With only about one-sixth of the original coral cover left, most Caribbean coral reefs may disappear in the next 20 years. This statistics according to the latest report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). First of all, as we know nearly two-thirds of coral reefs in the Caribbean are threatened by human activities. For example of human activities that effect the coral reefs are coastal development, watershed-based sediment and pollution, marine based threats and also overfishing. Within the years, the Reefs at Risk Threat Index identified that about one-tenth of Caribbean coral reefs are at very high levels of threat, …show more content…
In Caribbean, 36 percent coral reefs are located within 2 km of the inhabited land thus this area of coral reefs ecology have highly susceptible to pressures arising from coastal populations. The extensive construction and development for roads, housing, ports and other development has been required to support both of the residential and tourist populations. The coastal development was poorly managed therefore put stress on coral reefs through direct damage from dredging, land reclamation and sand and limestone mining for construction as well as through less direct pressures such as runoff from construction sites and removal of coastal habitat. Besides that, the loss of mangrove and sea grass which filter sediment and nutrients coming from the land has been widespread in the Caribbean which lead to add the pressure towards coral reef ecology. Next, the increased sediment in the coastal waters reduces the amount of light reaching the coral and hinders the ability of their symbiotic algae which is zooxanthellae for photosynthesis.
On the other hand, human activity which threatens the coral reefs at the Caribbean Sea is tourism industry. This is because, tourism has both direct and indirect impact on coral reefs namely snorkeling, diving and boating can cause direct physical damage to coral reefs. Besides that, fishing and collecting corals for souvenir
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Many residents and visitors to the Caribbean are fail to realize and understand the connections between their own activities and the health of coral reefs therefore targeted education and awareness-raising campaigns are needed to change behavior and create political will for policy change. Educators, universities, national governments, resource managers, NGOs and others should work to raise awareness among residents and tourists alike through the development and dissemination of targeted educational materials. Their target audiences are community groups, fishers, workers in the tourist industry, tourists, politicians and student. Besides that, damage from land-based sources of pollution should be reduced through more effective watershed and coastal
In the text it says the Coral Queen was polluting the waters. This shows that the coral queen had used a cheaper way to save money but harm the environment. These examples prove that pollution and Coral Queen, connect in the book
1. It is a scientific fact that biodiversity is greatest near coral reefs and estuaries. But because of human influence coral reefs around the world are dying. Human coastal development, pollution, ocean warming, and ocean acidification are all things that threaten them. The World Research Institute estimated that about ¾ of the worlds shallow reefs are threatened by climate change, pollution, and overfishing.
Coral reefs rely heavily on zooxanthellae for photosynthetic byproducts that are required for calcium carbonate production for the corals to grow. Zooxanthellae, specifically Symbiodinium, are microalgae that live within the polyps of corals. Through the symbiotic relationship between corals and Symbiodinium, coral reefs are able to thrive in warm tropical ocean waters. However,
These banks contain coral rubble, seagrass and macroalgae with other invertebrate taxa, which play a key part in the ecosystem. The bank systems contain essential fish habitats, which provide sheltering and foraging grounds. Past studies have indicated these fish assemblages showed a high diversity and biomass of coral reefs. Most of the biomass in the Florida Keys ecosystem is made up of species that stay in channels for most of the day. These signs show that the bank systems are important for the FKNMS for providing a structural support and high productivity for the biodiversity.
The event of coral bleaching was executed and monitored under Coral Bleaching Response Plan developed from Climate Change Group at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) by Australian and Queensland Governments. There were four mechanisms constituted in the plan namely system of early warning, response to incident, actions of management, and strategy of communication (GBRMPA, 2010). First Components in Coral Bleaching Response Plan: Early Warning System In this steps of the response plan, it was subdivided into several works which were prediction of bleaching events by weather or climate forecast before summer, followed by checking temperature stress during summer, then detection of bleaching signs, after that inspections on site for reports and threshold determination (GBRMPA, 2010). The prediction of the probability of coral bleaching occurrence was take charged by two agencies namely Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)based on climate forecast before the summer season (GBRMPA, 2010).
Research has shown that sunscreen is having a negeative impact on the health of coral reefs. Trash is dumped and left on beaches daily. Oil spills and boat use disrupt fish and marine life. Erosion has become a big consern for the stability of beaches.
Introduction In order for a coral reef to be productive and healthy, the water quality in the ocean should be maintained. Water quality not only affects coral reefs, but the other organisms that live on it and are involved with the natural food chain. Some of the factors that can influence water quality are nutrients, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, light, and chlorophyll present. Water is essential to every living organism because it helps with respiration, maintaining body temperature, digestion and provides energy.
Calculations for tourism for the year of 2015 are unavailable at this time, but for the year of 2014, the reef received a total of 2.19 million visitors. It is a well – known piece of information that there is a global climate change going on where there is a rise in CO2 in the atmosphere due to higher emissions of fossil fuel and more deforestation occurring. The ocean then absorbs more of this CO2, which in turn raises the acidity, which in turn creates a poor environment for the coral to live and recover from bleaching that has already occurred. This change in acidity also affects the calcium carbonate that corals use to build themselves. (“Climate Hot Map- Global Warming Effects Around the
This means that the reefs are losing their rigid structures. The reefs still have hope to become recovered from the effects of bleaching. The document states that “for the recovered reef, live coral cover was comparable to the undisturbed reefs across all zones and exposures” which shows that a successful coral recovery can result in the corals returning to their natural state before the bleaching process (Graham). These two studies support each other because the Chauka’s study shows that light exposure due to the lack of turbidity results in coral bleaching while Graham’s study shows that the sloped and crested reefs experience less light exposure resulting in less coral bleaching. Another study by Emily Hardman, a professor of the School of Ocean Sciences at the University of Wales, discusses the effects of coral bleaching on the reefs in Rodrigues which are located in the Indian Ocean.
Europeans terrorized members of the Taino, Ciguayo, and Macorix tribes, robbing, beating them and even abducting their people. Columbus returns in 1493 and founded the first city, La Isabela. In 1496 his brother Bartholome founded Santo Domingo, the new capital. There was 400,000 Tainos on the island who were enslaved, working in gold mines, servicing the settlers, and more.
The population of the largest and most significant vertebrate plants feeds, including sea turtles, dugongs, have been severely decimated by the impacts of humans on the reef. The loss of these vital animals has and will more severely disturb the coral reef food web in a significant manner, although the specific impacts are not clear
The mangroves also serve as a nursery to various aquatic organisms, some of which assist in the filtering process (Chen & Twilley, 1999). Mangroves have the ability to modify their environment to adjust to the harsh conditions of the intertidal zone. They facilitate the deposition of various sediments which change the terrain or elevation of the coast over time (Ken W. Krauss et al, 2014).
Growing up, I often found inspiration snorkeling in the Florida Keys. Each trip, I entered an ever-changing resilient ecosystem of vibrant, vivacious sea life. However, in recent years, nonnative lionfish have invaded the entire East Coast devastating our coral reefs. Because they have no natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean, lionfish have almost completely depleted our oceans of juvenile fish, creating a major food shortage for native fish. If no action is taken, the future of our coral reefs over the next 50 years looks alarmingly grim
Not only does it provide jobs, but it also contributes to local economies. Corals protect humans as well by acting as barriers to prevent property and life damage. Globally, about half a billion people live along coasts that coral reefs inhabit, all of whom benefit from the protection provided by
Because of climate change, some plant species are restricted and cannot be grown due to the change in temperature in their natural habitat. Some species include coral reefs. The region in which these