Rachel Firkins
Focused Inquiry: Integrated Research Component
October 19, 2014
How has Global Warming affected the habitats of coral reefs? [Rachel Firkins]
“Dubinsky, a researcher on global warming, is a firm believer in man-made global
warming. He said he was convinced by the close connection between human
industrialization and the planet heating up (Waldoks).” These are the wise words of
environmental correspondent, Ehud Waldoks from his article “”BIU Prof. Gets (Eur) 3m.
for Global Warming Study on Coral Reefs”, while he was illuminating the destruction of
coral reefs and their ecosystems due to the progression of global warming (7). The
excessive use of fossil fuels in places such as factories and human transportation systems
creates the “greenhouse effect” which causes a depletion of the ozone layer. With the
ozone layer becoming thinner and thinner, the earth’s temperature has increased and there
are many noticed effects this rising temperature has had. From skin cancer rising to
deaths of many animals, global warming if often placed with the blame of these issues
that are continuously growing worse. Coral reefs have shown major damage due to a rise
in earth’s temperature, but so far these damages go unnoticed. Sadly, coral reefs do not
get the credit from society that they deserve, however people will begin to realize all that
coral reefs did for society when they are no longer existent.
Coral reefs do much more for society than society itself actually realizes. James
Crabbe, a climate change researcher, discussed, in his article “Climate Change, Global
Warming and Coral Reefs: the Effects of Temperature”, many elements of why people
need coral reefs to stay steady and thriving in his experiment where he tested to see if
coral was affected by global warming (311-314). During storms, coral reefs actually
protect the land, homes and billions of people close to sea from harmful waves by using
tactics such as dissipation and shoaling (Crabbe 311). With coral reefs suffering due to
global warming, the safety of humans become part of the bigger picture and as global
warming continues to rise, many more people need to become informed on the depletions
coral reefs are experiencing (Hoegh -Guldberg 573-574). An ongoing obstacle for coral
reefs is that they only thrive in very specific environmental conditions. So, although
many more people could become informed, if the greenhouse effect does not come to a
halt, global warming will continue which creates a damaged coral reef ecosystem because
the variables that go into coral reefs surviving are all influenced by the climate (Crabbe
313). With this being true, global warming causes extreme upset to coral plants in the
coral reef ecosystems, but the plants can adjust if given the right increment of time easing
into a new temperature. So, many coral plants now, since global warming has been on
the rise for quite some time, can survive in hostile environments because the extreme
temperature changes have been around enough for adaptions to start being formed
(Crabbe 311).
Along with changing the coral reef’s environment completely, global warming
actually causes the bleaching of coral, which ultimately kills this specific plant.
“Bleaching is the process by which the microscopic plants which live on the coral and are
its major energy source are detached and wash away” (Waldoks). After these plants
detach from the coral, the coral turns a white color and dies and sadly, bleaching rates
rise with the temperature (Waldoks). When mass amounts of coral plants begin to die, the
reproduction of coral plants also dramatically dropped. So, many times entire ecosystems
built around coral plants crash and burn because the animals that depend on the coral
plants are found more prone to predators or without a steady food source. Coral reefs
carry a varied role in society and contribute to protecting the people like cited above, but
also contribute to society as a food source and to medicine (Waldoks). It is shown that
after big storms or oceanic tradgedies, places where coral reefs become destroyed suffer
more than areas that are not dependent on coral reefs (Waldoks). If global warming
continues to rise, and bleaching begins to take over huge parts of the ocean, many aspects
of human society will be impacted. Not only will coral reef ecosystems start to
disintegrate, but people’s jobs, homes, and wellness may undergo destruction as well.
