The Coral Reef Biomes : The Environmental Effects Of Coral Reefs

Currently there is no saturation level above four in the world. If current trends continue, by 2060, there will be no location above 3.5 and by 2100, no place above 3. The negative trends are extremely concerning as the changing water levels are making the reefs’ survival more unlikely. The energy required for calcification increase, and thus calcification rates decrease. Because of the lack of growth, coral diversity plunges. Over half a million species have spent their life on coral reefs. Coral reefs are intricate exchange bazaars that pass nutrients to various animals. Without the reefs, this exchange would not be possible and the abating of the reefs contributes to the disappearance of the ecosystem as a whole. While ocean acidification is not the only reason for the withering reefs, it is the most detrimental. The effect of ocean acidification extends beyond just the coral reefs. This process affects marine animals’ tightly regulated internal chemistry such as metabolism, enzyme activity, and protein function. Ocean acidification alters the presence of key nutrients such as iron and nitrogen essential to animals. It will also make the ocean noisier (Kolbert 136-141). The implications of ocean acidification are interminable. Human realization is imperative to slow the rate at which ocean saturation is declining. The less carbon emissions released in the air, the less carbon dioxide is absorbed by the ocean which will inadvertently prove beneficial to the coral reefs, but also many other species dependent on the

The oceans need to be protected because it is where life began and if not taken care of, life as we know it will end. The well-being of the ocean is constantly being threatened and needs to stop. When dangerous substances go into the ocean, ecosystems suffer and become endangered along with the lives of people and marine life. The importance of protecting and preserving the quality and biodiversity of the world 's coasts must be recognized because they are truly irreplaceable. If humans are not educated , and become careless about what is thrown on the ground or sprayed on lawns, disastrous effects follow when it comes to the condition of the ocean’s ecosystems, which can endanger life itself, leading to a problem only we can correct. There is historical evidence of ocean pollution, although the problem still shadows us today.

People are polluting the oceans which not only affects us but also affects the beautiful underwater habitats and interesting sea creatures. Two billion people within 30 miles of the coast create 100 metric tons of coastal plastic waste (Doc.1). This plastic waste can get caught around sea animals, injuring them or even killing them (OI). Oils spills can really hurt marine life (Doc.2). Some creatures could eat it or get covered in it. If the fish eats the oil and then someone or something eats the fish they could get extremely ill. When there are excess nutrients in the water algal blooms occur, which is when algae has too many nutrients and reproduces in large numbers, this can also hurt people (OI). For these reasons and many more we should

These three factors, being human impact (pollution/ overfishing), climate change (water temperatures), and natural disasters (hurricanes) play their leading role over the loss of coral reef ecosystems— where reflections such as disease and bio erosion act as the result. The importance over marine biologists, and their conveying message to save the coral reef ecosystem, is a demanding change of our standardized way of life. The science and understanding over this ecosystem can, in good faith, stem a positive human response instead of a negative impact; where through these studies, the public may become aware of the issue and be attentive towards a possible

Overfishing and bycatch can lead to many problems and one of the main problems of overfishing and bycatch is the species of fish or marine life going extinct. The consequences of this problem is some of fish and marine life going extinct. When it happens it can affect many things such as not providing certain animals food. It can also lead to overpopulation in some species because there predator might not be alive anymore so without certain species predators will

There are lots of threats from the environment and from humans. Here are some of the many threats and some fun facts. The first threat is unsustainable fishing, it is the largest ocean threat. 90% of the world’s fisheries are already overfished, while other unwanted animals die needlessly each year. The second threat is pollution, over 80% of marine pollution comes from land based activity. Oil spills, fertilizers, seas of garbage, sewage disposal, and toxic chemicals can cause pollution. The third threat is shipping, substandard ships and poor shipping practices are leading to massive marine pollution, and damage. The last threat is climate change. The key impacts of climate change are coral bleaching, stormy weather, moving homes, rising sea levels, acidic oceans, altered lifestyles, and decreased mixing. Now here are some fun facts, or environmental factors. The marine biome is the biggest biome in the world, it covers 70% of the Earth, and accounts for 90% of the world’s water supply. The ocean biome is considered to be the oldest of all biomes, humans have only explored about 10% of the ocean biome. The oceans are normally very salty, there is about one cup of salt for every gallon of water in the ocean. At 36,200 feet deep, the Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the ocean biome, oceans contain nearly 20 million pounds of gold. There is a semi-light part of the ocean called the twilight

These increasing ocean temperatures, which result in global warming, are mostly due to the amount of CO2 released in the air, therefore threatening the existence of the coral reef systems (Cole, Pratchett and Jones). The reduction of the coral reef ecosystems are attributed to the climate induced bleaching from the past decade. The loss of coral reef environments has direct affects to the habitat of an organism within the reefs (Cole, Pratchett and Jones), leading to a decrease in biodiversity (Coker, Pratchett and Munday).

