Great Barrier Reef Research Paper

"Coral reefs… are fragile structures living within a narrow range of temperature, clarity, salinity and chemistry. Even a slight increase in ocean temperature, or increased CO2… can cause stresses such as bleaching… These stresses slow the rate of growth of the corrals… With some 60 percent of the world’s coral reefs now losing productivity, it’s becoming a global crisis and a scientific mystery."

The Ocean is a miraculous place filled to the brim with foreign creatures and wondrous wildlife. From the Great Orcas of the Antarctic waters to the minuscule plankton, these marine life conquer the ocean's depths, but it's not just the creatures that reside here. Coral occupy their fair share of space upon the ocean's floor filling the waters with their glamour and residential charm for those in search of shelter.

that they require to survive. The sea creatures that depends on feeding off of sea plants will now

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. This reef is located off of the coast of Queensland, Australia in the Coral Sea. The system is made up of about 2,900 individual reefs. It is the worlds biggest single structure made of living organisms. This reef system is so large it can be seen from outer space!

C: Even though an abundance of research is being conducted by scientists in order to help save the coral reef, their efforts seem to be getting nowhere due to the ignorance of people who do not know how bad the problem truly is. E: Scientists are currently using Google Maps technology to take pictures of the reefs to showcase the severity of the problem (Chasing Coral). A: This makes pictures of the reef’s condition accessible to anyone anywhere on earth, therefore making education about the reef more accessible. E: NOAA is transforming the ways reefs are researched by using satellites to detect where bleaching is occurring and at what level (Chasing Coral). A: By doing this, NOAA is providing useful information to scientists

It is highest at an intermediate offshore distances which are slightly affected by terrestrial influences (Cleary et al., 2005; Done, 1982); however,

What is a coral reef? How are they created? Well a coral reef is a ridge of rock in the sea formed by the growth and deposit of coral. Corals are tiny animals which belong to the group of other cnidarians include hydras, jellyfish, and sea anemones. Corals are sessile animals, meaning they are not mobile but stay fixed in one place. They feed by reaching out with tentacles to catch prey such as small fish and planktonic animals. Corals live in colonies consisting of many individuals. They secrete a hard calcium carbonate skeleton, which serves as a uniform base or substrate for the colony. The skeleton also provides protection, as the polyps can contract into the structure if predators approach. It is these hard skeletal structures that build

Tropical Coral reefs are one of the most fundamentally important ecosystems on the planet, maintaining an impressive array of diversity able to boast thousands of species with many only found within their unique reef system. Reefs play a vital role shaping ecosystems and providing shelter and refuge for many populations’. These reef systems are found throughout the tropics with the majority found within the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn and found worldwide from the Caribbean to Australia. Reef systems are not only a hub of diversity it’s a vital source of nutriment for thousands of people with more than 15% of global population living within 100 kilometres of reef systems (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999).

A coral reef is an area made up of many living organisms. Coral reefs are home to approximately 25% of all marine life. Creatures which live in coral reefs include: slugs, oysters, clams, crabs, urchins, jellyfish, and many types of fish. These creatures need sunlight to live, which results in them being found in shallow ocean waters. Coral reefs are one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. Coral reefs are mostly made of calcium carbonate. The three main types of coral reefs around the world are: Barrier Reefs, Atolls, and Fringing Reefs.

The coral reef is one of the world's most interesting things that nature provides. It is unknown of when this coral reef came around or how long. It is one of main sources for many things to thrive on. We use it in ways that we do not realize. We do not even realize that we are killing it to.

Coral reefs are diverse marine ecosystems that provide habitats to a wide range of organisms (Mulhall 2009). Today, they are faced with the largest threat to their existence since the 200-300 million years ago in which they first emerged on Earth (Mulhall 2009). Since coral ecosystems are in rapid decline, sustaining these ecosystems is becoming a viable goal for both national and international organizations as an increasing number of nations across the world are being affected by their degradation (Mulhall 2009). Although initiatives are being taken to preserve coral ecosystems, the global society must continue to take more effective measures in order to preserve the world’s reefs and ensure that the benefits and

Coral reefs occupy only 0.2% of the ocean floor, yet they are the most biologically diverse marine ecosystems known today, and support over 25% of all marine organisms (Yip). Due to the massive amount of marine species that populate coral reef habitats, maintaining healthy reefs is crucial for the continuation of marine biodiversity. In past years, the increase of mortality rates in coral has been caused by a number of factors, including wide-spread stress and disease. In the Indo-Pacific, coral reefs have been declining at a rate of approximately 2% per year for the last 20 years (Yip). Coral reef fish biodiversity is crucial for the sustainability of the coral reef ecosystem, as well as for the ability of the coral reefs to provide services to the ecosystem (Ehrenfeucht). Such services include coral reef fisheries and the tourism industry.

      Coral reefs are continuously being both built up and decomposed, so different parts of a reef are in varying stages of succession (Richmond, 1993). Coral reefs are very fragile, because reef-building organisms cannot thrive if the surrounding water changes significantly. Coral reefs require very specific conditions in order to grow: a solid structure for the base; warm and consistent water temperatures (averaging between 20 and 30 degrees Celsius); stable salinity; moderate wave action; and clear water that is low in nutrients and plankton. The water on a healthy coral reef is clear because there are very few nutrients, so plankton that would cloud the water are few. In general corals grow slowly, but they are extremely efficient at living and reproducing in these conditions (American Zoologist, pg 524-536).

The effects of Co2 emissions over the years have greatly impacted the way coral reefs thrive in certain parts of the ocean. To understand why coral reefs are dying throughout the oceans it is imperative to first see what a coral is and what it is composed of. Corals are oceanic invertebrates which fall into the phylum Cnidaria. Corals reefs mostly consist of shells made of aragonite, which is the crystallized form of CaCo3. Small algae called zooxanthellae helps the corals with the vibrant colors they are known for. Coals are one of the most inhabitable species found because of what they can be composed of. For example, one species that make up the coral reefs are sea anemone. Sea Anemones are chemically composed of a poison in their tentacles that fire viciously into their victims penetrating them with a paralyzing neurotoxin. Clownfish, however, had a mucus-like layer that protects them from the poison and is able to make a home out of the anemone. There is so much life that is brought by coral reefs. There can be a plethora of symbiotic relationships found in coral reefs.

In the news reporters often talk about the effects of global warming as if they are anywhere from five to one-hundred years off in the future. Those dangers like unpredictable and catastrophic weather patterns may not pose a major threat to human populations yet. However, for the inhabitants of earth’s coral reefs, the planet’s constant warming immediately endangers thousands of species. While coral reefs occupy only a small fraction of the ocean’s floor, they account for roughly one fourth of the world’s marine life. Coral itself, which in large part comprises coral reefs is made up of thousands of tiny polyps that cling together and secrete a hard outer coating binding the individual polyps together (Jaap, 212-213). Generally coral make up the vast majority of all reefs, but soft bodied organisms like anemones litter the sea bed as well. Coral reefs’ seemingly eternal balance with man is now in jeopardy, as small things like clownfish infertility and massive coral population loss begin to snowball, eventually leading to human casualties. These vibrant structures made up of millions of years of development do not face potential threats from global warming. The existing threats are imminent.