Climate Change is Killing the Corals
Mincheol Kim
The ocean and its plastic pollution has gained more media coverage recently. As a result, more people have started to try to reduce their plastic usage, like by using reusable bags instead of plastic ones or using a metal straw to “save the turtles”. However, plastic isn’t the only threat to the ocean and turtles and birds aren’t the only marine life that are dying due to human activity. Coral reefs have been silently dying off for decades and scientists have recently figured out that climate change is a main factor of their death.
Climate change can directly cause corals to die or “bleach” (called because a coral turns white and loses its vibrant colors when it dies). Researchers have found that an algae essential to corals called zooxanthellae starts to die at temperatures above 86.9 degrees Fahrenheit. Global warming can also indirectly cause mass bleaching of coral reefs. Fertilizer runoff from farms brings in excess nitrogen and phosphorus into the ocean. This then throws off the natural ratio of phosphorus and nitrogen currently in the ocean, which causes certain membranes in the corals to break down. This ultimately causes the corals’ ability to survive in high light and temperatures to diminish, thus dying in the warmer waters caused by climate change.
Currently, coral reefs are dying at an extreme rate and show no sign of slowing down. The Great Barrier Reef has gone through four mass bleaching events since 1998 due to higher average sea temperatures and is expected to undergo another one in the coming years. According to Terry Hughes, a professor for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook, while there many be a couple minor ways to reduce coral deaths, the only solution is “to tackle the root cause of global warming by reducing net greenhouse gas emissions to zero as quickly as possible.”
While saving the turtles are important, they aren’t the only marine life that are facing mass death rates. Coral reefs play a vital role for both humans and animals. They house a diverse group of marine life, assist in carbon and nitrogen fixation, and help with nutrient recycling. For humans, they are able to generate money through fishing and tourism as well as providing food and medicine. Finally, coral reefs are a natural barrier that protects the coastline from wave damage and tropical storms, such as hurricanes, which is why we need to pay attention to the damage we have done to coral reefs and search for ways to fix it.
Questions:
Are there any solutions to rebuilding the coral reef habitat?
How can you raise awareness towards this issue?
What are some small steps everyone can take that will reduce mass bleaching?
Sources:
18 comments:
It’s surprising to see that even coral reefs are heavily affected by climate change. We should study the rising global temperatures and find solutions to save marine and terrestrial life together. We could be careful about our fertilizer usage to help reduce the vulnerability of corals. We should also reduce global climate change. To do this, we should reduce our emissions in the form we can, by transportation and basic household applicances. We should also reduce our individual carbon footprints, and together we can make an impact. With more education on this topic, we could save the corals and other forms of life.
In order to make sustainable progress towards reversing climate change we need to get on a united front against the primary causes of climate change. Some global organization like the UN, Red Cross, or GHO has to step up and start mandating changes, or else we will continue to have issues with climate change getting worse. Without a unified approach, little changes will die off over time and end up being useless.
This was a sad thing to learn about, because coral reefs are home to so many different fish and marine life. This is devastating, but since climate change can still be slowed down at this point then we can still save the reefs. Since climate change is a significant factor, it is important to focus on brining attention to that. Currently, we have climate strikes taking place nationally that is going a good job of brining attention to the issue. But, we can advocate locally as well, any sort of advocation can still make a huge impact. We can obviously treat the corals individually by planting new coral on top, but this is only a temporary fix. The most important thing to look at is climate change.
I am becoming more and more accustomed to the idea that are destroying the coral reefs. Obviously, research can support the varied benefits and intrinsic value these coral reefs have to us and the planet. In order to protect these necessities, I believe it is important to tackle climate change as being the root issue. With a direct root between the reefs and temperature, it is important that we continue to explore the different methods of reducing the green house gasses in our environment and promote sustainable forms of transportation that have become detrimental due to its necessary to us today.
There are solutions to rebuilding coral reef habitats It is that we as a society should stop polluting because as in the passage it is stated that we pollute and that it is our fault that coral reefs are dying"The ocean and its plastic pollution has gained more media coverage recently. As a result, more people have started to try to reduce their plastic usage, like by using reusable bags instead of plastic ones or using a metal straw to “save the turtles”.We can raise awareness for this issue by publicly advertising and announcing on social media to help stop this problem.people can take small steps such as recycling in the right bin and stop dumping things into the oceans such as factories during liquids in rivers and lakes which lead to the ocean.
Yes, there are ways to help rebuild the coral reef habitat. There are always minor things that people can do to help stop polluting the earth. A way that I can raise awareness towards this issue is to promote to others the horrible side effects of climate change and pollution. Some small steps we can all take towards reducing mass bleaching is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions very quickly.
Coral reefs are beautiful and a great tourist attraction. Moreover, they are essential to many different ocean habitats. From reading this article it has come to my conclusion that there aren’t any immediate solutions for this problem due to the fact that it is caused by global warming (what isn’t going wrong from global warming though). I believe we could spread awareness of this problem by taking more pictures of them and sharing their beauty for all the world to see. We can all help coral reefs by reducing our carbon footprint.
It makes sense that the coral reefs are being destroyed due to climate change. They are so important to how the ocean and entire world functions. The world needs to come together as a unit to save the planet and coral reefs from climate change. There are many ways to prevent the harming of the reefs like stopping pollution from going into the ocean. If we take this step, then it will show a small difference. For major change to occur, we need a larger front and effort from the whole world. The oceans and the habitats within them are very important, so we need to save them.
Yet another life that climate change is detrimental to. This was interesting to read about because I was unaware of how they have a maximum temperature and how a combination of Nitrogen/Phosphorus as well as their membranes contribute to their decline. They are crucial to marine life and the entire ocean ecosystem, and humans have an obligation to halt their destruction. Ocean pollution is just one of many aspects humans can readily fix.
I am not surprised to hear that corals are so imminently threatened by climate change. Further, there are also threatened by the excessive runoff of Nitrogen and Phosphorus. It is extremely important that humans solve both of these actions, for corals are essential in acquatic habitats. The endangerment of corals hurts all ocean habitats in a domino effect. Therefore, humans must solve their actions right now in order to prevent further endangerment.
Since climate change directly affects the bleaching of corals, participating in reducing greenhouse gas emission into the atmosphere will help reduce mass bleaching. People can do so by converting to renewables energy sources, limit the consumption of forcing fuels and convert to transportation through electrical energy. Actions like these will help reduce mass coral bleaching as it will decrease greenhouse gas emission.
I never knew that the coral reef habitat has become increasingly affected by climate change. Some solutions that are able to help reduce gas emissions to help with air pollution, and reduce our usage of fertilizer to help reduce the corals. To raise awareness, we can contact worldwide organizations to make sure they are aware of this terrible climate change that is causing a tremendous downfall on the coral reef habitat. We can recycle more, clean out the trash, and use less of transportation such as cars.
We can as a whole reduce our pollution emissions, we can spread awareness about the issue with the reefs, and put restrictions on the use of fertilizer to decrease the amount we use. To spread awareness, we should contact the vast amount of global organizations dedicated to helping the human race save earth and we can also tell people around us who want to do something to hep the environment. We can carpool to save some emissions, we can use less power at home, and we can try to use less fertilizer and get others to do the same.
I'm not surprised that climate change is killing corals; it's just another effect that has resulted from human causes. Actions should be made to protect these environments because they not only provide shelter for an ecosystem, but they also act as a natural barrier that protects the coastline from tropical storms. Destruction to these corals could be consequential as well as resulting in a domino effect across the world.
While I am unaware of any solutions to rebuilding the coral reef habitat, an obvious answer would be to preserve them. When exploiting our oceans for recreational activities and resources, the coral reef should be left untouched. Images and statistics can greatly contribute to raising awareness of this issue. Before this blog post, I was not aware of the monstrosity affecting the coral reef. Bleaching is most directly caused by global warming which is mostly a man-made issue. All we can do is try our best to minimize the burning of fossil fuels.
I had no idea that climate change would also affect the coral in the ocean. I feel that we should try to stop the growth of climate change and that we should reduce greenhouse gasses in the air by planting trees and using any pother type of method in order to help save both the coral and the turtles. Bleaching is a issue started due to humans releasing abundant amounts of greenhouse gasses. This means that we should also try to preserve the coral habits in case we are too late in stopping the growth of climate change.
I was unaware of this, and am quite concerned. There are solutions to rebuild the coral reef habitat, by reducing greenhouse gases, and pollution caused by humans. I think preserving the reef, is also important in tourist areas, to prevent humans from hurting them physically. We can raise awareness by posting about coral reefs on social media to bring awareness to this huge problem and call to action. Some small steps we can do is use less transportation when not necessary, and not produce as much trash.
I was somewhat aware of the pollution going on in our oceans. When I was in 2nd grade, the BP oil spill happened and it gained a lot of traction due to how it was affecting wildlife in the ocean. However, I was never aware of how it truly affected the ocean in itself. I think to rebuild the reef we have to stop all kinds of business and tourists activities in big parts of the oceans and let the ocean heal. We can also make fundraisers for reefs so they have the ability to rebuild. The world relies on it.
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