Dying Coral Reefs and their Impact on the Environment
Coral reefs, often called the rainforests of the sea, are some of the most productive ecosystems on earth. They occupy less than one percent of the ocean floor, and are home to more than a quarter of all marine species and over 4000 types of fish make their home in coral reefs. The global economic value of the reefs is around $375 billion a year, and they provide food and resources for more than 500 million people in over 100 countries. Unfortunately, the coral reefs are in a crisis. According to Harborfields High School student, Brooke Buda, “We need to protect the sea and the coral reef. It teaches us so much, and we rely on it for so many things.”
Coral reefs are endangered for many reasons, including hurricanes, El Niño, diseases, and local threats such as overfishing, destructive fishing techniques, coastal development, pollution, and careless tourism. The effects of climate change, warming seas and increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the water also add to the destruction of the reefs. According to Lauretta Burke, who wrote a report by the World Resources Institute, she says.
Also, Coral reefs provide us with food, construction materials (limestone), new medicines, and more than half of new cancer drug research is focused on marine organisms. Ava Dorsam, daughter of research scientist at University of North Dakota, Glenn Dorsam, “Research is so important to our future and the coral reefs are a part of that, we need to protect it.” Reefs offer protection for shorelines. Many countries depend on coral reefs as a key barrier to guard against incoming storms and lessen the damage done by high seas. Without healthy reefs, “you lose what is essentially a moving, undersea sea wall,” said Linwood Pendleton, Global Oceans Lead Scientist of the World Wildlife Fund. Who estimated that about 62 million people live less than 33 feet above sea level and less than two miles from a coral reef. “The waves just come into shore full force. That can cause loss of life. It can cause loss of property.” Coral reefs help with water quality as well. One study showed that ocean acidification profoundly alters coral reef ecosystems. As carbon doxide levels rise and acidification increases, the biodiversity of coral reefs drops, resulting in the elimination of key species needed for healthy reef formation. “The decline of the structurally complex corals means the reef will be much simpler and there will be less habitat for the hundreds of thousands of species we associate with today’s coral reefs,” said Katherina Fabricius, a scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
“Coral bleaching is caused by global warming...”, said Terry Hughes, of the Australian Research Council, and lead author of a study on coral bleaching. The researchers found that bleaching events have increased from one every 25 to 30 years in the early 1980s to an average of one every six years since 2010. While coral reefs can recover from bleaching if given 10 to 15 years for their algae communities to recover, the increasing frequency of bleaching events means that many reefs may never be able to.
In many places, the loss of coral reefs would amount to an economic disaster, depriving fishermen of their main source of income, forcing people to find more expensive forms of protein and undermining the tourism industry. “It means jobs for lots of people,” said Linwood Pendleton, the study’s lead author and an international chair at the European Institute of Marine Studies.
As we can see, the coral reefs offer so much to the world, and we can do our part to help maintain the reefs and help protect them. Harborfields high school Student, Jack Dorsam did an in depth report on the coral reefs agrees, and adds, “Our generation can continue the important work in protecting the coral reefs, but we must be educated and stay updated on its impacts so we can help in the future.”