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 Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:50 pm
All over the world, coral reefs are being destroyed. Why? How? What will happen to coral reefs in the future? Well, the future is now and already coral reefs have started to disintegrate.
Coral reefs all over the world are being destroyed by pollution, tourism, and just plain careless human behavior. In fact, coral reef animals are so important to some sushi restaurants that fishermen will blow coral reefs up for easy fishing. Now, over 80% of the earth's reef's are destroyed or incredibly over-fished.
Think about it. Could our world survive without coral reefs when they generate $30 billion a year in U.S. dollars? The coral reef is important to the fishing industry, feeds coastal communities, protects the coast line from storms, and saves valuable money for the government when they do not have to pay for insurance caused by storms. And did you know that the coral reefs are important to making future medicines from organisms and fish?
As a storm rolls in, coastal residents are comforted because they know that the reefs are the main barrier of the worst storms, hurricanes, and typhoons along the coast. During the December Tsunami, the coral reef saved lives by taking most of the impact of the wave. If it had not been for the coral reef, the wave would have gone further inland, killing more people.
Like the rainforests, reefs have been found to produce medical resources as a cure for cancer and other diseases. This is made from organisms and fish from the coral reefs, which is why that when we (humans) destroy every acre of coral reefs, a medication for serious illnesses is lost.
Coral reefs from in clear, warm coastal, waters of the tropics and subtropics. These stunningly beautiful natural wonders are among the world’s oldest, most diverse, and most productive ecosystem. In terms of biodiversity, they are the marine equivalents of tropical rain forests.
Although coral reefs occupy only about 0.1% of the world’s ocean area, they provide numerous free ecological and economic services. They help moderate the atmospheric temperature by removing CO2 from the atmosphere, acts as natural barriers that help protect 15% of the world’s coastlines from erosion by battering waves and storms, and provide habitats for a variety of marine organisms.
Bad News: According to a 2005 report by the World of Conservation Union, 20% of the world’s coral reefs have been lost to coastal development, pollution, over fishing, warmer ocean temperatures, and other stresses.
One problem is coral bleaching. It occurs when a coral becomes stressed and the algae on which it depends for food and color die out, leaving an underlying white or bleached skeleton of calcium carbonate. Two causes of bleaching are increased water temperature and runoff of silt from the land (usually from forest clearing) that covers the coral and prevents photosynthesis.
Coral reefs are vulnerable to damage because they grow slowly and damage easily.
What can we do? As a tourist, or an owner of an aquarium, or even a student, how can we help the destruction of coral reefs?
-- There are thousands of things we can do, from just telling businesses that you know about reefs to helping out at a coral reef cleanup on the next day off for you. As a student, just learning about coral reefs will help.
Informing others on coral reefs will spread knowledge about the destruction of coral reefs and possibly save them.
-facts and numbers- retrieved from my ES book and lecture notes in class.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 1:26 pm
save coral reefs!!!!
i likies them!
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 3:35 pm
I agree. If you have ever been to Hawaii and swam in the reefs your perspective would completly change. 
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:55 pm
Coral reefs, natures most beautiful toilet.
We'll definietly be in trouble on a grand scale if Coral Reef's continue to decline. They house the sea bodies that filter the waste of the ocean, and what about all the fishy that live near them? We don't particularly fish for them, but they are the meals of the fish that we eat as meals.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 4:59 pm
sun_charm I agree. If you have ever been to Hawaii and swam in the reefs your perspective would completly change.
What do you mean?
Beautiful Picture!
*stares*
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:42 pm
Of course coral reefs should be saved!
They contain thousands of species of organisms which would affect the whole ecosystem of the ocean if they died out.
No only would we lose the beautiful coral reefs and the organism that live in them, we would also lose the organisms that depend on the organism that live in the coral reefs.
Also, there could be undiscovered cure for disease that might be in the organisms in the coral reefs, just like how that is possible with the rainforest, so it would benefit humans to save the coral reefs, and the rainforests.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:47 pm
I wish everyone thought like this.
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Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:37 pm
Emily`s_Gone_Mad sun_charm I agree. If you have ever been to Hawaii and swam in the reefs your perspective would completly change.
What do you mean?
Beautiful Picture!
*stares*I mean your perspective on wanting to save this beauty! 3nodding
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:38 pm
coral reefs are the homes of thousands of sea creatures. If there weren't they can't protect themselves or increase in numbers. The natural cycle would be broken. Who knows what would happen if one of the many sea creatures becomes extinct?!
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