The Coral Reefs

I grew up reading and looking at National Geographic magazines and one subject that was profoundly interesting was the life underwater. For some reason, we have a hard time understanding creatures that lurk the depths, but coral is probably the most know besides your average fish. Coral reefs over the past decade have significantly dropped and are becoming endangered by being exposed by many different factors. The overall major factor is by humans. Ocean acidification caused by runoff from several sources of human pollution, Global warming and the rising of ocean temperatures causing weakening of coral. The over-fishing and declining of biodiversity.
In general, most people believe that coral reefs are just apart of the ocean floor scenery, not knowing the actual importance of this critical organism. With that said, “Coral reefs harbor more than 25 percent of all known fish and provide our oceans with the highest biodiversity of any marine ecosystem”(http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ effects/eco_coral.html). This would make fish more susceptible to underwater predators and easier to get caught by humans. Another benefactor is that coral reefs are now being tested and being made into a drug that is anti-cancerous (http://www.seaworld.org/ infobooks/coral/conscr.html) It is also being used for bone substitutes as the coral has pores that the bone can graft to, or grow into, and slowly allowing the bone to rebuild itself. The bone almost completely replaces the coral implant. One other benefit is that they protect shores from the impact of waves and big storms! These underwater plants maybe more vital than we expected!
One of the main reasons of the damage to coral reefs is caused by Global warming. Global warming is caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere (caused mostly by human made technology) and being trapped under the ozone causing the air temperature to rise. With the rise in the temperature of the air, of course there would be an affect on the ocean temperatures as well. This causes an event called “Coral bleaching.” This is when coral loses its color due to stress, and also lose their healthy zooxanthellae, which provides coral with nutrients and oxygen. After this is lost, it takes years or even decades, to recover (http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/corp_site/ key_issues/climate_change/ climate_change_ and_the_great_barrier_reef/ what_ is_ coral_bleaching). The wonders of the coral reefs, we need to start protecting them, before its too late.
Another way the coral reefs are being relinquished is a process known as ocean acidification. Also caused by global warming, the amounts of carbon dioxide entering the ocean water is changing the ocean chemistry. The CO2 in the air is reacting with the water to create carbonic acid making the ph levels in the ocean lower which makes it more acidic. This could affect the growth of the coral skeletons and causing mass bleaching of coral reefs which in turn is killing the species. Not just the coral reefs are affected by the ecosystem around it, the zooplankton’s protective shells are also reduced, microalgae produce less calcium carbonate, and fish populations and biodiversity is lossed according to (http://www.reefresilience.org/Toolkit_Coral/COAb0_ AcidImpacts. html). Coral reefs are a home to many different organisms, and since they are starting to die off, the effects will be drastic on other species because they are dependant on the coral reefs!
Around 20% of the worlds coral reefs have been destroyed, and another 24% are at the risk of collapse due to human pressures. These underwater ecosystems help create the foundation for fish and many other species lives. This is just another reason why that us humans need to realize we re sharing this earth and we need to reduce global emissions of carbon dioxide. Global warming is having a direct impact on almost every other organism on this planet. We need to band together and stop this mess at any cost.