The ocean is considered the bloodline of our planet for many different reasons; climate change impacts the oceans ecosystem which also affects marine environments, helps the world’s economy, humans depend on the ocean to sustain the earth and oceans produce half of our oxygen.
The ocean plays a large role in determining the climate change. Climate change impacts the oceans ecosystem which also affects marine environments. For example, the Great Barrier reef is a victim to climate change. According to the Australian Government, “Coral reefs are complex structures built mainly from the calcium carbonate (limestone) skeletons laid down by hard corals. These reef-building corals are highly vulnerable to rising sea temperatures and ocean acidification. Slowed growth and loss of hard corals will reduce essential habitat for many other reef creatures.” This means that due to the rising temperatures marine life is struggling to survive. When coral reefs are unable to keep up with the erosion, the reef begins to crumble onto itself, so marine life is unable to thrive. Overall, marine life is a huge part of oceans and is a bloodline to our planet, but when marine life is affected by climate change the planet and the ecosystems struggle.
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For instance, oceans impact the economy in a big way through industry. Many industries such as; fishing, boating, tourism, recreation, ocean transport, and others rely on the ocean. According to the National Ocean Service, “In 2014, the ocean economy, which includes six economic sectors that depend on the ocean, contributed more than $352 billion to the U.S. GDP and supported 3.1 million jobs.” Industries like these generate money and create many jobs which led to a positive impact on the
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.
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
Given how important coral reefs are, the increasingly disappearance of our coral reef ecosystems will continue to have a detrimental impact on marine biodiversity with in these ecosystems. In addition to the decline of the animal species, job opportunities for many staff members that keep our parks open and healthy for everyone to enjoy, revenue be lost due to the decline in coral reefs. To help ensure this downward spiral in eliminated before it is too late, park officials and scientist conduct continuous research on the effects of ocean acidification and global warming on marine organisms and overall health and longevity of these ecosystems. Ultimately, the goal is to develop ways to intervene before it is to late in hopes that we can reverse the damage already inflicted on our coral reefs and allow these ecosystems to re grow once
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
Ocean Acidification is the act of CO2 dissolving into seawater, decreasing its alkalinity and increasing it's hydrogen ion concentration; making organisms sensitive to shifts in the water. Anything from temperature change to toxic waste inflicts some sort of change upon the ocean and the creatures it engulfs. As most people are aware, humans are altering the earth’s climate through producing greenhouse gas that is blanketing our atmosph...
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
All over the world coral reefs play an important part in our environment. Not only are the reefs colorful and beautiful to look at but the coral reefs house several different types of fish and other sea creatures. Coral reefs have started to decline over the years due to “climate change, El Nino events, overfishing, pollution and other pressures” (Newnham 1). A healthy coral reef can also collapse due to a natural disaster (Newnham 2). There can be several different reasons why a coral reef has started to decline or has been destroyed.
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.
Climate change has affected biodiversity on the Great Barrier Reef significantly over the years and is continuing to have negative effects on the marine life. The rapid climate change puts the food chain at risk. Species of marine life are likely to decrease resulting in major biodiversity loss. Climate change has increased extreme weather such as flooding and cyclones. Extreme weather, such as cyclones has caused extensive amounts of physical damage to the reef, an exa...
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).
Climate change is a long term change in the earth’s climate. Climate change is attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels. There are 328,000,000 cubic miles of seawater on the planet, covering approximately 71 percent of the earth's surface. Ninety-seven percent of all water is in the oceans. The other three percent is divided amongst the two percent ice and one percent fresh water. Making earth’s waters composed mostly of salt water. Salt water covers most of our planet indicating climate change to have a giant impact on our oceans. Taking a closer look at the ocean and our water in general can reveal several clues to the greater effects of climate change and what other ways climate change can affect our planet. (2)
Although there are many uncertain factor in the study of coral reefs, what we can sure is that the diversity and the quantity of Great Barrier Reef is decreasing under the global warming. No matter coral reefs’ future is more serious or it is optimistic, global warming’s effect on coral reefs is negative, especially for Great Barrier Reef. Disregard of coral reefs’ protection on coastal, there are still million of people relying on the tourism or other aspects of Great Barrier Reef. Contemplating policies that result in [CO2]atm above 500 ppm appears extremely risky for coral reefs and the tens of millions of people who depend on them directly, even under the most optimistic circumstances(Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007). People have to take action to stop the steps of global warming. There are many experts predict the future of coral reefs without human action, for example: Without the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations, it seems inevitable that many of the world’s coral reefs will become nonaccreting habitats—they will, based on most common definitions, cease to be coral reefs(Mark 2015; Barbara 2015); Eakin :Unless there is concerted action to reduce greenhouse gases,” he warns, “bleaching will become increasingly common and not just during extraordinary weather events”(Dennis
The coral reefs of the world are of vast importance because they host 25% of all marine life on the planet. Now that corals have been briefly described, we can see why the effects of climate change damage coral reef systems. Ocean acidification is a result of climate change. Acidification is caused by an increase in carbon dioxide in our oceans and leads to a decrease in the pH levels of seawater. This pH decrease reduces the ability of corals to make their hard skeletons.
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
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...