Today, remnants of destruction stain and engulf the walls and outskirts of the world’s most precious reefs. In the past, mankind’s unsustainable influence over our world’s oceans has caused a chain reaction of mass extinction in a pivotal marine ecosystem for hundreds of coastal species. Society has often ignored the significance of our own actions in exchange for wealth and our own personal benefit, and today, we are facing the aftereffects. However, we also have a chance to change this. Looking at our own beloved Great Barrier Reef, no one would have noticed that through the tourist photos or filtered postcards it was struggling to survive a disaster plaguing most ecosystems of our world today: global warming.
2013 photo blog, 44 images of the Great Barrier Reef
Even a decade ago, in 2013, the Great Barrier Reef was just beginning to feel the effects of our ocean’s warming. A photo from 2015 shows just how stark the difference is between what happened then and what is happening now.
Photo of the famous ecosystem taken around 2015, provided by USA Today
The consequences of global warming have bleached the corals of the Great Barrier Reef to such an extent that over 93% of the reef is now draped in a white veil of eradication. It was once a reef filled with life, vibrance, and color, formerly being revered as one of the world’s greatest living structures. But today, it’s struggling. Sitting along Australia’s southernmost coastline, the reef consists of over
3000 individual reefs spanning about 132,000 square miles with over 1000 species living in and around the array of the coral neighborhoods. Out of the 911 reefs explored, only 7 percent have managed to evade bleaching with about 316 of those 911 reefs being severely bleached or completely bleached.
Picture provided by the aRC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CORAL REEF STUDIES
But what exactly is bleaching? How is it directly caused by global warming?
The story starts with what makes corals so brilliant: their bright colors. These diverse colors are caused by a marine algae called zooxanthellae, which lives inside the corals’ tissues and feeds the coral with what it produces from photosynthesis. This symbiotic relationship allows the coral to thrive in its coastal environment. According to the activist organization “Fight for Our Reef”, “when corals get stressed, from things such as heat or pollution, they react by expelling this algae, leaving a ghostly, transparent skeleton behind... Some corals can feed themselves, but without the zooxanthellae most corals starve.” Many factors cause the corals to become stressed, including temperature, which is why global warming is such a severe threat to our reefs. However, global warming is caused by many other things that can harm the ocean as well, such as carbon pollution and runoff pollution poisoning the ocean environment and causing the greenhouse.
Diagram made on ThingLink
Global warming is preventable. Our carbon footprint that we have left on the Earth will forever be scars on the marine life of our oceans, but it is something that can be fixed today. The life of our oceans is dependent wholly on the future. It’s in society’s hands to rise up from our past mistakes and work together to keep our oceans --
and corals -- healthy. And it’s not just our want to help our oceans that should drive us, it is also our sense of responsibility as well. The colorful fishes, fascinating eels, eye-catching sea turtles, starfish, sea snails, red crabs and every aspect of our great and diverse coastal environment are all dependent on our corals, and that is why it is our responsibility to finish what we started.
If you want to know more about the topic of coastal marine health or want to help support organizations that strive to help our corals, check out the links listed below! :
Australian Marine Conservation Society- Passionate Charity Fighting For Our Reefs
Legacy Reef Foundation - A Group Dedicated to Creating Healthier Reefs Worldwide
Coral Reef Alliance - What You Can Do To Take Action Everyday
Ocean Conservancy Organization - A Group Actively Helping Save Our Oceans and Marine Life
Works Cited:
First Image Found Here: Link
D'Angelo, Chris. “93 Percent Of The Great Barrier Reef Is Practically Dead.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 21 Apr. 2016, www.huffpost.com/entry/climate-change-destroying-great-barrier-reef_n_571918e6e4b0d912d5fde8d4#:~:text=It%20consists%20of%20some%203%2C000%20individual%20reefs%20and,severely%20bleached%20on%20316%20reefs%2C%20according%20to%20Hughes.
Guest, Annie. “Global Warming Only Cause of Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching: Nature.” AM - Global Warming Only Cause of Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching: Nature 16/03/2017, 17 Oct. 2008, www.abc.net.au/am/content/2016/s4636900.htm.
Sporleder, Scott, et al. “44 Surreal Scenes from Australia's Great Barrier Reef.” Matador Network, 13 June 2013, matadornetwork.com/trips/44-surreal-scenes-from-australias-great-barrier-reef/.
US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “What Is Coral Bleaching?” NOAA's National Ocean Service, 15 Mar. 2010, oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html.
“What Is Coral Bleaching and What Causes It - Fight For Our Reef.” Australian Marine Conservation Society, 2020, www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/.
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