The planet Earth has seen a 1.4°F increase in global temperature since the 19th century; carbon dioxide concentration has increased by 40% since 1880, the highest in 800,000 years; sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking; sea levels have increased by eight inches thus far; and the ocean’s acidity is increasing. Global climate change is all too real. Global climate change is not a myth.
I interviewed two experts in this field to obtain additional expert accounts and information. One of my interviewees, Virginia Burkett is the Chief Scientist for Climate and Land Use Change for the US Geological Survey and has been studying climate change for 23 years. She claims, “some of the most important changes of the past 100 years are an increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, an increase in temperatures globally, changes in the phenology of plants and animals that are driven by the increase in temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, an accelerated loss of sea ice and glaciers, a decline in permafrost in the Arctic, accelerated sea level rise, increasing ocean temperature, increasing ocean acidity, and more frequent droughts and fires in many parts of the world”
In a survey conducted on 30 students from Liberty High School, it was found 27 (90%) of those individuals believe global climate change is all too real. The mere three students cited their reason for disbelief as “it’s a myth,” no scientific evidence backing their claim Quite simply, all scientific evidence points towards humans are responsible for global climate change.
Coral Reefs are extremely sensitive to even the smallest of changes in water temperature. In 1998, coral reefs experienced the worst bleaching rate, 70% in some areas. Bleaching is the process in w...
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This website gives a large historical overlook and possible conclusion to the issue of coral reef bleaching. Since the 1980’s episodes of coral reef bleaching and death have occurred almost every year in one or more of the world's tropical or subtropical seas. Bleaching happens in episodes, with the most severe typically accompanying coupled ocean–atmosphere phenomena. Bleaching episodes have resulted in loss of coral
Coral reef is one of seawater features that have been affected by climatic changes. This has led to destruction through coral bleaching and increased mortality, especially due to the warming of the sea that causes an increase in sea water levels (Bakerl, Glynn & Riegl, 2008). An increase in global temperature also increases ocean acidification (Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2007). These occurrences destroy reefs resulting in a significant drop in other sea organisms that depend on the reef. This implies that climatic changes are among the most destructive environmental elements affecting coral reef population in the world. To understand how climatic changes affect coral reef population, it is important to consider different ecological processes that occur due to climatic changes, the most common being the rise in global temperatures.
Due to global warming, the frequency of coral bleaching is predicted to continue to increase (Baker et al., 2008; Spillman et al., 2013) Numerous reefs across the world experience coral bleaching rather than just one reef. Coral bleaching can have a devastating effect on a region 's tourism industry and can cause not only coral mortality, but the death of other animals that rely on coral to survive. Higher ocean temperatures not only result in more frequent coral bleaching, but can increase other threats to the survival of coral. Furthermore, repeated bleaching increases the chance of fatal bleaching events (Baker et al., 2008). Moreover, despite coral surviving higher sea temperatures in the past, there are many other factors contributing to coral bleaching. Coral recovery depends on how often bleaching events occur and global warming increases this and worsens conditions for reproduction which is essential to survival. Coral bleaching due to global warming is more concerning than many people
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.
Coral bleaching is a global issue as earth’s sea temperatures continue to rise. Reefs located along the equator, such as the Belize Barrier Reef, the Florida Reef, the Hawaii Coral Reefs and Great Barrier Reef in Australia are all affected by the phenomenon. Organizations like the Coral Watch and Save the Reef have directed their actions to the monitoring and prese...
Coral bleaching is the loss of a corals’ zooxanthellae that lives in the tissues of the coral and because of this loss the corals turn completely white. Coral bleaching is mostly caused by the warm temperatures of the water which means that climate change can have an effect on the coral reefs. Corals live in very nutrient poor waters and have certain zones of tolerance to water temperature, salinity, UV radiation, opacity, and nutrient quantities (Jason Buchheim). Because most coral reefs are found in clear, shallow tropical waters, light is able to pass through and heat up the water and coral beneath it. Most reef-building corals normally contain around 1-5 x 106 zooxanthellae cm-2 of live surface tissue and 2-10 pg of chlorophyll a per zooxanthella. When corals bleach they commonly lose 60-90% of their zooxanthellae and each zooxanthella may lose 50-80% of its photosynthetic pigments (Jason Buchheim). Because of climate change, the water temperatures change in various locations and regions of the world that may not be used to that certain type of climate. Areas with coral reefs are affected by ...
