Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Coral Bleaching

Good Essays
799 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Coral Bleaching
English 2 Honors
31 May 2011

Coral Bleaching What is Coral bleaching? Coral bleaching is the whitening of corals due to expulsion or death of the protozoa’s pigment. The corals that form the structure of reef ecosystems of tropical seas depend upon a symbiotic relationship with unicellular protozoa, called zooxanthellae, which live within their tissues. Zooxanthellae give coral its coloration. Under stress, corals may release their zooxanthella, which causes the coral to look white or “bleached”. This is a bad issue and if we don’t enforce it, it could have many negative effects on us humans and other forms of life on Earth. Coral bleaching may not seem as though it would be a major issue, but it can cause a number of negative effects on the ecosystem. These effects include change in ocean currents, relating to changes in phytoplankton and zooplankton populations, changes in water temperatures. Coral bleaching can also cause increases or decreases in water salinity, increases or decreases in the air temperatures, build up of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, water turbulence, exposure to higher levels of light, sedimentation, and exposure to increased UV rays. Coral can benefit both the ecosystem and people. An extensive survey of the Great Barrier Reef carried out over the last month has revealed "widespread bleaching", says Terry Done, chief conservation scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. The coral protects shores from the impact of waves and from storms, provides economic benefits to local communities from tourism. More importantly, it benefits humans in the form of food and medicine. With the coral getting bleached, it takes all of these benefits away from us humans. Coral bleaching has a big impact on its respective cultures. When coral gets bleached, it can harm the sea life that lives there. Once bleaching starts, even if the stress is reduced, the bleaching can still occur. If the life in the coral survives the stress period, zooxanthellae often require weeks to months to return to normal density. The new life that occupies that space may be of a different species, however. The old species can die out therefore threatening many sea creatures. Coral can also help with slowing down storms in the water, protecting coastal towns. This can then lead to a cultural implication in the sense that fishermen won’t be able to make their living. Due to the fact that coral reefs are home to more than 25% of the fish species it affects many businesses as well as the environment. The coral bleaching could destroy the fishermen’s source of fish and other sea creatures, causing them to lose money, food, jobs, and businesses. It can also affect tourism to great extents. A lot of countries and pieces of land depend on tourism to make their money and keep their businesses running and without coral attractions; it can hurt their income majorly. "It will take a long time before we have full confirmation of the magnitude of the disaster," Thomas Goreau, president of the Global Coral Reef Alliance in Chappaqua, New York said. "But when it is all in, I predict we will have confirmation that almost all corals across the entire South Pacific have died in the last few months." Solutions to the problems of climate change and reefs exist on a number of levels. The ultimate solution to protect coral reefs would be to target the source of global climate change. It is important for governments to realize the importance of this situation because these reefs are not going to be able to withstand such dramatic changes in climate for long. Governments should educate both the public and industries about this threat. Laws banning the production of CFC gases would help to slow down the rate of ozone depletion and global warming, which help the temperature change that’s harming the coral. If fines existed for production of these gases, maybe industries would be encouraged to use safer alternative methods of getting what they need. Coral bleaching is an ongoing issue that needs to be seized; it is hurting planet Earth, the place we fellow humans call home. The Earth is a beautiful and wonderful place that sustains life forms and various organisms. However due to the pollution and effect it is having on our atmosphere it is causing this coral bleaching. Destroying many beautiful sights, home to sea life, affecting businesses, and tourism.

Works Cited:

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_bleaching. 15 May, 2011

Duke. http://www.duke.edu/web/nicholas/bio217/aer9/effects.htm. 13 May, 2011 Fred Pearce. “Massive coral bleaching strikes Great Barrier Reef” New scientist. 12 April, 2002. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2164-massive-coral-bleaching-strikes-great-barrier-reef.html 30 May, 2011

Cited: Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_bleaching. 15 May, 2011 Duke. http://www.duke.edu/web/nicholas/bio217/aer9/effects.htm. 13 May, 2011 Fred Pearce. “Massive coral bleaching strikes Great Barrier Reef” New scientist. 12 April, 2002. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2164-massive-coral-bleaching-strikes-great-barrier-reef.html 30 May, 2011

