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Coral Reef Research Paper

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Abstract
The Earth has experienced 5 notable mass extinction events to date; these extinctions have impacted coral reef systems significantly. Every occurrence of mass extinction has left the Earth without living reefs for millions of years. These intervals of absence are often termed ‘reef gaps’ (geological intervals where there are no traces of what might have been existing reefs). The sources of these ‘events’ will be discussed further. The primary causes of mass extinctions are linked to the carbon cycle and make-up of the oceans. The acidification of our oceans is argued to be the most serious of all the predicted consequences of C02 increase, due to anthropogenic behaviors. This article will be inferring that acidification has the potential …show more content…

1998). We are left with some form of disruption to the carbon cycle for viable explanations, through methods of elimination. None of the five mass extinctions should necessarily be considered events; rather they have occurred due to the increasing effects of many causes acting in combination over long periods of time – up to millions of years. In all cases, however, some form of agitation of the carbon cycle is …show more content…

There were many minor or background extinction events at other times that left clear marks in the fossil record. Although not global, some background extinctions were just as catastrophic as mass extinctions for certain environments, and many had major impacts on coral reefs. Reefs, more than any other major type of ecosystem, leave a geological record that tracks such events. On an Earth history scale, this record does not show a process of gradual evolutionary development or improvement, but rather a stop-start response to a succession of environmental upheavals. This vulnerability of reefs to these upheavals is demonstrated many times in the fossil record, although the paleoclimatic record provides only uncertain glimpses of it - narrow windows separated by immense intervals of

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