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People are fishing there and fish types are dying out

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People are fishing there and fish types are dying out

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Once oil comes into contact with corals, it can kill them or impede their reproduction, growth, behavior, and development. The entire reef ecosystem can suffer from an oil spill, affecting the many species of fish, crabs, and other marine invertebrates that live in and around coral reefs.

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1. Coral bleaching is a major problem affecting the Great Barrier Reef.
2. It is caused by rising sea temperatures and climate change.
3. Bleaching occurs when corals expel the algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn white.
4. This process weakens the corals and makes them more susceptible to disease and death.
5. Bleaching events have become more frequent and severe in recent years.
6. The loss of coral reefs has negative impacts on marine biodiversity and ecosystems.
7. Efforts are being made to reduce carbon emissions and protect coral reefs from further damage.

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When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.

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When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.

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But despite all this, the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living organism, is still a spectacular sight and with our help will not only survive but thrive. Fortunately, the world's largest coral reef is also the world's most protected reef.

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Stony corals are simple animals that form large reefs. The animals live in a endosymbiotic relationship with single-celled algae. To get sunlight the corals live just below sea level. The algae make food products for the coral polyp by photosynthesis.[1]

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Stony corals are simple animals that form large reefs. The animals live in a endosymbiotic relationship with single-celled algae. To get sunlight the corals live just below sea level. The algae make food products for the coral polyp by photosynthesis.[1]

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Coral polyps are sensitive to changes in their environment. This includes the temperature of the water they live in. Under stress, coral polyps may expel the algae which live inside their tissues. The algae provide up to 90% of the coral's energy. Bleached corals continue to live but begin to starve after bleaching.[2] Some corals recover.

Warmer sea water temperatures caused by global warming is the leading cause of coral bleaching.[2]

The United Nations Environment Programme says that the longest recorded global bleaching events happened between 2014 and 2016. Coral was killed on an unprecedented scale. In 2016, bleaching of coral on the Great Barrier Reef killed between 29 and 50 percent of the reef's coral.[3][4][5] In 2017, the bleaching got into the central region of the reef.[6][7] The interval between bleaching events has halved between 1980 and 2016.[8]

Recent research showed that the coral-algae relationship is much older than was thought. This suggests it has survived many climate changes.[9]

Some corals change color instead of turning white when they are bleached. The colors can be very bright. In May 2020, scientists from the University of Southampton said that the colors act like sunscreen and protect the coral cells from light. The scientists said this means some corals can lose their algae for a while and might have developed bright colors as a way to make it easier for the algae to come back and to stay alive until then.[10][11]

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Over the past seven years the Great Barrier Reef has been affected by three major oil spills: in March 2009 the MV Pacific Adventurer spilt oil and cargo in a storm off the coast of south-east Queensland; in April 2010 the coal carrier MV Shen Neng 1 ran aground east of Rockhampton; and in July 2015 an oil spill was .

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The Great Barrier Reef (literally translated: Great Barrier Reef[1], Great Barrier Reef[2]) off the northeast coast of Australia is the largest contiguous collection of over 2900 individual coral reefs on earth. In 1981, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO[3] and it is also referred to as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

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The Great Barrier Reef (literally translated: Great Barrier Reef[1], Great Barrier Reef[2]) off the northeast coast of Australia is the largest contiguous collection of over 2900 individual coral reefs on earth. In 1981, it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO[3] and it is also referred to as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

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The Great Barrier Reef extends northeast on the east coast of Queensland in the Coral Sea from the Torres Strait to Lady Elliot Island, approximately 75 kilometers northeast of Bundaberg. In the course of its evolution it has grown to a length of a good 2,300 kilometers and thus reaches an extent from the 10th to the 24th parallel south. The crew of the HMS Endeavor under the command of the British seafarer James Cook were the first Europeans to see the Great Barrier Reef when he sailed his ship along the east coast of Australia from Botany Bay during his first South Sea voyage (1768–1771) and at the height Cape Tribulation ran aground on June 11, 1770.[4][5]

The reef runs along the eastern edge of the Australian continental shelf. It is between 30 kilometers (near Cairns) and around 250 kilometers (near Gladstone) from the almost parallel Australian east coast. There are around 1000 islands in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, such as: B. the Whitsunday Islands or Dunk Island, and numerous sandbanks. The area of ​​the Great Barrier Reef is approximately 347,800 km² and it can be seen with the naked eye from space.