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    construction, fishing, logging, climate change, oil spills, tourists and manufacturing, which adds pollution to the air and water. If there is too much pollution around and in the Great Barrier Reef it can potentially disrupt and ruin the coral reef ecosystem. Individual people can also cause destruction to the reef. Fishers who drop boat anchors often break off large pieces of coral and scuba divers can harm certain sea creatures from the action of touching them.…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coral Reef Essay

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Coral reefs are one of the most interesting things on earth. It is a shame that people know so little about them and that they aren’t taken care of near as well as they should be. They are fascinating to learn about if you put time and effort to learn about them and what they are. Also, what they all do for our environment. Our solution for taking care of our reefs are to educate yourself about coral reefs, volunteer for reef clean-ups, do not anchor down on the reefs, and reduce, reuse, and…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This sea is predicted as how the oceans of the planet will look like within the next century. The acidification that might happen throughout the oceans of the world is mostly caused by the carbon dioxide emitted from smokestacks and tailpipes. (527) Thirty percent of the carbon dioxide released by man has been soaked in the oceans. Many marine organisms cannot survive in these high carbon dioxide concentrated conditions. The evidence from Castello Aragonese proves that this polluted sea is missing thirty-three percent of marine organisms that live outside the vent system. Another significant organism of the chemistry of the ocean is the coral reef. Coral reefs are essential for the ecosystem of the ocean. Ocean acidification is a threat to their existence. According to Jane Lubchenco, ocean acidification is global warming’s “equally evil twin.” (qtd. in…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coral Reef Research Paper

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Coral reefs are one of the world’s hidden treasures. In a coral reef, you can find anything from plants to certain types of animals. Some of the coral that you might see can be dangerous and fatal to humans. While some coral reefs are dangerous, others aren’t. There are a lot of things in a coral reef and many topics worth being discussed, but only three topics will be touched on throughout this paper. The first topic is the food web within the coral reefs; the second topic being discussed will be the different types of coral reefs; the third topic to be discussed will be where coral reefs can be found.…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Climatic change: Coral can loose its colour or even die from a change in its climate such as a cyclone or global warming. All the pollution that humans send up into the atmosphere thins the Ozone Layer. The Ozone Layer is meant to filter out the harmful UV rays, but because there is now a hole in it, some rays get through and heat the water temperature (Global Warming). The coral cannot survive the warmer sea temperatures.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coral Reef Structure

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Over the last few years there has also been a large rise in climate causing the oceans to heat up. The oceans heating up cause the carbon dioxide in the water to rise causing a bleaching effect on the coral, which is extremely dangerous because it prevents the coral from growing and causes them to calcify. This issue has caused many conservationist to worry about the future of reefs. According to National Geographic this is becoming a large problem because of how long it takes coral to actually mature. "That spells trouble for corals, which often take 15 years to reach sexual maturity and reproduce only once a year" (As Oceans Heat Up, a Race to Save World's Coral Reefs). National Geographic along with other programs have started many conservations and programs to help slow down the dying rate of the reefs. A biological oceanographer at the University of Miami gave this quote to National Geographic, "So a lot of our efforts are to give first aid to buy time until we can fix the problem, like CO2 [levels]. We can make a difference. It's not that hard" (As Oceans Heat Up, A Race to Save World's Coral Reefs). This just shows that with everyone's help we can all change the future of these…

    • 1471 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coral reef bleaching, which is the whitening of diverse invertebrate taxa. The cause of the whitening is “from the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae and/or a reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentrations in zooxanthellae residing within the gastrodermal tissues of host animals.” (P.W.Glynn) The reason why coral reef bleaching is such a concern is because the “consequences of bleaching large numbers of reef-building scleractinian corals and hydrocorals.”(P.W.Glynn)…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Gonzalez, C. (2009). "Clear and Present Danger for the Reef". Retrieved January 23, 2010,…

