Usually the first thing a person thinks of when someone talks about coral reefs is the Great Barrier Reef or the movie "Finding Nemo" and how beautiful it is, with its vibrant corals and colorful fish swimming about. Coral reefs are vital to the world. Even though they only cover .1% of the ocean floor, they are home to 25% of all marine life. Home to many species of fish and acting as a nursery for little fish and also provide protection until they are big enough to venture out and protect themselves. It is a place that has a complex food chain. The coral reef also acts as a food resource for higher food chain predators like sharks and whales. The quick decline of the coral reefs is becoming an increasingly alarming situation. Coral reefs like the ones in the Caribbean are facing collapse and perhaps extinction. A recent survey shows that only 8% of the Caribbean coral reefs are showing live coral cover, compared to in the 1970s …show more content…
Less than 10% of the Caribbean reefs are showing live coral cover. (Harvey) Coral reefs can only tolerate a narrow range of temperatures. If the water around them warms by just a couple degrees and lasts more than a week, they are likely to bleach. There are a lot of causes of coral bleaching: change in ocean temperature, overexposure to sunlight, runoff and pollution, and extreme low tides. The main one is the rising ocean temperature. When there is a storm, runoff water could carry pollutants and toxic to the ocean water, causing coral that lives off-shore to bleach. Shallow coral reefs could be exposed to a lot of sunlight, causing them to bleach. And when there is low tide, coral reefs are exposed to the air, causing them to bleach. Overall, coral is very fragile and they have not mutated or evolved to improve this yet. Corals have a symbiotic relationship with the algae zooxanthellae that live in their tissue. The algae is not the primary food source for them, but also gives them their
Dangers: If awareness is not spread and action is not taken, coral bleaching events will continue to occur and kill more and more valuable ocean habitats per day. According to Chasing Coral, the 2017 documentary about coral bleaching starring several prominent coral biologists, if this trend continues, 90% of our coral reefs will be gone by 2050, which is an incredibly depressing fact. Transition: Now that you are aware of these shocking statistics, you are probably wondering what you can do to help. B. Solution: An easy way to get involved and help restore coral reefs in Florida and in the Caribbean, is to donate to Coral Restoration Foundation.
Coral bleaching occurs when ocean temperatures rise above their accustomed range, causing coral to expel the algae that they and creatures living in them feed from. It’s called bleaching because as the coral loses its algae, it also loses it’s colour, turning a ghastly shade of white. Because of the high ocean temperatures, this year’s El Niño may well cause massive moral bleaching across Hawaii. Coral bleaching has only swept through
One of the most diverse and biologically rich marine ecosystems is the coral reef. Almost every ecosystem has a greater purpose, coral reef are no exception. For instance they serve as barriers for hurricanes, and other catastrophic storms, their chemicals treat diseases, and one of the most important function is they are a major source of food for humans. But that is just the benefits for humans, they provide shelter and food for numerous organisms, such as fish, turtles, dolphins, and several other marine life.
Located in tropical ocean waters, coral reefs provide priceless resources to both human and marine
The bleaching of coral reefs is when warm water forces algae to leave the reef. Once the algae disappear, the coral goes from a vibrant color to a pale white. As one marine biologist said, “You go from a vibrant, three-dimensional structure teeming with life, teeming with color, to a flat pavement...” This bleaching makes the coral more vulnerable to diseases and a greater risk of death. The biggest bleaching events to have occurred in
Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystem on the planet. There are more than 25,000 known species of organisms and countless others that have yet to be identified (Helvarg, 2000). Reefs thrive on the shallow edge of tropical seas, most often on the eastern edge of continents along warm water currents that brush the coasts. Reefs cannot live in cold waters and are limited by ocean depth and available sunlight. Coral is the foundation of the reef community, providing a three-dimensional structure where thousands of species of vertebrates and invertebrates live and feed. Some species of coral are hard, while others soft. Some are branched, yet others are compact and rounded. Coral is made up of large
Change in ocean Temperature: increased ocean temperature drastically caused by climate change is the leading cause of coral bleaching.