The effects global warming has on coral reefs begin before the animal or plant has
even been exposed to their future environment. For coral plants, the reproductive process
is extremely slow and with the environment changing at a faster pace than these plants
are reproducing, many of the newly produced coral do not survive (Hoegh-Guldberg
572). With many species not surviving, there are many species that are not able to
reproduce successfully at all. This is because an optimal temperature is needed for larvae
development and without a steady optimal temperature; the spawning time is thrown off
because reproduction, for some species, corresponds with the temperature of their
environment (Byrne 16). Although global warming does create mostly negative effects
for coral reefs and cause many species hardships in maintaining an ecosystem, there are
some environments where coral itself has figured out how to maintain a homeostatic
pattern to keep the newly produced coral alive and thriving. In East Africa, there was a
study done in 2007 that showed “not just the high stability of tropical environments that
creates high biological diversity but also large temperature fluctuations that prepares the
corals for the unexpected” (Crabbe 311). Because of the preparation in this batch of coral
plants, they are able to continue to grow and maintain their ecosystem in a hostile
environment (Crabbe 311). The fact stated above shows that coral and the ecosystems
built around them could survive through the hostility that global warming has caused
these species so far. But, as Hoegh-Guldberg states in his article, “Climate Change and
Coral Reefs: Trojan Horse or False Prophecy?:A Response to Maynard et al.”, coral and
many species are living at their peak heat tolerance as of today (569-75). The heat
tolerance of coral is said to have been reached and if the ocean continues to climb in
temperature then bleaching will, as stated before, continue to rise, because coral only has
a small temperature range of survival anyways (Hoegh-Guldberg 570).
The rise in temperature and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere alone harms the
survival rate of coral reefs, but also causes many harmful effects to coral such as
bleaching and ocean acidification. Ocean acidification has been found to hurt coral even
before they hatch from their copepods and develops into the plants that create an
ecosystem (Hoegh-Guldberg 572). When water becomes more acidic than plants and
animals are used to, many plants and animals will immediately start to die because it will
be a shock to their bodily system. If the acidification drops at an extremely slow rate, the
species may have a higher survival rate because some body systems will be able to adapt
to the changing environment, just as humans do when it goes from summer to fall or
winter to spring. While the environment is obviously immediately affected by the rise in
temperature, the metabolism of organisms is immediately affected as well (Byrne 16). As
temperatures in oceans rise, the metabolisms of some species begin to escalate with it
(Byrne 16). Although this is healthy to an extent, when the rise of temperature is too
rapid, the metabolism becomes too fast and causes permanent damage to the way the
species can function because the proteins and enzymes in the species are significantly
harmed (Byrne 16). Throughout Byrne’s , a Professor of Developmental and Marine
Biology, textbook, Oceanography and Marine Biology-An Annual Review, she
continually reminds people of the harm global warming has in oceanic ecosystems that
cannot be seen with a blind eye and how these effects are adding to the failure of coral
reef ecosystems (16-25).
There is no good coming from global warming and our society has been aware of
that since the rapidness of global warming was noticed. In oceanic environments, there is
much harm being done to individual ecosystems, but society will soon see the
repercussions in our daily lives. Fishermen will begin to have a harder time finding
certain fish because with coral reef ecosystems dying, many fish species are becoming
endangered and rare. In bigger storms, such a tsunamis, there will be more damage done
to the land surrounding the ocean because coral reefs will not be there to provide a
barrier. Along with that, marine biology will begin to become narrower because coral
reefs are not the only oceanic ecosystems in danger of surviving because of the rapid
growth of global warming. In the year of 2014, human industrialization is at am all time
high and will continue to flourish. As individuals, we will see improvements in medicine
and technology, but will see a downfall in our environment. Because a lot of the world
has become so modernized, hopefully there will be inventions made to cut back on the
release of greenhouse gases so people do not see the world begin to demolish around
them.
Works Cited
Byrne, Maria.Impact of Ocean Warming and Ocean Acidifcation on Marine Invertebrate
Life History Stages: Vulnerabilities and Potential For Persistence in a Changing Ocean:
Oceanography and Marine Biology-An Annual Review 49 (2011): 1-42. CRCnetBase.
Web. 12 Oct. 2014.
Crabbe, James, M. “Climate Change, Global Warming and Coral Reefs: Modelling the
Effects of Temperature” Computational Biology and Chemistry 32.5(2008): 311-314.
Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Hoegh-Guldberg, O. “Climate Change and Coral Reefs : Trojan Horse Or False
Prophecy?: A response to Maynard et al. (2008).” Coral Reefs 28.3 (2009):569-75.
ProQuest. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
Waldoks, Ehud Zion. “BIU Prof. Gets (Eur) 3m. for Global Warming Study on Coral
Reefs.” The Jerusalem Post 7 July 2010: 7. LexisNexis, Web. 19 Oct. 2014.