Great Barrier Reef Threats

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

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 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.

GREAT BARRIER REEF SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION A coral reef is communicated living organisms that is one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. They are covering less than 0.1% of the ocean floor, however they are home about 25% of marine life. Due to this characteristic, they are known as a rainforests of the ocean. The main structure of a reef is tiny animals called polyps that have hard outer skeleton made of calcium.

One of the leading causes for reefs to be endangered is due to the invasive lionfish. The lionfish’s impulsive eating habits are threatening our sea life of the reefs and decreasing our fisheries economically. According to Lionfish Hunters, the green side includes the cleaners that maintain the health of the reef and the health of other fish such as “grazers.” The grazers are the parrotfish, goatfish, wrasses, surgeonfish, and tangs. (The Lionfish Hunters, web.)

The coral bleaching phenomenon is occurring all over the world’s coral reefs and it is still happening right knows without we even noticing it. Various approaches have been applied to save this extraordinary God-given structure before it vanishes completely from the earth. However, the world probably should be more concern on the main issues that leads to this problem in the first place. Three major factors that contribute to coral bleaching include the rise in ocean temperature, changes in salinity as well as underwater sedimentation.

The effects on corals, already highly sensitive to their environment, are particularly concerning, since one part of all marine species depend on coral reefs for homes, nurseries, feeding grounds and spawning sites. This equates to nine million marine species, including four thousand species of fish. ocean forecasts the mass extinction of corals in both tropical and cold waters this century, if carbon emissions growth continues unchecked. How will ocean acidification affect

Therefore, the impact of overfishing and illegal collecting of coral may destroyed the social and economic well-being of the coastal communities who depend on fish for their way of life. Beside, it is also direct overexploitation of fish, intertebrates, and algae for food and the aquarium trade, removal of a species or group of species impacting multiple trophic levels, bycatch and mortality of nontarget species, and change from coral to algal dominance due to reduction in herbivores (Reef Resilience Organisation,

Coral reefs are the most diverse communities in the marine environment. Hermatypic-corals help form the structure of coral reefs and a shelter for a variety of organisms. Living coral reefs form land, provide the sand that lines tropical beaches, and the structures which prevent the waves from causing extensive coastal erosion. However, pollution from sewage and agricultural practices damages corals as well as the wide variety of organisms living within them. Stress is a physiological condition which results from adverse or excessive environmental factors and in corals and can be measured by decreased growth rates, metabolic differences, and biochemical changes. There are varying levels of degradation of coral reefs such as mortality to more sublime changes in

Coral beaching is the most visible, wide-spread and iconic manifestation of climate change on reefs, but it is far from the only one. Bleaching is a generalized term for the loss of symbiotic dinoflagellates, or their pigments, in stony corals and is typically associated with sustained, unusually warm water temperatures (Hoegh-Guldberg, 1999), particularly when it occurs over a large geographic scale. Bleaching events can change colorful vibrant coral reefs into pale rocky graveyards, ominous shadows of possible future

The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmospheric is too huge lead to the greatest impact in building up the corals for the reef as it being absorbed by the ocean. Earth’s atmospheric concentration CO2 is now higher than it has been for more than 800000 years (Luthi et al., 2008), and the amount is expected to keep on climb up at an accelerating rate in which lead to the rising up of the temperature. Furthermore, Reef could not exist without the existence of corals. Their rate of growth is getting slower and if it is being left unchecked, it is surely will be erode away since it soon will stop

What is the Great Barrier Reef? The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system located in Australia, but it is also the largest coral reef system in the entire world. It is home to a massive variety of fish, it is home to over 900 islands, and it is also composed of over two-thousand sub-reefs. The Great Barrier Reef remains under constant distress which can be mostly attributed to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels and tourist activities, these include, but are not limited to: boating through the reef, tropical storms throughout the reef, and the pollutants released all through the reef.

Hurricanes can spin up sediment and kill coral and animals like that. They also cause there to be less dissolved oxygen in the water, making it hard for them to breathe and take in

An increase in temperature and rainfall also lead to the change in sea temperature and sea levels. Jennifer (2006) notes that, ‘Sea surface temperatures in many tropical regions have increased by almost 1°C over the past 100 years (some tropical seas up to 2°C) and are currently increasing ~1–2°C per century. In the Great Barrier Reef, sea surface temperatures have increased 0.46°C per century in the north to 2.59°C per century in the waters off Townsville. Sea surface temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef in early 1998 were the warmest in the past 95 years of instrumental record and were associated with significant coral bleaching.’ The annual sea temperature is rising and it will result in many wild animals died in the Great Barrier Reef.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Authority (GBRMPA) responsible to manage Great Barrier Reef Marine Park for the best available scientific information for researchers to conserve the coral reef. GBRMPA responsible to increasing compliance focus to ensure zoning rule are follow, controlling crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks, monitoring the health of the ecosystem on a Reef-wide scale and implementing Reef Recovery