosystems in the ocean? It is hypothesized that over the years, ecosystems are going to recover and essentially in the future, increase. The results in this study supported the hypothesis of the research on recovery for certain ecosystems and stated that 10-50% of ecosystems actually show some rate of progression (Lotze, 2011). This has significance when looking at pollution and the effect...
Coral reefs need to be preserved for many reasons. In this paper, I will discuss a few of them. First of all, they house a collection of diverse organisms, and contribute to fisheries which provide food items such as fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. Furthermore, coral skeletons are being used as bone substitutes in reconstructive bone surgery and may be able to provide important medicine, including anti-cancer drugs and a compound that blocks ultra-violet rays, they even help reduce global warming by taking carbon dioxide out of the air. These reefs provide a habitat for many species.
A coral reef is scientifically defined as limestone ridges that are created out of coral animals. These types of tiny animals are called coral polyps. Overtime, coral polys produce and accumulate into limestone. Inside the cracks and chinks of the limestone reside thousands of species. Since there are so many diverse species that live in the limestone, coral reefs make up some of the most diverse ecosystems on the Earth. These ecosystems can only function in clear, warm salt water, which is usually located in tropical regions. These reefs are usually located in shallow waters so that they are close to the surface. They are situated in this environment so that there is enough sunlight for photosynthesis which is important for the growth and development of the reefs.