Coral reef Destruction

For this assignment I chose to research coral reef destruction, why the reefs are important, what is harming them, and how the issue has progressed, and some possible solutions. It is important to protect the coral reefs because they are home to over a million different species and by taking this thriving ecosystem out of existence lots of organisms would be forced away from there and probably causing lots of the species to go extinct. Which would take away a food source for other animals.

Coral reefs are important for humans as well. They help with the economy of the nearby cities because tourists are attracted to the reefs. It also provides fish for humans to eat because that is a thing that we do. And even if you can’t fish on the reefs studies have shown that the ocean surrounding a healthy and thriving reef will have more fish.

So as you can see coral reefs are very important so now let’s talk about why the coral reefs are dying. Sure there are some things that we can’t control like weather and storms like hurricanes. But lots of things that are harming that coral reefs are things that happened because of humans. Like throwing plastic in the ocean, overfishing, using destructive fishing tactics, coastal development can lead to erosion which can block the sunlight from reaching the coral, overfishing fishes that are herbivores and eat seaweed because ten seaweed can over grow and smother the coral like one human might use to suffocate another human. Of course there is more, things like boat anchors, global warming and ocean acidification.

Global warming can lead to a phenomenon called coral bleaching. Coral bleaching happens when the water the coral is in gets too hot and expels the algae that lives on the coral causing the coral to turn white.

So there are a lot of things harming the coral reefs, like a lot. And this is a problem in coral reefs all over, which are typically found in warm shallow water. You see more of them closer to the equator and coastlines but not always there are some just chilling in the middle of the ocean. Some of the animals that are affected by coral reefs going bye bye are polyps, which are the coral, butterfly fish, spiny lobsters, whales, dolphins, whale sharks, hawksbill sea turtles, sea urchins, sea stars, seahorses, black tip reef sharks, jellyfish, anemones, and this one thrives off of killing the reefs but has such a cool name I just had to include it, the crown of thorns.

So as you can tell coral coral reefs dying would be no bueno. And this no bueno has been going on for literal centuries. The first big coral bleaching issue happened in 1911 and since then there have been other large episodes of this in 1970-1990 there were over sixty times that this happened. So not good. Because at the rate the reefs are dying by 2030 approximately 90% of the reefs will be gone. By 2050, all of them. We have already lost about 40-50% of the reefs we had just 30 years ago. So at this point it is about more than just stopping to problem we have to try and undo it.

My solution to help fix this issue is a process called coral transplanting. This is the process of taking coral from one place and transporting it to another and attaching it to existing reefs with things like cable ties or cement. This is a good solution for many reasons. 1 by taking coral from habitats that are unsurvivable and moving it to a better location with a more sustainable environment you would not only be helping the coral at the transplant site you would also be giving the donor coral a better chance of survival so it’s a win win. 2 you can move coral that was broken off from storms that would have a zero chance of survival and move it to a reef that needs it. 3 this is cost effective. And no one likes to waste money.

 But even though this a great step in a very right direction global warming is still an issue along with other things and luckily trump and su ego esta en las nubes is almost out of office we might have an actual shot at addressing this issue and writing it off and saying it will start getting colder and while we’re waiting for biden to be inaugurated i will be singing the if the virus doesn’t end climate change probably will blues. But a step that we could take is make the roofs a protected place. Studies have shown that protected reefs are doing a lot better than unprotected reefs in waters with similar conditions. And waters surrounding protected reefs have a lot more fish and other organisms which is good for human well being which is important I guess.

So in review coral transplant moves coral from donor site to transplant site attached to reef. Make it protected. The only downside to coral transplantation is that it takes time and a lot of it and you have to be selective of which corals you transplant because some have a higher mortality rate than others. But long story short because I already pained you with listening to this presentation enough transplant coral save reefs. And climate change is still a problem

Works Cited

Bardroff, Jenna. “5 Species We Stand to Lose If Coral Reefs Are Destroyed and What YOU Can Do about It.” One Green Planet, One Green Planet, 25 July 2014, www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/species-we-stand-to-lose-if-coral-reefs-are-destroyed/.

Cho, Renee. “State of the Planet.” State of the Planet, 18 June 2018, blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/06/13/losing-our-coral-reefs/.

Gibbens, Sarah. “Scientists Are Trying to Save Coral Reefs. Here’s What’s Working.” Science, 4 June 2020, www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/06/scientists-work-to-save-coral-reefs-climate-change-marine-parks/?scrlybrkr=057751c3. Accessed 4 Dec. 2020.

“Mapping the Decline of Coral Reefs.” Nasa.Gov, NASA Earth Observatory, 12 Mar. 2001, earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Coral.

US EPA, OW. “Threats to Coral Reefs.” US EPA, 30 Jan. 2017, www.epa.gov/coral-reefs/threats-coral-reefs?scrlybrkr=2fa4c538#:~:text=Coral%20reefs%20face%20many%20threats. Accessed 4 Dec. 2020.

Warne, Kennedy. “Can New Science Save Dying Coral Reefs?” Environment, 29 Nov. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/great-barrier-reef-restoration-transplanting-corals/?scrlybrkr=057751c3.