Coral Reef Destruction Essay

Ocean reefs have provided habitats for many different types of species for thousands of years. In the past 25 years, reefs have become increasingly threatened by a number of things resulting in a change under the surface of the water. Over the past few decades, the mass destruction on coral reefs using a variety of methods such as coral bleaching has resulted in permanent damage to reefs, severe carnage to marine life, as well as threatening the future on a global scale. If it continues, the destruction could cripple nation’s economies and impair marine life. Coral reef destruction has caused mass eradication that affects life under the water as well as above it. Because coral is so important to animals and species whose habitat is coral itself, coral’s role serves a huge purpose in its environment. This is why the destruction of coral is such a huge issue.

Coral is a complex underwater structure that is currently being threatened by many different types of destruction. Made from calcium carbonate, when coral is meshed together with other coral, it is formed into a solid configuration called a coral reef. This usually happens when free-swimming coral larvae attach to submerged rocks or other hard surfaces. When the reef is made, there can be three different types of reefs: Fringing Reefs, which are reefs that grow directly off of the shore, Barrier Reefs, which are linear reefs that parallel the shore with a lagoon in between, and Atolls, which are large circular reefs that surround a lagoon. Coral gets their food source due to a partnership with tiny algae called zooxanthellae. These algae produce sugar using sunlight that is transferred into the coral, providing a source of energy and food. Coral reefs are in danger because of...

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...e across the board, but I see areas of incredible resilience in even the most severely hit ecosystems.” Rick states, “There are so many places you can go where reefs, if not bouncing back, are at least holding their own in a suppressed state.”

For the last 30 or 40 years, the many different types of coral reef destruction has made heavy impacts on coral. Destruction such as coral bleaching, global warming, pollution, and human harm, reefs have suffered substantially over time. Not only does this affect the economy of nations, but also destroys many lives underwater. Marine life forms such as fish and turtles are greatly impacted by this continuous tarnish to coral reefs everywhere throughout the globe. The future of many lives of underwater animals and the welfare of lives about the surface relies on the hope that coral reefs will one day be safe from destruction.