How Does Bleaching Affect Coral Reefs

The Great Barrier Reef is actually the largest living thing on Earth. In fact, it can even be seen from space. The only problem with reefs is that they can only survive under a certain temperature range. If the temperature is too low or too high for the reefs, this causes the algae, which gives the coral their beautiful and bright colors, to leave the coral, and therefore causing the coral to become bleached (National Ocean Service). This is exactly what has happened this year.

The event of coral bleaching was executed and monitored under Coral Bleaching Response Plan developed from Climate Change Group at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) by Australian and Queensland Governments. There were four mechanisms constituted in the plan namely system of early warning, response to incident, actions of management, and strategy of communication (GBRMPA, 2010).

Coral reefs are involute and various environment. They are maybe a standout amongst the most captivating and brilliant biological communities to be found in the marine environment. They are extremely remarkable from numerous points of view. coral reefs play numerous weight shafts in the marine world. They must have particular conditions to be made, and to survive. Heaps of diverse ocean life depend on reefs for territory and wellsprings of victuals, including some risked species. Coral reefs are maybe one of the best yet slightest of miracles of our reality.

• The owners of the Great Barrier reef are trying their best in leaving it as beautiful as it normally is, and this is clear that the great barrier reef • For how much the Queensland cares that the great barrier reef ministry are caring a lot about the GBR and they took world’s best practice in the development of cooperative management Human and natural threats to the reef: Natural impact • Storms and earthquakes: the disasters that will happen after the storms or earthquakes that could happen. • Water temperature rise and coral bleaching: it’s a problem in the climate change too; climate change and water can give us warm water and change local ecological conditions.

This study was taken in 2002, a time where coral bleaching was still in its early stages worldwide. They found that during February of this year, there was “high cloud cover, very high rainfall and lower hours of sunshine” which resulted in the mitigation of “severe bleaching” (Hardman). However, the water temperatures were reported to have been up to

With only about one-sixth of the original coral cover left, most Caribbean coral reefs may disappear in the next 20 years. This statistics according to the latest report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). First of all, as we know nearly two-thirds of coral reefs in the Caribbean are threatened by human activities. For example of human activities that effect the coral reefs are coastal development, watershed-based sediment and pollution, marine based threats and also overfishing. Within the years, the Reefs at Risk Threat Index identified that about one-tenth of Caribbean coral reefs are at very high levels of threat,

The Great Barrier Reef- a fragile ecosystem 1 Australia- a country of diversity No matter how far I have traversed around this earth, I have yet to find another location that rivals Australia. Nowhere else on earth can you find such spectacular landscapes, such unique and fascinating animals, and such warm friendly people. This is why I will always call Australia home.

The zooxanthellae, an algae that live in the tissues of corals and their source of food, leave their tissue if higher temperatures carry on for weeks. This causes the corals to turn white since it is the zooxanthellae that produces their color. ‘Bleached corals’ are the ones that are white and unhealthy which means they are weak and less able to fight disease. As climate change (higher or warmer water temperature) continues, bleaching will become more common and overall health of coral reefs will deteriorate. Across the Pacific Ocean, coral reefs are declining at a rate of about two percent a year, and it may be only 40 to 50 years before they’re completely gone.

The Cultural Effects of Coral Bleaching Located in warm, shallow waters, one species is near it’s extinction. Scientific studies has anticipated this for years, but many people do not understand the _damage this obsolescence would have on the environment. An essential animal in the ocean, coral, is, “home to 25% of all marine fish species,” according to The Reef Resilience Network, which specializes in helping save coral. Corals have very special tolerances to things like temperatures, salinity levels, and pollution, which causes coral stress, or bleaching. When bleaching occurs because of the unsuitable conditions, the corals expel the algae living in them, turns white, and dies, When corals die, thousands of sea creatures living around reefs

These starfish are not commonly found in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, but some of them reach the area due to ocean currents, tropical storms or human activity. However, when the population of this specific kind of starfish increases at the Great Barrier Reef the reef “might be completely destroyed in two to three years”1. An invasion by these starfish causes devastation to the reef, as happened in 1970. Many parts of the Great Barrier Reef have been destroyed, and although the population of crown-of-thorns starfish near the reef is now negligible the reef still needs a long time to recover from this plague.2

Climate change is the biggest long-term threat to the Great Barrier Reef and coral reefs worldwide, according to the Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan. It has caused sea temperature increases, ocean acidification, altered weather patterns, and rising sea levels. The sea temperature increases affect many species. It causes coral bleaching to occur, which is when the microscopic algae separates from coral, taking the color, as well as the energy away. It affects the photosynthesis and reproduction of seagrass, the reproduction of coral, and enables a range of microscopic organisms that cause disease to thrive.

Imagine the very thing which keeps you alive is drained from you. This is what coral reefs around the world endure each day. Due to both human and environmental factors, coral reefs are dying out at an alarming rate but just because they have become bleached, that does not mean an absolute death sentence to the reed. If you have ever been on a beach trip, you have more than likely seen and/or explored a coral reef. You have seen the beauty that they are capable of holding and all of the life that they support. There are many different things that can be done to keep these amazing and complex ecosystems from no longer being able to support sea life.

Not only is Australia home to the Great Barrier Reef, but it is also the only continent in the world that is its own country. The Great Barrier Reef is the world 's largest coral reef system that stretches 1,250 miles off the Northeast coast of Australia. The coral reef support much of the marine life such as fish, sea turtles, and other marine mammals. In 1981, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, became in charge of the environmental protection of the Great Barrier Reef. Research found that because of the acidity in the ocean, the coral reef is at its slowest growing rate in at least 400 years. In 2014, the Great Barrier Reef was added to the UNESCO 's Endangered Sites list. Along the coast of Queensland, where the coral reef is, there are many ports located there and oil sludge is constantly being dumped into the ocean. The Great Barrier Reef is in dire need of being restored and protected.

The Great Barrier Reef has and will continue to face countless threats in its lifetime. The reef has survived through millions of disastrous events through the years. The Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS) is a major threat to the coral reefs which helps destroy the Great Barrier Reef. This threat may be no bigger than a dinner plate, but it is one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef. Kate Osborne and researchers discovered that Crown of Thorns Starfish were responsible for 36.7% of coral damage, 33.8% caused by storms, 6.5% by disease, 5.6% created by bleaching and 17.4% unknown or multiple causes of the damage to the Great Barrier Reef, as shown in Appendix 1 (The Conversation. 2012).

At the time the reef was engraved it was recognised that to incorporate all the intentions and determinations, the whole Great Barrier Reef was the best way to guarantee the dependability of the coral reef ecology in all its varied qualities. Strengths of the Great Barrier Reef- • World Class: A well-known world icon, the Great Barrier Reef was bestowed as a World Heritage site in 1981. It is recognised as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and the Queensland National Trust has designated it AUS icon and tourist attraction. It is the best sheltered, fore fended and the best existing reef system in the world with its own particular dedicated management society. • Intricate: An amusing immersed home to more than 30 types of whales and dolphins, 1625 types of fish, 411 varieties of hard coral and more than 160 types of delicate coral (comprises of 10% of the world's delicate coral), upwards of 3,000 types of mollusc, 6 of the7 kinds of marine turtles found in the world and monster shellfishes that are more than 120 years of age.