Coral reefs can be found in shallow and deep waters and are one of the most diverse ecosystems. They are home to many and most of the marine organisms in the ocean. Most of these ecosystems are at risk however due to the rising temperatures of the oceans. Sea temperatures in many tropical regions have increased by almost 1°C over the past 100 years, and are currently increasing at ~1–2°C per century (Ove Hoegh. 1999). Because of this increase in temperatures, the future of our worlds coral reefs are in danger and at risk to things like coral bleaching, effects of rising ocean acidification levels and the effects from sea levels rising.
Coral bleaching is the loss of a corals’ zooxanthellae that lives in the tissues of the coral and because of this loss the corals turn completely white. Coral bleaching is mostly caused by the warm temperatures of the water which means that climate change can have an effect on the coral reefs. Corals live in very nutrient poor waters and have certain zones of tolerance to water temperature, salinity, UV radiation, opacity, and nutrient quantities (Jason Buchheim). Because most coral reefs are found in clear, shallow tropical waters, light is able to pass through and heat up the water and coral beneath it. Most reef-building corals normally contain around 1-5 x 106 zooxanthellae cm-2 of live surface tissue and 2-10 pg of chlorophyll a per zooxanthella. When corals bleach they commonly lose 60-90% of their zooxanthellae and each zooxanthella may lose 50-80% of its photosynthetic pigments (Jason Buchheim). Because of climate change, the water temperatures change in various locations and regions of the world that may not be used to that certain type of climate. Areas with coral reefs are affected by ...
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...eefs and when added to other stressors such as Ocean acidification which was mentioned about, the coral can no longer sustain growth and ultimately die.
The article Rebecca G. Nilsey studies the effects and concerns over the trees and climate change. The article talks about tree ranges shifting due to climate change and not just individual trees but on forests. It expresses concern over the problem and questions what will happen to specific tree species as the temperatures increase. This relates to the effects of climate change on Coral reefs because it shows that climate change does not only affect coral reef but can affect trees and like said in the article “Trees cope with stress in the only way they can—mature trees will start producing more seeds” just like coral reefs can cope with the stress of climate change by losing their zooxanthellae and become bleached.
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).
Baker, Andrew c. “Climate change and coral reef bleaching: An ecological assessment of long-Term impacts, recovery trends and future outlook.” Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, Academic Press, 17 Sept. 2008, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272771408003405.
Leading scientists advise climate change will cause increases to the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Rising sea levels pose a significant risk to coastal communities, while the world’s oceans could become too acidic to support coral reefs and other calcifying marine organisms. Coral reefs contain only six per cent of the area of the Great Barrier Reef, yet they provide critical habitat and food for numerous species in the ecosystem. However, climate change has already impacted coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef as corals are very helpless against its potential impacts. Eight mass coral bleaching events has occurred since 1979, triggered by unusually high water temperatures. And because of this, zooxanthellae (photosynthetic algae) leave their tissues and corals will have no more colours hence ‘bleaching’. Without the zooxanthellae, the corals that remain gradually starve to death. Once the coral dies, fish and a multitude of other marine species are soon affected. Rising sea levels and more frequent and intense storm surges will see more erosion of Australia’s coastline, causing community and residential
Coral bleaching happens when there is a decrease of zooxanthellae involved in the symbiotic relationship with their coral host. This also causes a loss of the coral's beautiful colors that sometimes can be seen to human eye. Bleaching leads to death of coral over time. Some causes of bleaching have been tied to salinity of the ocean and sedimentation. The main reasons known to cause severe coral bleaching are climate change and radiation. These two elements are extremely harmful to coral especially when they’re working together at the same time (Fitt et al. 2001).
Coral reef is one of seawater features that have been affected by climatic changes. This has led to destruction through coral bleaching and increased mortality, especially due to the warming of the sea that causes an increase in sea water levels (Bakerl, Glynn & Riegl, 2008). An increase in global temperature also increases ocean acidification (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007). These occurrences destroy reefs resulting in a significant drop in other sea organisms that depend on the reef. This implies that climatic changes are among the most destructive environmental elements affecting coral reef population in the world. To understand how climatic changes affect coral reef population, it is important to consider different ecological processes that occur due to climatic changes, the most common being the rise in global temperatures.
It has been proven that the temperature has risen 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature is still continuing to rise. Since the water's temperature is too warm it can affect the corals polyps,causing the coral to lose algae that lives in the polyp’s tissue. The increased carbon dioxide in the air is starting to show that it is affecting the coral because one third of the ocean absorbs the atmosphere’s excess carbon dioxide.
