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Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is at least 20 million years old and is layers upon layers of dead and living coral. It is the largest barrier reef in the world and can even be seen from space. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and it is being destroyed. There are natural and non-natural threats to the reef, both types of these threats are threatening to destroy the reef.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest barrier reef in the world. It spans for about 2600 km and is from 60 to 120 km wide. The Great Barrier Reef can also be seen from space making it the largest barrier reef in the world. The Great Barrier Reef also brings in large amounts of revenue per annum due to tourism. On average the Great Barrier Reed brings in $6 Billion dollars per annum. Some of this money does go back into saving the reef, which is a possible solution threats on the reef. The Great Barrier Reef is very significant and is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.
There are dozens of environmental threats to the Great Barrier Reef. Climate change being o...
Aside from humans, coral reefs like The Great Barrier Reef are being destroyed by an outbreak
The world is changing. The environment is yelling at us, but is society ready to listen? Climate scientists, outdoor enthusiasts, environmentalists, and politicians all have an opinion on the state of the world’s climate. There is an argument from each side, agreeing or disagreeing with the claims of scientists who are trying to show the world what is happening. The fact is that humans are changing the climate, and it is not for the better. Glaciers are melting, the polar caps are shrinking and the ocean is becoming acidic. According to a report in Ocean News and Technology “Researchers have found that increasing ocean temperatures due to climate change will soon see reefs shrinking” (Ocean News and Technology). The Great Barrier Reef off the
The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the world’s largest coral reef system, located along the northeast coast of Queensland in Australia. GBR stretches from the most northern part in the country – Torres Strait and all the way down to Fraser Island – the southeast part of Queensland. The distance from north to southeast is close to 2575 kilometres and the whole GBR area is covering around 344 400 square kilometres – which might be why you can see the reef all the way from space. GBR contains approximately 2900 individual reefs and not only is it the world’s largest reef but also the earth 's largest formation shaped by living organisms (Zimmermann, 2012).
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 reefs are systems of large, underwater structures that are composed of the mineralized bodies of corals. These corals are a class of marine invertebrates known as Anthozoans, and belong to the phylum Cnidaria, and are thus related to sea anemone and jellyfish. Each individual coral animal is only a few millimeters in diameter, and a few centimeters in length. Due to their sessile nature, and their ability to reproduce asexually, they are able to construct, over many generations, massive colonies of genetically identical individuals. Additionally, they secrete a hard exoskeleton of calcium carbonate to support and protect their bodies, and it is from this process that the colony constructs what is known as a single coral “head.”
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
The reef is the is “also the largest structure on Earth made by living organisms” (Zimmermann). The Great Barrier Reef has many different types of reefs. Nearby Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and Swain Reefs is a cresentic reef. A cresentic reef “shaped like crescents” (Zimmermann). The crescentic reefs are commonly found in the middle of the reef system. Bordering Cape York Peninsula, Princess Charlotte Bay and Cairns flat reefs can be found. Planar reefs which are the same as flat reefs can be found in the north and south parts Cape York Peninsula, Princess Charlotte Bay and Cairns. To the north of the Great Barrier Reef, the reef is twisty and narrow. When a reef is twisty and narrow, it is called a ribbon reef. The south of the Great Barrier Reef is a fringing reef. The south of the reef is very unusual, due to the fact the fringing reef is attached to the Whitsunday islands. Usually fringing reefs are not attached to any islands. Also, found all over the reefs are lagoonal reefs
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.
The Great Barrier Reef is a chain of coral reefs in the Coral Sea, off the northeastern coast of Australia. The largest reef in the world, it extends about 1250 mi from Mackay, Queensland to the Torres Strait (between Australia and New Guinea.)
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most fragile ecosystems in the world, it protects coastlines from the dangerous effects of tropical storms and wave action, it is also home to more than 11,ooo marine life. It is one of the world’s largest coral reefs, so large in fact that you can see if from space.
Climate change is predicted to become a major threat to biodiversity in the 21st century, but accurate predictions and effective solutions have proved difficult to formulate(Terence P et al., 2011). Warmer and more acidic conditions inhibit coral calcification, carbonate precipitation, and submarine cementation; These effects are expected to reduce long-term rates of reef framework construction(Lauren et al., 2012).As global warming gradually becoming severe, it’s effects on the coral reefs also leads a critical concern about the diversity and quantity of coral reefs in Great Barrier. Great Barrier Reef is not only functioned as a beautiful landscape, but also an essential component of the coral reef ecosystem. Any change of could have a great
Osborne, K, Dolman, A, Burgess, S, & Johns, K 2011, 'Disturbance and the Dynamics of Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef (1995-2009)', Plos ONE, 6, 3, p. 1, Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File, EBSCOhost, viewed 28 April 2014.
The Great barrier reef has had many recent hardships, including water pollutants and the increasing water temperature. Although it may be too late to save this particular reef we the people must not be so nearsighted to the
The Great Barrier Reef is an exemplary model of the famous exotic coral reef seen in a copy of the National Geographic or the popular animated film Finding Nemo. Located on the coast of Australia, it is known as the “largest biological organism in the world” (“Human Impact on the Great Barrier Reef” par. 1). The idea bears that coral reefs are again not an assortment of organisms functioning separately but rather working together to thrive. The groups of coral that are seen in t...
Today many people do not see the need to preserve corals reefs. Hence because of the lack of appreciation for the reefs, they are slowly disappearing. Many citizens do not realize the importance of these reefs, the species they hold, and the food webs that connect the ecosystems. Our American government has stated many times that they are doing all they can to preserve and to replenish our coral reefs. However, how accurate is that statement? To answer these questions, we first have to understand what a coral reef is and how it can be saved.