Coral Reefs

Mary Hannah Lindsay

MSCI 390
 THE SCIENCE BEHIND CORAL REEFS

• Coral polyps provide

the zooxanthellae
algae a habitat to
flourish and in return
zooxanthellae provide
food and pigment to
the coral polyps
• When polyps die, their
Figure 1: Zooxanthellae algae CaCO3 skeletons
located inside of a coral polyp remain and over time
develop into coral reefs
 THE SCIENCE BEHIND CORAL REEFS
• Thermal stress is the
primary cause of coral
bleaching, as it causes
the coral polyps to
expel over or under –
photosynthesized algae
• The ocean is vulnerable
to thermal stress due to
its high heat capacity/
absorbs 90% of excess
heat trapped by
greenhouse gases
• Nutrient runoff and algal
Figure 2: Areas experiencing thermal stress correspond with
blooms
high reef populations
 THE CORAL REEF ISSUE
ECONOMIC ASPECT: TOURISM

• Healthy coral reefs are beautiful

structures and are very attractive
to tourists
• Without reefs as a tourist
attraction, Australia, for
example, can expect to lose a
total of $1 billion in revenue and
around 50,000 jobs
• Tourism, if not regulated, can
also be detrimental to the reefs
themselves, with careless
boaters, divers, and snorkelers Figure 3: A diver carelessly stepping on and
breaking coral structures
 THE CORAL REEF ISSUE
ECONOMIC ASPECT: FISHERIES
• Fish populations can drastically
change in population and
composition within a reef with
declining health
• Changes in supply = changes in
demand
• Local/developing communities
also rely on reefs for source of
food
• Reefs continued to be
overfished/only contributes to
Figure 4: An instance of blast fishing in a
coral reef, most common in the West loss of diversity
Pacific
 THE CORAL REEF ISSUE
BIOLOGICAL ASPECT
Loss of habitat
• Mangroves or seagrass create protective environment to spawn and graze
and act as foundations of of food web for most marine organisms: coral
reefs usually have both
• Can serve as a habitat for around 25% of marine organisms
• Species must abandon reefs once coral dies in order to find food and shelter
Loss of diversity
• Overfishing of herbivorous fish throws off the food web  absence of one
species can result in the displacement of others
• Food webs can usually adapt but changes are happening too quickly for
food webs to adjust themselves
• Difficult to maintain a balance of prey vs. predator
• High degree of competition as various populations are declining  creates a
stressful environment to reside within
 THE CORAL REEF ISSUE
PHYSICAL ASPECT
Shoreline Protection
• Coral reef structures are
strong enough to provide a
buffer between the ocean
and the land
• As reefs become weaker,
there is less of a buffer
protecting the coast from
storm surges and intense
waves
• Storms are only intensifying
with increasing oceanic
temperatures
• Likely to cause more
damages and endanger
the lives of coastal Figure 5: An explanation of how reefs can protect coasts
populations from waves/storms
 POLICIES OF THE PAST
• Oldest policies date back to 1880 in Sri Lanka
• Chanks Ordinance
• Mostly dealt with overfishing of reefs and prevented coral removal
• Wave of US environmental regulation in the 1970s
• Endangered Species Act  22 species of coral are threatened/3 are endangered
• Clean Water Act  preventing pollution/excess runoff
• International Society for Reef Studies established in 1980
• Every few years a group of researchers put together a report and discussion on
the status of coral reefs and the establish current rates of coral mortality
• 1998 El Niño Event
• 16% of world’s coral were lost/certain countries lost up to 90% of reef coverage
• US President Clinton developed the Coral Reef Task Force
• Government body conducting research on reef degradation
• 2000: Coral Reef Conservation Act put restrictions on fishing and tourism and
gave NOAA the responsibility of protecting coral reefs
 POLICIES OF THE PRESENT
PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT
• Localized efforts have little effect on what is now a global issue
• While localized efforts can reduce pollution from trash and limit damage from
recreational use, the ultimate biggest threat to reefs are rising oceanic
temperatures caused by heightened levels of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere
• The Paris Climate Agreement seeks to keep the global mean
temperature long term under 1.5 degrees Celsius
• Uncomfortable for coral, but could provide enough time for the existing coral
to recover/replenish
• The agreement was developed by the UN under which each nation pledged
to lower their share of greenhouse gas emissions
• Every nation took the pledge except the United States (as of 11/7/17)
• Problems:
• No means of enforcement
• One of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases refused to take the pledge
• It could be too late, as corals are expected to become extinct by 2050
 POLICIES OF THE FUTURE
• Paris Agreement does allow for regular assessments
of climate change  the next one is due in 2018
• Besides that, the agreement lacks any major or specific regulations
• Even if the US joined the pact, it would probably do very little for our
nationwide policies
• Clean Power Act
• Until the US joins, it will be difficult to progress the
pact and create actual reform
• Essentially, it is a good start, but we can always do better
• The agreement still serves as perhaps the only
realistic solution to save coral reefs globally
• Before we can get into solutions, it still has to be proven to some that
our Earth is warming at an alarming rate
 POLICIES OF THE FUTURE

Figure 6: (above) Results from the IPCC (Inter- Figure 7: Results from the IPCC’s 5th Assessment
government Panel on Climate Change) 5th in 2013 of future temperature predictions
assessment in 2013 displaying predictions of
future CO2 concentrations
THE FUTURE OF
CORAL REEFS