Environmental Damage to Coral Reef Biodiversity
Loss in Coral Biodiversity due to Environmental Factors
Nov 18, 2008
Coral Reefs & Climate Change by Patricia Glick, published by the National Wildlife Federation in October 1999, says “Little can compare to the natural beauty and rich biological diversity of the world’s coral reefs. From the Great Barrier Reef ecosystem to the series of reefs off the Florida Keys, these colorful “rainforests of the sea” are home to thousands of marine species — one of every four ocean species known.”
Dangers to Coral Reefs
Coral Reef Conservation, by Isabelle Cote and John Reynolds, published by Cambridge University Press in July 2006 lists a number of the dangers to the world’s coral reefs, some of which are:
- Coral Bleaching
- Rising levels of carbon dioxide
- Other man made coral reef threats
Coral Bleaching
A Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching, by Paul Marshall, published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in 2006 defines coral bleaching as “Corals appear white or 'bleached' when the coral animal ejects the colourful microscopic algae that live within its tissues as part of a response to stressful conditions.”
- The major cause of coral bleaching is higher ocean temperatures. “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2004”, by Clive Wilkinson and published by the World Wildlife Fund, states that “There was close correlation between the extent of bleaching and the rise in temperatures, with more widespread bleaching occurring in hotter years.”
- Chapter 6 of Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, published by Cambridge Press in Dec 2007 says “Increases in sea surface temperature of about 1 to 3 degrees C. are projected to result in more frequent coral bleaching events and widespread mortality.”
- A Reef Manager’s Guide to Coral Bleaching says that although the primary cause of coral reef bleaching is higher sea temperatures, there are other causes as well, including pollutants, destructive fishing methods, sedimentation and changes in salinity.
Rising Levels of Carbon Dioxide
As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase so too does the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans increase. This can have harmful environmental effects on coral reefs.
- Page 24 of “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2004” makes clear that should the level of seawater carbon dioxide continue to rise, there would be serious consequences for all calcifying organisms on which coral reef regeneration depends.
- Coral Reefs and Climate Change quotes recent studies that has suggested that rising levels of carbon dioxide in seawater reduces the ability of corals to build up calcium carbonate, the substance that forms their protective skeleton.
- State of Deep Coral Ecosystems of the United States, published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in October 2007 states that “A doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere with consequent increases in ocean acidity may decrease coral calcification rates by 10-30%”.
Other Man Made Coral Reef Threats
Rising levels of carbon dioxide and climate changes are not the only man made risks to coral reefs. Reefs at Risk by Dick Bryant, published by the World Resources Institute in 1998, says “Fifty-eight percent of the world’s reefs are potentially threatened by human activity—ranging from coastal development and destructive fishing practices to overexploitation of resources, marine pollution, and runoff from inland deforestation and farming.”
- Many reefs exist at lower depths near coastal areas and sedimentation from coastal development, especially for tourism purposes, pose a high risk to these coral reefs.
- Destructive fishing methods, such as cyanide fishing and explosive fishing in the tropics pose grave dangers to underlying reefs.
- Intensive farming methods involving large amounts of fertilizer cause nutrient runoffs into the ocean, playing havoc with the coral reef environment.
Coral reefs have existed for thousands of years, and are quite adept at combating natural changes, but global warming and other human factors could spell the death knell of these “rainforests of the sea”.
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