In addition, corals have strong relationship with tiny algae but due to high temperature the tiny algae are turning into white colors. Usually corals doesn’t die but extend of too warm they die before getting change of regrow. In fact, heat waves and bleaching events are powerfully related to temperature transformation. The Great Barrier corals Reef is the only reef in the world that suffering from effect and it happing more often. The article goes to mention Australia is one of huge area of bleaching events that affect 70% of world’s reefs. The author’s points out by saying the Great Barrier Reef are the major warning for corals reefs of worldwide and suggesting keeping global warming by below two degree. Lastly, the author’s end the articles by indicating we should focus on protecting the one haven’t died
One argument is that many different things are contributing to the destruction of coral rather than climate change including overfishing, marine pollution and cyclones/hurricanes (World Climate Report, 2010). Although this may be true, the main causes of coral reef destruction still relates back to global warming. From 1985 to 2012, coral populations in the Great Barrier Reef have decreased by 50.7 per cent, with 48 per cent due to tropical cyclones, 42 per cent because of crown of thorns starfish (COTS) and 10 per cent directly due to bleaching (De 'ath et al., 2012). It has been indicated that due to global warming, there has been an increase in the number of tropical cyclones (Knutson et al., 2010). However, it has also been found that there is a possibility of cyclones actually mitigating coral bleaching (Baker et al., 2008; Schultz, 2012). With even just a 2°C increase in temperature the probability of COTS survival escalates by 240 per cent under certain conditions (Australian Institute of Marine Science, 2015). However, repeated bleaching events result in higher mortality rates. The Caribbean has been experiences continuous declines of reef sites due to repeated bleaching events (Baker et al., 2008). There is no doubt that oceans surrounding Australia have drastically warmed since 1910 (Bureau of Meteorology, 2014), and this warming affects the
Coral reefs, which are underwater structures created by calcium carbonate secretions, are some of the richest interdependent ecosystems on Earth. According to Wikipedia, coral reefs occupy less than 0.1% of Earth’s ocean surface, yet they provide a home for 25% of all marine species. Often referred to as the “rainforests of the ocean,” coral reefs are home to thousands upon thousands of species of plants and animals (“Coral Reef”). Not only are they an important part of ocean environments, but coral reefs are also extremely important and beneficial to humans; these reefs protect shorelines and provide countless people with food, jobs, and income sources. However, coral reefs are disappearing at an extremely alarming rate. From overfishing to pollution to sedimentation, the world’s coral reefs are in grave danger and humans must actively work to protect and restore these oceanic rainforests.
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.
Due to rising ocean temperatures the coral on the reef is dying and becoming bleached.
However there are locations where the bleaching had first been noticed as a potential global scale issue. The main area that caused scientists to take notice are in the Great Barrier Reef located in coral sea just outside of Australia. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's most known, and very possibly the most beautiful reef on the world. Coral bleaching had a major effect on the GBR, and scientists took notice. After scientists took notice, other instances were noticed around the world such as in Japan, the Indo-Pacific, and around the United States in areas such as California, and near Florida. The main cause of coral bleaching is pollution. Large companies, and regular citizens that are dumping their waste in the oceans are a major contributor towards global warming. Global warming is the main cause of bleaching due to the increasing temperature in waters, this increase in temperature cause the reefs a lot of stress. The second largest factor is climate change. Global warming is creating a rise in water temperatures as well, and causing fish to change the areas in which they live. These migrations are creating an unbalanced ecosystem and effecting the reefs
The leading natural cause of destruction among the coral reefs is global warming. Global warming causes the bleaching of coral reefs to occur. Bleaching is a response to stress by the coral reef that happens when the water becomes to warm. The coral then put out a brownish zooxanthelle which causes them to lose their color. Without the zooxanthelle, the corals cannot provide nourishment for itself and th...
Climate change has been affecting coral reefs in a negative way. If the climate continues to get warmer more of our coral reef become bleached, the structure of the reefs will become weak, and algae that keeps coral healthy will die. In the essay, “A framework for understanding Climate change impacts on Coral Reefs” by Joshua Clinner (2016), he emphasizes our climate change has become one of the long-term threats to coral reef. The article “Climate change and human impacts are damaging the world’s coral reefs”, which didn’t include an author (2001), states that the sea temperatures throughout the tropics has increased dramatically leaving much of the coral unhealthy. Spencer Hall (2008), discussed in his article “Coral Reefs and Climate Change”, how the increase in climate change puts a lot of stress on coral reefs because they are very sensitive to the change of temperature. Rigel B (2003) states in his essay, “Climate Change and Coral Reefs”, that coral reef has already been negatively impacted by
Now that corals have been briefly described we can see why the effects of climate change damage coral reef systems. Ocean acidification is one result of climate change. Acidification is caused by an increase of carbon dioxide in our oceans and leads to a decrease in the pH levels of seawaters. This pH decrease reduces the ability of corals to make their hard skeletons. Rates of coral calcification on the Great Barrier Reef and many other reef systems around the world have declined by 15-20% since 1990 due to increasing thermal stress (De’ath 2012). It has already been mentioned that the oceans are absorbing almost all of the excess heat from climate change. This effects coral reef systems in what is known as coral bleaching. The term bleaching refers to the loss of corals’ colors. A coral’s color is the result of the zooxanthellae present. When water becomes too warm the