The Great Barrier Reef lost more than half of its corals in 2020 due to high water temperatures caused by global warming, according to several studies published in PNAS.[6][7]

As of March 2024, it was the fifth time since 2016 and the seventh time since 1998 that coral bleaching had occurred on a large scale. The cause of bleaching is increased sea temperatures; They are a consequence of global warming and were partly further intensified by El Ninos.[8] The bleach slows growth and

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In the tropical rainy season the rain washes chemicals from Farming, Like pesticides, into the rivers and the rivers carry them into the sea

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damage to corals,

coastal vegetation and dune systems by tourists

disturbance of wildlife

Social - reduced amenity and perceptions of overcrowding for locals or visitors

potential loss of core community values;

loss of cultural values.

too much waste

climate change

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The fields on the edge of the reef are treated with pesticides and fertilized with chemicals. When the rain comes, the chemicals are washed away, causing many animals and plants to die

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The fields on the edge of the reef are treated with pesticides and fertilized with chemicals. When the rain comes, the chemicals are washed away, causing many animals and plants to die

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As of 2003, 85% of tourism in the region was concentrated in Cairns and the Whitsunday areas of the Marine Park.[12] Vessel-based tourism operations can serve from 10 to over 400 people. Extended vessel-based tourism operations can last for weeks and move between different sites.[

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The world’s most southerly coral reef, at Lord Howe Island off Australia’s New South Wales coast, is also being hit by bleaching.

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The world’s most southerly coral reef, at Lord Howe Island off Australia’s New South Wales coast, is also being hit by bleaching.

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In July, the World Heritage committee will consider if the reef should be placed on a list of sites “in danger” after concerns over the impacts of climate change and pollution and sediment running into the reef’s waters.

Scientists have been warning since the 1990s that as global heating took hold, the world’s coral reefs would be among the earliest ecosystems to be affected.

When corals bleach due to higher than average ocean temperatures, they expel the algae that lives inside them and gives them much of their nutrients and colour.

If temperatures fall, corals can survive but scientists say they tend to be more susceptible to disease and struggle to reproduce. In extreme cases of heat stress, corals can die.

Dr Neal Cantin, senior research scientist at Aims, said: “We now need to combine the spatial coverage captured from the air with in-water surveys to assess the severity of coral bleaching

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Coral bleaching is the bleaching of hard coral sticks, which can lead to the subsequent death of the corals. Corals are living organisms. They belong to the cnidarians and live in symbiosis with photosynthetically active single-celled organisms (zooxanthellae) on a layer of limestone that grows from year to year. If the zooxanthellae are rejected by the coral, the coral population loses its splendor of color. This phenomenon can occur locally or on a large scale and is called coral bleaching. It mainly occurs when water temperatures are too high.

Table of contents

1 Importance of Coral Reefs

2 Bleaching process

3 causes

4 Observed coral bleaching events (selection)

5 Possible recovery

6 countermeasures

6.1 Artificial interventions

6.2 Protection of coral reefs

7 Literature

8 web links

9 individual data sets

Importance of coral reefs

In addition to tropical rainforests, coral reefs are considered to be the most diverse habitats in the world: around 60,000 different species have been discovered here so far. However, it is believed that there are more than 400,000 species in the reefs, e.g. B. more than a quarter of all known marine fish. The size of all reefs is estimated at over 600,000 km². Coral reefs have existed for over 225 million years, making them among the oldest known ecosystems in the world. With their biodiversity, especially fish, and as a tourist diving and snorkeling attraction, they are a source of food and income for large parts of the people living on the respective coasts. Since they can absorb 70 to 90% of the locally occurring wave energy, they protect the respective coasts from mechanical stress and destruction caused by waves.[1] When corals die, biodiversity declines: entire ecosystems or food chains can collapse; Coral species can disappear and with them fish that depend on them as a source of food or as a place to raise their offspring. Fishermen are losing their livelihoods and livelihoods; Diving tourism as a source of income is disappearing (the annual turnover of reef tourism is estimated at 9.6 billion dollars) as is the protection of the respective coast from waves: the financial damage caused by floods and storms in affected coastal regions, e.g. doubles to triples if one meter of reef height is lost.[1]

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People should no longer fertilize fields with toxic pesticides

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People should no longer fertilize fields with toxic pesticides