addition to the effects of pollution, ocean fisheries are suffering the effects of overfishing. A

Fishing is a great hobby for the “average Joe.” People fish for fun, family bonding, and to make a living. Overfishing, defined as excessive fishing to an extent, damages local ecology. “Overfishing.org”, found at, http://overfishing.org/pages/what_is_overfishing.php, states, “Catching too many fish; fishing so much that the fish cannot sustain their population”. This means that too many fish are taken out of the water too quickly causing a low population count. People who are overfishing oceans, lakes, rivers, etc. are affecting local biological organism and humankind itself. Humans constantly fishing these bodies of water affect the whole food chain. In a few years, your favorite fish may not exist. World powers, such as the United States

Humans are the number one contributor to this problem. With the continuing rise in population that relies on fish in their diet and the demand to meet it there has been more need for fishermen and fisheries to meet these needs. With the increase in the number of fishermen and fisheries in industry, there has been an increase in competition to get the largest catch and make as much money as possible. The race by fishermen and fisheries to increase their catches and the need to meet demands has led to the discovery of the technology and techniques that would allow for this which are often destructive. However, this problem affects more than humans. There are other animals that have fish in their diet. Fish are also in the diet of many species in the water and are responsible for eating some species. With dwindling fish populations and the chance that we will one day be without fish, we face the balance of the species and habitats that are sustained by fish becoming unbalanced or losing many more species as a result.

There are multiple human factors that can and are affecting the coral reef ecosystems globally. One of the simpler ones is overfishing practices on the reef. An influx of people living in the tropics has caused major stress on coral reefs as a main food source. This can cause major effects on not only fish species, but the whole ecosystem. One article from volume 5, number 9 of the Conservation biology journal written in 1995 by Callum M Roberts from the University of the Virgin Islands reported that overfishing on the coral reef leads to a reduction of species biodiversity, and potential localised extinction of both the target species and other species that are indiscriminately fished from the coral reef. Loss of keystone species, for example, predators, such as triggerfish and pufferfish, of echinoderms, such as sea urchins, through overfishing can affect not just fish communities but the entire ecosystem, leading to major effects on reef processes (Callum M Roberts).

People often take the ocean for granted due to its vastness since it makes up over seventy percent of the Earth, however the integrity of the ocean is deteriorating. One of the major, worldwide threats to the wellbeing of the ocean and its inhabitants is overfishing. Overfishing affects not only the ocean, but also the land dwellers. Many countries around the world depend on fish as their main source of food. Tons of fish are caught out of the sea daily, however, the rate that fish are being hauled is far too high where fish stocks are incapable of naturally recovering. There is a decline in population size of affected fish and some species have even faced extinction. Overfishing is the leading cause of ecological extinction, foregoing any other human disruptions to marine ecosystems, such as pollution, water degradation, and climate change (Jackson, et al). Overfishing causes an overwhelming devastation upon the oceans because it depletes food resources, disrupts the food web, and destroys habitats of aquatic organisms, due to this, overfishing causes an oceanic ecological collapse worldwide.

To begin his lecture, Mark Boyce talked about how humans have effected top-down and bottom-up dynamics. These factors, that humans have created, are over harvesting, nutrient pollution, and increased phosphorus delivery. Most of the work that Boyce did was on the systems within the Coral Reefs, which are much more diverse and variable then many expect. There is a symbiosis relationship between coral and algae, where the coral gives nitrogen and the algae gives sugar back to the coral through photosynthesis. As time goes on, there are less coral reefs and more algal reefs. In the Caribbean, coral has decreased from a 50% coverage to a low 5-10% across the entire basin; this is caused by overfishing, bleaching, disturbance, eutrophication, and disease. Changing the number of herbivores and nutrient availability, changes the amount of algal and coral growth over time. If there is a low number of herbivores and high nutrient availability this causes fleshy macro-algae to grow, which kills coral; fish are key drivers of herbivory. Seaweed, algae and fish interact with corals,

One of the most serious environmental issues that we are facing is overfishing, which is often overlooked. Many people rely on the fishing industry for a job, and many more (one billion people) depend on it for a source of protein, so it is not surprising that our supply of fish is dwindling.

Coral is essential for the construction of coral reefs which hosts and immensely biodiverse ecosystem. Due to rising temperature caused by global warming the coral become stressed and go through a bleaching event that slows down reproduction, can make the coral susceptible to disease and can cause it to eventually die if the stressor is not fixed. If ocean temperatures continue to rise entire ecosystems will be destroyed by the death of