Climate Change: Climate Change And The Great Barrier Reef

960 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Global warming affecting barrier reef

Climate change and The Great Barrier Reef:
The Earth’s biosphere is being affected by climate change in numerous ways. The interactions that occur between the hydrosphere and atmosphere are leading to changes in our ocean’s chemistry that could be devastating to humans in the future generations to come. Climate change is the modification in the climate patterns. The effects of climate change have become particularly apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and have been substantially contributed to by the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.
Parts of the Great Barrier Reef are over 18 million years old. During this time sea levels have changed, with the Great Barrier Reef being left high and dry during the last ice age, turning into grassy plains. Sea levels rose as ice caps melted around 12 000 years ago, allowing corals to reestablish on old remnant reefs. It is the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem. The Great Barrier Reef is home to 1500 species of fish, 400 species of coral, 40000 species of Mollusk, 500 species of sea weed 215 species of birds, 16 species of sea snake and 6 species of turtle. However over time this diversity is rapidly decreasing, it is vital that the Great Barrier Reef is protected.
Climate change has affected biodiversity on the Great Barrier Reef significantly over the years and is continuing to have negative effects on the marine life. The rapid climate change puts the food chain at risk. Species of marine life are likely to decrease resulting in major biodiversity loss. Climate change has increased extreme weather such as flooding and cyclones. Extreme weather, such as cyclones has caused extensive amounts of physical damage to the reef, an exa...

... middle of paper ...

...he experiment consisted of two jars, one jar was filled with vinegar and the other jar had bicarbonate soda and vinegar in it. The bi-carb soda caused the temperature to rise. This is concerning because the sea temperatures are also rising. Healthy sea temperature is vital to reef building and controls the speed of coral reef development. Escalating sea temperature is endangering distribution and diversity of marine life.
In conclusion, the Great Barrier Reef is in danger due to climate change issues such as ocean acidification, greenhouse gasses and many others previously discussed. In order to protect the reef, changes in society need to be made. The reef is there for people to enjoy, not destroy however due to the careless life style we lead, the Great Barrier Reef is suffering. Society needs to make changes now before the reef becomes damaged beyond repair.

Show More
Related

  • The Effects of Global Warming on the Great Barrier Reef

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    Coral reefs around the world are in danger. One of the causes is global warming, which has been increasing the temperature of the ocean water resulting in coral bleaching. This essay will focus on damage occurring to the Great Barrier Reef.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On The Great Barrier Reef

    1656 Words  | 4 Pages

    Earth, an endless source of wonder and beauty, produced the Great Barrier Reef. Hustling and bustling, the Reef thrives like a busy city, teeming with life. Sheltering thousands, corals, maintain the well-being of the Reef; however, the world threatens its nature and delicacy. Populations growing and technological advances increasing, the world becomes more and more disconnected with the natural world, posing an alarming risk for the planet we live on. Although many organizations try to keep the oceans clean, because of human interference and unnatural occurrences, the Great Barrier Reef needs scientific help to adapt corals to new conditions for means of survival, putting pressure on the Australian government to save their ocean environment.

    Read More

  • Anthropogenic Effects on Coral Reefs

    2166 Words  | 5 Pages

    Nowlis, J., Roberts, C., Smith, A., and Siirila, E., 1997, Human Enhanced Impacts of a Tropical Storm on Nearshore Coral Reefs: Ambio, v. 26, no. 8, p. 515-521.

    Read More

  • Climate Change In Wendell Berry's The Peace Of Wild Things

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    The world is changing. The environment is yelling at us, but is society ready to listen? Climate scientists, outdoor enthusiasts, environmentalists, and politicians all have an opinion on the state of the world’s climate. There is an argument from each side, agreeing or disagreeing with the claims of scientists who are trying to show the world what is happening. The fact is that humans are changing the climate, and it is not for the better. Glaciers are melting, the polar caps are shrinking and the ocean is becoming acidic. According to a report in Ocean News and Technology “Researchers have found that increasing ocean temperatures due to climate change will soon see reefs shrinking” (Ocean News and Technology). The Great Barrier Reef off the

    Read More

  • Great Barrier Reef Persuasive Speech

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    As the great Sir David Attenborough would say “The great barrier reef is in grave danger” and everything that comes out of his mouth is in fact a fact.

    Read More

  • Climate Change In Great Barrier Reef

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    Leading scientists advise climate change will cause increases to the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Rising sea levels pose a significant risk to coastal communities, while the world’s oceans could become too acidic to support coral reefs and other calcifying marine organisms. Coral reefs contain only six per cent of the area of the Great Barrier Reef, yet they provide critical habitat and food for numerous species in the ecosystem. However, climate change has already impacted coral reefs in the Great Barrier Reef as corals are very helpless against its potential impacts. Eight mass coral bleaching events has occurred since 1979, triggered by unusually high water temperatures. And because of this, zooxanthellae (photosynthetic algae) leave their tissues and corals will have no more colours hence ‘bleaching’. Without the zooxanthellae, the corals that remain gradually starve to death. Once the coral dies, fish and a multitude of other marine species are soon affected. Rising sea levels and more frequent and intense storm surges will see more erosion of Australia’s coastline, causing community and residential

    Read More

  • What's Causing Ocean Acidification?

