Coral reefs have been disappearing rapidly (1) and they and they animals that live off them, need our help. My question is why do animals need coral reefs and how can we save the species (2) and the reefs? My experiment is going to look at what animals require coral reefs and if there are other sources that could take the place of what they need. I will also look at the specific components of the coral reefs and why animals need them so much. I want to show people how necessary coral reefs are to the survival of so many of the marine life in the world and how and why we need to save them. I will explore different species and how they are being affected by the coral reefs dying and what we can do to help stop it. (3) Some of the threats affecting reefs can be extremely devasting and wipe out thousands of species. The Coral Ecology Studies Aquatic Ecosystems, Sea Creatures On Coral Reefs says “The threats affecting coral reefs – including natural and anthropogenic factors, climate change and global warming (4) – the impacts of these threats, what make them better able to cope with these threats, and how and if they can recover following catastrophic impacts” The threats to the reef can include warming waters, pollution, ocean acidification, overfishing, and physical destruction by humans and nature are killing our reefs.(5) On the website, The Great Barrier Reef Has Lost Half Its Corals – ARC Centre Of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, it talks directly about the Great Barrier Reef, one of the largest and most important reefs of all time. It says, “We found the number of small, medium and large corals on the Great Barrier Reef has declined by more than 50 percent since the 1990s,” said co-author Professor Terry Hughes, also from CoralCoE. ….. The branching and table-shaped corals provide the structures important for reef inhabitants such as fish (6). The loss of these corals means a loss of habitat, which in turn diminishes fish abundance and the productivity (7) of coral reef fisheries.” All corals (8) are being affected by this, especially the ones that are the basics and the foundation of the reefs (9), which without them, the reefs can’t even build up (10). Coral reefs don’t take up a lot of space on the floor, but they are vital to the survival of so many animals and some things they are giving to us, we take for granted. How to Fix A Coral Reef says, "Reefs take up only about 2 percent of the ocean floor, but their value to other ocean ecosystems is enormous: They support a third of all marine life (11)— providing habitat, food, and spawning grounds—which in turn feeds more than 500 million people (12), who depend on reefs for protection from storms, surges, waves, and coastal erosion, as well as for tourism (13). At the same time, reefs are widely considered the most vulnerable of the marine ecosystems (14) to the effects of climate change, according to the most recent report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which darkly warned that the reefs are undergoing rapid, “potentially irreversible” declines.” Coral reefs are also essential to human life and we would suffer an astounding loss without our coral reefs. Gibbens says, “They buffer shorelines from the effects of hurricanes. An estimated 500 million people earn their livelihoods from the fishing stocks and tourism opportunities reefs provide. The tiny animals (15) that give rise to reefs are even offering hope for new drugs to treat cancer and other diseases (16).” Coral reefs give jobs (17) to so many people and give hope for drugs and research to help solve some of the world's biggest issues (18). Muller also says that “Florida’s Coral Reef—which stretches almost 350 miles from the Dry Tortugas to the St. Lucie Inlet—provides more than $8 billion economic impact, attracting visitors, protecting coastlines from major storms and supporting diverse life including fisheries.” Coral reefs in FL alone, protect and help so many people to stay safe and have a job. Fish and other marine specie(19)s also need coral reefs in order to survive. Coral Reef Ecosystems | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, “About 25% of the ocean's fish depend on healthy coral reefs. Fishes and other organisms' shelter, find food, reproduce, and rear their young in the many nooks and crannies formed by coral(20)s. The Northwest Hawaiian Island coral reefs, which are part of the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Monument, provide an example of the diversity of life associated with shallow-water reef ecosystems. This area supports more than 7,000 species of fishes, invertebrates, plants, sea turtles, birds, and marine mammals. Deep water reefs or mound(21)s are less well known, but also support a wide array of sea life in a comparatively barren world (22).” Marine species rely on coral reefs to basically give them life, food, shelter and protection. An entire 25% of the ocean needs coral reefs and many species would go extinct without them. There are so many animals that need our help. Coral Reefs: Essential and Threatened | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says, “Hidden beneath the ocean waters, coral reefs teem with life. Fish, corals, lobsters, clams, seahorses, sponges and sea turtles are only a few of the thousands of creatures that rely on reefs for their survival.” There are so many creatures that are relying on the coral reefs and now relying on us to save it. We need to start acting now so we can help all the helpless creatures that we rely on as well(23). Coral reefs are extremely important to our environment, animals and exitance. In order to save our reefs, we need to act. What Can I Do to Protect Coral Reefs? says, “There are also many things you can do to ensure that you are environmentally conscious when you visit coral reefs or coastal areas. These include things such as hiring local guides to support the economy (24), removing all trash from an area, never touching or harassing wildlife (25) in reef areas, and avoiding dropping your boat anchor or chain (26) nearby a coral reef. Finally, stay informed and spread the word! Educate yourself about why healthy coral reefs are valuable to the people, fish, plants(27), and animals that depend on them. Your excitement will help others get involved.” (1) – Briefly explain how much coral reef there was before the “disappearing” Rapidly is relative – Explain how much of it has been lost, and at what rate is it disappearing. (2) What animals are these? What is killing them? (3) Paragraph – You are repeating the same idea over and over again. Find one way to incorporate your thoughts collectively. (4) How has the climate changed? Give a time frame. Marry the two time frames – reduction of coral reef and the start and continuance of climate change. Same applies for global warming – when did it start? Were the coral reefs okay before that? Marry the two data’s. (5) Explain EACH of these factors: - what they are, - their causes - their manifestation - when they started Marry the data here with the deterioration of the coral reefs (6) Be specific about the types of fish (7) What productivity is brought about by these fish? Any numbers to support your statement? Introduce coral reef fishery – who does it, where, lives of the fishermen when the reefs were normal vs their lives now. (8) “All” – you have to have introduced all the coral reefs found in the world prior to now OR restrict your discussion to a particular set of coral reef – and this must be introduced before now. (9) Explain this term?????? (10) How do reefs build up? Why is this important? Introduce this in the first chapter. (11) What type of marine life? (12) 500 million people? Prove it with citations. (13) You have to give details on this – not just drop it in. Example: Tourism – how much do they bring in, #’s or %’s , coastal erosion - %’s….. (14) Marine ecosystems – how many different types present and what animals do they support? Locations? (15) Name them (16) Have the reefs ben used to manufacture drugs? Which drugs? What % of the population have these drugs helped? (17) What type of jobs? (18) What issues? (19) What species? (20) Give practical examples of types of fish that do this (21) What are these? (22) Comparatively barren world? What do you mean? (23) Why do we need to keep these creatures alive? (24) Do local guides do this? (25) and (26) Why, what happens? (26) This is the very FIRST time that you are mentioning plants. Should also have been introduced in the first paragraph ANALYZING DATA 1. You have a good number of areas where you can acquire data, so this is great! 2. You have to merge these data as part of your project. The merging should show a correlation between two or more different sets of data. Example: Pollution vs reef health Economy reduction for fishermen vs reef health and so on…. You can do a lot here.