The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is experiencing bleaching. According to France-Presse, bleaching of a reef is “coral...that has been stressed by the heat” (France-Presse). When a coral has been “stressed by heat,” (France-Presse) the coral discards the algae that lives within itself which causes the coral to be more susceptible to disease. It can take up to several decades for a coral to recover from bleaching. Because of that fact that most coral does not have enough time to recover, it dies.
Coral bleaching usually occurs when the surface of a sea with coral in it becomes too warm for the coral. When the water heats to as little as one degree higher than normal, coral expels the algae living in its tissue, which causes it to turn completely white. The rise in temperature of the sea surface has been linked mainly to global warming. Other causes of coral bleaching include oxygen starvation caused by an increase in zooplankton, increased solar irradiance, increased sedimentation, bacterial infections, changes in salinity, herbicides, low tide and exposure, cyanide fishing and elevated sea levels. Bleaching events in 2016 were unprecedented, nearly 90% of the coral in the Great
Finally, there are millions of species who live in the coral reef. It is used both for shelter and for a food supply. There is a vast amount of trawlers that come through each year to dredge the ocean. But think about what would happen if the coral reefs disappear. All the species that depend on the reef for shelter would die. And all the species who hunt for food there would also die. Dredging the ocean rips apart the coral reefs wether that was meant to happen or not. If the natural beauty of the reefs and the security it brings to animals dissapeared, it would be a major
Coral bleaching occurs when the microscopic plants (zooxanthellae) are expelled by rising ocean temperature. When there are no microscopic plants such as zooxanthellae, the coral turns white and die. The studies show that throughout the worlds ocean, from the Florida Keys to the Great Barrier Reef of the Australia have been evidence of unique coral bleaching caused by the rising of ocean temperature. In the early 1980s the coral bleaching event has increased because of rapid increase of sea water temperature. Esther et al., investigates growth of Oculina patagonica at multiple environmental conditions in the western Mediterranean Sea. The Oculina patagonia is stony coral specie which is found mostly in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. The coral was basically Atlantic origin which was transferred to Mediterranean Sea.
Coral bleaching isn’t as extreme as it sounds, it’s just a way for coral to adapt to changes in their environment but it’s still a bad thing to happen. Warmer temperatures and also ocean acidification are the culprits of coral bleaching, making the coral expel algae from their tissues and causing the coral to be white. For example, the 1998 El Nino/ mass coral bleaching event, the article Not just a pretty face (2) proposes that “although it was triggered by a natural event”, it demonstrated how the ocean can adapt under stress but it also “symbolizes the ultimate consequence of our thirst for fossil fuels”. It’s normal for climate change to cause such an effect on the reefs, humans are to blame for the more rapid climate change though. Believe
First, I am going to talk about the importance of coral reefs. Coral reefs are some of the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth. They are home to 4,000 species of fish, 800 species of hard coral, and hundreds of other species. Scientists believe that there are another 1 to 8 million unidentified species (NOAA). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, new drugs are being developed from
The biodiversity is very high in coral reefs. A coral reef takes about one percent of the ocean, but it has around twentyfive percent marine life. This means a lot to the coral reefs because the more species can lead to better conditions. There are many different kinds of fish that may eat algae, which can protect the coral. Bigger fish or even sharks keep the population of smaller fish in good hands. Some fish can hurt the zooxanthellae. Then there are “cleaners” that eat up dead organisms and keep the reef look nice.
From the first death penalty law recorded in the eighteen hundred many people have been sentenced to death row but many not actually being executed. Since 1976 one thousand four hundred and thirty-eight people have been executed because of their crimes. This is a time in American the death penalty is no longer just in the south. More criminals are being sentenced than ever. Thirty-one states have the death penalty and nineteen that don’t, Nebraska is one. In May of 2015 our legislature voted to repeal the state’s death penalty. By doing that, they did the right thing, the death penalty should not be in effect. Because I believe that the death penalty is unjust my points supporting that are, sentencing someone to death row is highly costly