    • 1525 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coral reefs have been dubbed the “rainforests of the oceans”, because of the rich diversity of life they support, as more than one quarter of all marine animals depend upon coral reefs. Coral reefs are also a source of food and income for millions of people. The coral reef ecosystems benefit humans commercially, recreationally and environmentally. Without them many tourism based industries would collapse, treatments or cures for some illnesses would disappear, and the countless organisms they support would be left without food or shelter. For these reasons and numerous others, it is vital that we protect coral reefs.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Increases in sea temperature of 1°C may lead to coral bleaching; the death of coral can cause severe damage to dependent ecosystems. It is predicted that without a reduction in global emissions, the corals of the Great Barrier Reef will be destroyed and coral cover worldwide will…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Coral reefs are home to many fishes and plants. Because of global warming, 16% of the world’s coral reefs were wiped out in one year alone (“Global Warming and Coral Reefs”). Ocean temperatures have also risen by 1.3 ° Fahrenheit since the last 19th century (Coral bleaching and ocean acidification are two climate-related impacts to coral reefs). The increasing carbon dioxide levels lead to coral bleaching. This occurs when coral responds to the stress of the temperature warming. This expels the colorful algae that live within most of the coral dies, so the entire ecosystem disappears. Warmer waters are expected to increase the chance of coral diseases such as black band disease, white plague, and white pox. All of the diseases lead to the killing of coral reefs and the entire ecosystem is supports.…

    • 1989 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Coral reefs are considered to be the rainforest of the oceans and arguably the most beautiful habitat in the world. Coral reefs are underwater ecosystems where many species such as fish, marine plants, sponges, algae thrive on. As the text, Living in the Environment describes it: coral reefs “are among the world’s oldest, most diverse and most productive ecosystems” (Hackett, 132). Unfortunately, coral reefs are on the endangered list mainly due to human’s involvement in detrimental activities in the past decades. As of now, one-fourth of coral reefs around the globe are lost due to pollution, over-fishing, climate change resulting warmer ocean temperature and coastal development (Hackett, 132). In order to understand why the destruction of coral reefs is a global crisis, it is imperative to outline what are coral reefs and why they are such significant creatures to marine and human lives. Coral reefs are mainly found in warm tropical and subtropical oceans and they are created when large amount of polyps (tiny animals) form a colony. Over time, polyps start to secrete calcium carbonate also known as limestone, which is the building block of the reefs. Zooxantellae, single-celled algae, helps the polyps with food and oxygen and in turn the polyp provides the single-celled algae with a home and nutrients (Hackett, 132). “Coral reefs are essential spawning, nursery, breeding, and feeding grounds for numerous organisms” (NOAA). They also supply jobs, fishing, and tourism industries for humans around the world (Hackett, 132). As mentioned before, the coral reefs are endangered due to climate change, pollution, and destructive and over-fishing practises. This essay will address and explain each impact on the coral reefs and also provide some solutions to these crises.…

    • 1704 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the Pacific we are witnessing the slow but steady die-off of our coral due to increasing sea temperatures. Coral reefs are vitally important to our survival. They protect us from the ravages of the sea provide fish for us to eat. Similar effects are also happening in other regions; the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Coral reefs and how chemical substances can affect these living organisms is what the research is conducted on. We tend to have a genuine love for coral reefs whenever we view someone’s scuba diving photos. Seeing fishes swim around coral reefs is what many assume is the purpose of the reefs, but many do not know their real purpose. However, it comes down to learning the importance of coral reefs and how to protect these species that are very much a part of our ocean. This investigation is important because just like everything in our sea there is, importance in these reefs in our ocean. Not to mention, if we do not learn and protect these species there will be severe consequences for the world that we live in.…

    • 1492 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The sunscreen has something in it called oxybenzone which is used for UV-filtering and it has been found in high amounts near Hawaii and the Caribbean. Not only does it affect the coral reefs but scientists have also discovered that it causes DNA damage in adults! It affects the corals DNA by damaging it when it first starts to grow which makes them unlikely to develop properly. According to scientists they say that the way that the oxybenzone gets into coral system is when people go scuba diving the substance gets off of their skin and it infiltrates the system. We are losing our coral reefs by over fishing, coastal development, pollution, careless tourism, and El Nino. Another problem that causes the reef not to grow is bleaching. Coral bleaching is when the algae that lives inside the coral reef leaves and the reef loses a valuable source of nutrition causing it not to grow. Many people ask what they can do to stop the loss of coral reefs. Scientist say that people should wear wet suits instead of just scuba diving in their bathing suits. If they dive in wet suits they would not have to put on the sunscreen which in case would not have to put sunscreen on. No sunscreen=Safe…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays