Goreau, Thomas (August, 1987) “Coral and Coral Parks” Scientific American.

. There are many more factors which add to the destruction of the coral reefs, which if not stopped it will destroy all coral reefs. Corals are animals, not plants, sunlight is the key to their survival. They need it to power the millions of microscopic algae, called zooxanthellae, that live in their tissues. The algae provides the corals with food and oxygen in return for raw materials and a secure place to live. This teamwork is what allows the reef to survive in nutrient-poor tropical seas. This relationship is sensitive to such changes in the environment as cloudy waters or extreme temperatures. The stress on the corals can cause them to expel their algae, a phenomenon known as bleaching(Futurists, 1993). With the algae gone, the coral skeleton is visible and eventually it dies. Died corals lead further on to the death of the reef. There are four environmental factors that effect their growth: temperature, salinity, water depth, and wave action. These factors exposes the reef to changes in the environment very easily especially since it is located so close to shore. This also makes it hard for all of the species which use the coral reef to survive. Coral reefs are home to perhaps one-fourth of all marine species. This in turns effects the entire ecosystem of the ocean. Pollution by humans have directly or indirectly caused the death of 5%-10% of the world’s living reefs, according to marine biologist Clive Wilkinson of the Australian Institute of Marine Science. This estimate didn’t take in global warming and ozone depletion as a factor. The pollution is caused by fisheries, oil spills, deforestation, tourists, and even reckless divers. The problems which are getting even bigger is the problem of deforestation and reckless divers. In the watershed of Bacuit Bay in the Philippines, deforestation inc! reased erosion into the bay by more that 200 times.(Futurists, 1995) O

Some topics in this essay:
Australia Focus, Pacific Islanders, , Galapagos IslandsFuturists, Marine Scientists, Reef Star-Bulletin, Australia Caribbean, Marine Science, coral reefs, Bay Philippines, Barrier Reef, reef survive, star-bulletin 1995, global warming, destroy coral reefs, ecosystem ocean, focus 1995, coral reef, entire ecosystem, located close shore, warming ozone, destruction coral reefs, 1995 “coral, global warming ozone, warming ozone depletion,