The Oceans - A Storehouse of Undiscovered Drugs and Medicines

The Oceans - A Storehouse of Undiscovered Drugs and Medicines

The health of human populations requires a wide variety of chemical and physical supports from both local ecosystems and from the global ecosystem. The subject of this paper is the indirect relationship between biodiversity and human health, particularly with regard to coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are the most diverse ecosystems in the sea. “High diversity density gives rise to intense species competition and the subsequent organism capability to construct exotic defensive and offensive chemicals, many with pharmacological value” (Adey 2000). It is estimated that less than ten percent of reef biodiversity is currently known, and only a small fraction of that percentage has been tested for active compounds. However, coral reefs face numerous hazards and threats, both natural and anthropogenic. “Current estimates note that ten percent of all coral reefs are degraded beyond recovery. Thirty percent are in critical condition and may die within ten to twenty years. Experts predict that if current pressures are allowed to continue unabated, sixty percent of the world’s coral reefs may die completely by 2050” (Hazards to Coral Reefs). Many species that exist only in coral reef ecosystems will likely become extinct in the coming decades, and the pharmacological potential that these species hold will be lost forever.

Most of the drugs in use today have come from nature. Three common examples include aspirin, morphine, and penicillin. “‘In the old days you could wander around a corn field or up in a forest, take little dirt samples, bring them back to the lab—and what do you know? You’d found microorganisms that produce streptomycin, or actinomycin, or...

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