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Changes and Ecological impact of Coral Reefs

By: Victorhugo Campos 



Great Barrier Reef | Geography, Ecology, Threats, & Facts | Britannica
Ariel view of the Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2020.


Coral Reefs are extremely important to not only ocean life and aquatic creatures but also the quality of human life as well. Over the past 91 years scientists along side biologists have been studying the Great Barrier Reef and the ecological changes that has gone through. These researchers monitored the populations but also what affects or destroys these coral reefs. Such as many natural disasters such as cyclones or hurricanes that destroy large parts of coral reefs. Rising temperatures on the earth and oceans have affected large populations of coral changing the ideal conditions for coral reefs to thrive. These damaged coral reefs have a large impact on the aquatic life surrounding the area as most of the coral reef makes up the habitat or homes to most of these animals. Coral reefs don't regenerate at extremely fast rates which is why it's so important to study and analyze potential recovery, and restoration methods for coral reefs that have been damaged or destroyed. Tracking these changes in water temperatures, climate change as well as other factors could be very beneficial for future generations as well as maintaining one of the worlds largest Coral Reefs and aquatic habitats.

                                                                         References 

Fine, M., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Meroz-Fine, E. et al.Ecological changes over 90 years at Low Isles on the Great Barrier Reef. Nat Commun 10,4409 (2019).


Comments

  1. M MendezOctober 21, 2020 at 5:24 PM

    What are the factors that are the most important here? My interest here is how the factors could be taken into account for ecosystem restoration, which is a focus of environmental sustainability. I am curious if only certain factors could be an indicator to make the assessment clearer for the researchers and the management.

    ReplyDelete

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