Climate change is arguably one of the most controversial topics in modern science, and undoubtedly one of the most important. Ongoing research has shown that the planet’s climatic temperature has increased slightly yet significantly over the past century. Studies have also found that this warming can be attributed to human activities since the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As time goes on and humans continue their harmful actions, climate change and its related effects will continue to negatively impact nearly all living organisms.
However, climate change is happening. The global average land and sea temperature has increased over the twentieth century, with the North and South Poles being particularly affected (Learmonth, et al., 2006). In turn, this has caused ice cover to decrease and sea levels
For one thing, excessive sea temperatures are the leading cause of coral bleaching. Many marine biologists agree that climate change is a major threat to the fact that “coral reef ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate- induced changes in the physical environment” (Baker et. al 436). Their studies have also proved that, “since the 1980s, coral reef ‘‘bleaching’’, caused by unusually high sea temperatures, has had devastating and widespread effects worldwide” (436). In the last thirty years, coral has been boiling under the heat of the sun. As a result, the algae flee to find a more subtle environment. Depriving the coral reef from its resources, the effect of rising sea temperatures are not only visible, but physical as well. When the water becomes too warm for the coral to tolerate, the production of its egg and sperm are reduced dramatically, preventing the coral from reproducing. Warm temperatures also hinder the growth of coral. As the algae leaves the coral, its tissue becomes visible and it is more prone to diseases. If the coral reef does not retain the algae, it starves to death, which disrupts the organism’s growth cycle. Restricted to grow during humidity, the coral reef must bear with carbon
The leading natural cause of destruction among the coral reefs is global warming. Global warming causes the bleaching of coral reefs to occur. Bleaching is a response to stress by the coral reef that happens when the water becomes to warm. The coral then put out a brownish zooxanthelle which causes them to lose their color. Without the zooxanthelle, the corals cannot provide nourishment for itself and th...
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
Oceans cover 71% of the earth’s surface. The talk of climate change can often seem to focus on what is happening in our atmosphere, but there is a lot of change going on in our oceans. The oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat and 28% of the carbon pollution generated by human consumption of fossil fuels (Nuccitelli 2015). The purpose of this paper is to show how the effects of climate change effect the coral reefs in our oceans, with a focus on the coral reef systems in the Caribbean and of the Great Barrier Reef. The Caribbean coral reefs are well known to have suffered more damage between the two reef systems. That’s not to say that the Great Barrier Reef has not suffered its own damage. It has and will continue to suffer in the future.
Coral Reefs are known as the “Tropical Rainforests of the Oceans.” They are called thus because of the “tight resource coupling and recycling, allowing coral reefs to have extremely high productivity and biodiversity” (Coral Reef bleaching, no date). Coral Bleaching has always been a part of the natural circle of life, but only over the last forty years’ have Marine Biologist seen a rapid increase of the onset of coral bleaching. Coral reefs are severely threatened by the combination of natural causes and human activities. Natural causes include climatic events such as El Niño and La Niña events, whereas the human activities include the dramatic effects of the coastal development along the reefs, agricultural overflow into the sea and marine
Barry Wigmore “Global warming? It’s natural say experts” DailyMail. 13 September 2007. Web. 22, 2010.
...iously global warming is real. The people that say that is isn't real need to realize, the yes there are weather patterns, but when the patterns get to the warm parts of the pattern, they are gonna be warmer than they ever were before. Yes there will be stretches of cold weather but it wont ever be as cold or as long as it was before. So people need to realize, whether they like it or not, global warming is real.