Coral Reef Research Paper

1.) Corals are colonial organisms that are composed of individual polyps, which form coral reefs. There are three types of coral reefs; fringing, barrier, and atoll. Fringing coral reefs grow along the shore in shallow water while barrier reefs are separated from the shore by a deep lagoon. Atolls surround a lagoon and are circular. The two types of coral that make us these reefs are soft coral and hard coral. Soft corals have spiracle based skeletons while hard corals have calcium-based skeletons.

2.) Corals and algae have a mutualistic relationship, which means that the two organisms benefit each other. Algae gives off oxygen and other nutrients that are vital to the life of coral polyps while polyps give off carbon dioxide to algae.

3.) The

Disease: Stress is the cause of the development of coral diseases. Stresses, such as increased sea temperatures, ultraviolent radiation, and pollutions cause corals to become stressed and eventually perish.

Sedimentation: The buildup of sediments on coral reefs prevents corals from receiving sunlight. Since sunlight is vital to the life of corals, the corals will die since the sediments block out the sun.

7.) Coral reefs provide many benefits for humans. For example, an abundance of drugs have been created from coral reefs, such as possible cures for cancer, arthritis, human bacterial infections, and viruses. Coral reefs also provide economic benefits because of tourism. People pay immense amounts of money to travel and explore coral reefs, which contributes to the economy. Not only does it provide jobs, but it also contributes to local economies. Corals protect humans as well by acting as barriers to prevent property and life damage. Globally, about half a billion people live along coasts that coral reefs inhabit, all of whom benefit from the protection provided by

Corals can become temporarily dead by natural causes, such as increased salinity levels in seawater and tidal emersions. An increase in salinity causes bleaching due the amounts of salt degrading the coral. However, if salinity levels decrease, the coral may have a chance to recover. Tidal emersions also cause temporary death in corals by exposing corals to too much ultraviolent sunlight. This can also cause bleaching by the sunlight drying out the corals. An increase in seawater can thus reduce the effects of the sunlight on the coral, which can cause the death to only be