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some studies have found “that atmospheric CO2 concentration is approximately 383 parts per million by volume (ppmv), a level not seen in at least 650,000 years, and it is projected to increase by 0.5% per year throughout the 21st century.” (Guinotte) “This is because…the ocean absorbs about a third of fossil fuel emissions, but this amount is likely to increase to 90% in the future.” (Bralower) As a result, “the chemistry of the world's oceans is changing at a rate not seen for 65 million years, with far-reaching implications for marine biodiversity and food security, according to a new United Nations study...” (Knight) “…This change is cause for serious concern [for] many marine organisms…, [because they] may not be able to adapt quickly enough to survive these changes.” (Guinotte)

    Read More

  • Great Barrier Reef Essay

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Great Barrier Reef is a site of remarkable beauty and sea life. This reef holds the world’s largest collection of coral reefs with over 400 different types of coral, about 1,500 species of fish and 4,000 types of mollusk. The reef holds great scientific interest as the habitat of species such as the dugong or the sea cow and the large green turtle. This reef complex is one of the biological wonders of the world. Unfortunately, these biologically rich and sensitive communities take so long to recover from damage that it is estimated that, within 50 years, there will be no viable coral reefs anywhere, if we continue to destroy them.

    Read More

  • Great Barrier Reef Obituary

    734 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Great barrier reef has had many recent hardships, including water pollutants and the increasing water temperature. Although it may be too late to save this particular reef we the people must not be so nearsighted to the

    Read More

  • Effects On Coral Bleaching

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    Surveys of the Great Barrier Reef suggest that more than 90 percent of it has been affected by bleaching. The Great Barrier Reef, known arguably the most iconic, and well known coral reef on the planet is not immune to bleaching. Penis. The problem however is not only in the GBR, it’s stretching as far as the South Pacific to the Caribbean. With the rate of reef bleaching increasing, the toll taken on the ecosystem will increase as well as many fish who rely on getting food at reefs will have to find new hunting grounds. The world's coral reef population is diminishing; they’re dying at an increasing rate and I believe that the installment of artificial reefs, along with raising of awareness will provide significant change.

    Read More

  • Illegal Fishing Impacts On The Great Barrier Reef

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    The overfishing and illegal fishing taking place around the Great Barrier Reef is ruining the marine life's population and habitats. The overfishing of predatory fish is having a significant impact on the ecosystem of the reef. In the article Fishing Impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, it explains that removal of large amounts of predatory fish such as coral trout and snapper, had an impact on the balance of the ecosystem in which they lived in. These imbalances have caused cyclones, coral bleaching, and climate change.

    Read More

  • Great Barrier Reef Case Study

    865 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unfortunately, this natural beauty is being threatened and certain coral species are facing extinction. Hugh Yorkston (Meteorology, 2014), is the Director of ecosystems and water quality group for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. He states that the Great Barrier Reef stretches along 2300 kilometres of the Queensland coast (Meteorology, 2014). And of that 2300 Kilometres, there are 35 major rivers that discharge water into the great Barrier Reef (Meteorology, 2014). The Author resides in Far North Queensland, which is a large farming district; in large farming communities it has become evident through resources such as the eReef project, that the water quality in these areas are less than satisfactory. Dr Jennie Mallela (Observer, 2013), from Australian National University- ANU, has undertaken research to support the decline in water quality in this region. Her research identifies the increase in the amount of phosphorus that is found in coral. Dr Mallela, began studying coral skeletons off Dunk Island in Far North Queensland, for information that may provide insight into the chemical impacts on coral over many years (Observer,

    Read More

  • Essay On The Impact Of Climate Change On Coral Reef

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    Climate change has been affecting coral reefs in a negative way. If the climate continues to get warmer more of our coral reef become bleached, the structure of the reefs will become weak, and algae that keeps coral healthy will die. In the essay, “A framework for understanding Climate change impacts on Coral Reefs” by Joshua Clinner (2016), he emphasizes our climate change has become one of the long-term threats to coral reef. The article “Climate change and human impacts are damaging the world’s coral reefs”, which didn’t include an author (2001), states that the sea temperatures throughout the tropics has increased dramatically leaving much of the coral unhealthy. Spencer Hall (2008), discussed in his article “Coral Reefs and Climate Change”, how the increase in climate change puts a lot of stress on coral reefs because they are very sensitive to the change of temperature. Rigel B (2003) states in his essay, “Climate Change and Coral Reefs”, that coral reef has already been negatively impacted by

    Read More

  • Summary: The Great Barrier Reefs

    245 Words  | 1 Pages

    By mapping the geomorphological features of the ocean and sea floors and then combining this data with biological data and direct observations we can begin to develop predictive habitat maps which predict the potential distribution of the benthic ecosystem which has an enormous impact upon ecosystem management, conservation and potential infrastructure. Each species of animal has a specific set of environmental constraints to which it can live this is known as a species niche (Harris, n.d.). The Great Barrier Reef is a great example to look at when discussing predictive habitat mapping as we can look at the near sea surface coral reefs compared to the submerged reefs, this is discussed in (Harris, n.d.) where they mapped geomorphology of the

    Read More

  • Essay On The Great Barrier Reef

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    Picture the shining, clear blue water of the Great Barrier Reef filled with bright, colorful fish and beautiful coral. The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system and is home to many different species of marine wildlife. Our generation needs to learn about this beautiful ecosystem so that we can protect it from damage for future generations to enjoy.

    Read More

More about Climate Change: Climate Change And The Great Barrier Reef

Open Document