Great Barrier Reef Climate Change

Coral bleaching is not just a national problem that Australia faces alone. In the last year (2015), 12 percent of the world’s coral reefs have bleached (Howard). Since the Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef, covering 133,000 square miles, and stretching 1,200 miles along the coast of Australia, it poses an incredible threat to Australia’s economy and environment (Howard). Coral bleaching is not an issue that is often plastered all over the news or brought to people’s attention often. Coral Reefs, especially the Great Barrier Reef are seen as the perfect tourist destination because reefs are known for their wide variety of marine life and beautiful bright corals one would see on brochures. However, when a coral is bleached, it loses

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, but massive coral bleaching has stripped the corals of their natural beauty. Less than 50% of the original reef remains. Pollution, habitat change, and global warming is causing the colorful reef to turn a pale grey color. The Great Barrier Reef needs all the attention it can get to restore itself back to its original liveliness. The world-famous coral reef is not only in grave danger, but each day, it is getting closer and closer to complete destruction.

Temperatures reaching highs of 30 degrees Celsius, we expected nothing less, summers have been getting unbearable and winters are nothing to what they used to be. Today started with a warm, gentle breeze with off and on rainfalls this type of weather was typical.

Australia contains the world’s largest reef system stretching 2,000 kilometers along the northeastern coasts (“Australia’s Great Barrier”). The extremely ancient Great Barrier Reef, hosting millions of living things has been studied to be as much as twenty million years old. The area of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Switzerland combined would still be smaller than the Great Barrier Reef, which can be seen from outer space. The Great Barrier Reef is one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. Being the home of ten percent of the World's total fish, it has been established that over 1,500 species of fish live on the reef. Also, researchers have discovered more than 215 species of birds and at least 330 ascidians who call the Great

That has climate change, such as global warming, had a severe impact on, and these changes are affecting the ecosystems in The Coral Triangle and the local people living in the area. It is rising the temperatures, acidifying and rising seas. This problem has been caused of the overproduction of the greenhouse gas CO2 which is driven by burning fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the concentration of CO2 are 37% higher than for thousands of years ago. This overproduction is heating the planet and the coral reefs have experienced major bleaching because of the rising temperatures.

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) the health effects of climate change include increased respiratory and cardiovascular disease, injuries and premature deaths complement to extreme weather crisis. Changes in the prevalence and geographical distribution of food (waterborne illnesses) and other infectious diseases, in addition to threats to mental health. Climate change affects the social and environmental factors of health, such as clean air and water, enough food and safe shelter. It is estimated that between 2030 and 2050, climate change will cause approximately 250 000 additional deaths per year, from malnutrition, malaria, diarrhoea and heat stress.

Discussions and Findings What impact are chemicals currently having on Corals and fish species on the Great Barrier Reef? The impacts of chemicals on the Great Barrier Reef are far beyond what is first expected. The reef is subject to effects of sediment, nutrients and chemical pollutants that currently effect 25% of the worlds coral reefs (Amelia S. Wenger, 2015), including the Great Barrier Reef. These three effects result in a decline in water quality, which is due to an increase in nutrients caused by fertilisers, herbicides, insecticides and sewage.

A food web consists of all food chains of an ecosystem. A food web is a diagram which shows the transfer of energy between species. Energy is transferred through food; therefore, food webs basically show which fauna eats which. Food webs are organized into layers of who eats who called trophic levels. The bottom trophic level of a food web is the producers, the second being the primary consumer, then the secondary consumers, tertiary consumers and the final trophic level being the decomposers. The ecosystem of the Great Barrier Reef is a fragile balance, with a food chain that has several points, in which each one is reliant on one another. The Great Barrier Reef’s coordinates are 18.2871° S, 147.6992° E. The Reef has a huge amount of flora

Coral Bleaching is caused when elevated seawater temperatures result in extensive coral loss. When the water becomes too warm coral will expel the algae living in their tissue, causing the coral to turn completely white. Pollution from urban or agricultural run-offs, sedimentation from undersea activity like dredging, and changes in the salinity are other contributors to coral bleaching. Although coral can survive the bleaching they are under more stress and are subject to mortality. This issue is not a new problem; coral bleaching has had a substantial effect on coral for many years.

Bleaching reinforces the need for us to continue working with our partners to improve the reef’s resilience to give it the best possible chance of dealing with climate change impacts,” (National Geographic). The reef has been bleaching for many years and has had little to no reinforcement or

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).

Annotated Bibliography: How Climate Change Is Affecting Our Planet Controversy statement: Climate change is been debated for over centuries now. People all around the world are taking action and reducing burning fossils to minimize the gasses in the atmosphere. Many people believe that climate change doesn't exists. But there are a lot of controversial topics that proves that climate change is real. In my opinion, climate change is slowly killing us and destroying our planet.

Global climate change constitutes arguably the single most important threat to mankind. From the onset of the industrial revolution, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), including carbon dioxide (CO2) have increasingly built up in the atmosphere, causing the climate to warm up slowly but steadily (IPCC, 2014). NASA predicts that 2016 will mark the hottest year on record. The effects of global warming are ubiquitous: Greenland’s glacier and the Arctic ice cap are melting, ocean levels are rising, occurrences of extreme weather are increasing, including hurricanes and areas of either intense drought or flooding. Collectively, these changes and their direct consequences are an imminent danger and they directly affect other urgent issues humanity is

Researches show that the average temperature of the planet has been changed during the last decades, as a result, many problems join with it and climate change is considered as the biggest problem around the world. Climate change is one of the results of global warming and it has so many negative disadvantage impacts on earth, including; increasing the events of natural

The effects of the climate change are undeniable in the scientific research. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other meteorological organizations measures the temperature of the earth on the daily basis and has indicated the potential increase. Furthermore, the dramatic decline in ice and glaciers in the North and South Pole verify the rising temperature and its impact on the sea level. It should be noted that from last decade, the sea level has been increased due to melting of the ice that ocean currently pose a threat (Shrestha, Babel, & Pandey,