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Sage

Emma Boone & Liz Cartnight

8A Science

3 May 2019

Bleached and dead coral reefs is a well known global issue. It is sad to see beautiful sites

turn into dead underwater forests. Imagine a land forest got bleached because of heat or carbon

dioxide levels and a whole landmass got turned into a desolate land. This is happening under the

sea in our well-known coral reefs. For example, the Great Barrier Reef a few years ago

experienced a massive heat wave which raised the acidic levels in the waters. This confused the

coral and caused the coral to release all the nutrients needed to nourish their bodies. This

problem is not only caused by humans it is also because of the well-known topic of climate

change and rise in carbon emissions. This is a significant topic because coral reefs house millions

of fish that we eat to this day. They keep the fish alive and bring money from tourists who want

to scuba dive to see the amazing underwater creations. If we try to save these reefs than many

other positive factors will occur as well, like less global warming and smaller carbon emissions

in the air we breathe today. Although many may think that this problem only affects civilizations

near the ocean they are wrong. In fact, this problem

was caused by climate change, pollution, and rising

co2 levels. All of these things can be threatening

towards any living creatures to this day even humans.

The issue of Dying coral reefs is very significant

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because it goes to show the rise of Carbon emissions, Climate change, and lastly, man-made

pollution, we need to cut down the amount of pollution we create and carbon emissions our

vehicles let off in order to help save our world and this well-known issue. In the end, dying coral

reefs is a well-renowned problem and we need to put a stop to it.

The science behind threats to coral reefs is very intriguing. Heat is a huge threat to coral

polyps and is one of the main reasons this issue is serious. Due to recent research scientist came

to the conclusion that the coral polyps actually have a detrimental reaction to heat. Their bodies

expel the nutrients which are the algae they feed on. This kills the organisms because they lack

the nourishment needed in their bodies (Warne.) It is well known that if an animal doesn’t have

the nutrients needed to support them then any living organism will die. In recent studies,

scientists believed it would be better for coral reefs to outgrow the heat and morph into stronger

organisms. However, this was proved wrong as more coral kept dying in warm water. Scientists

wanted coral to survive on its own to

see if the organism was capable of

doing so. But, the waters ultimately

continue to this day to keep on getting

warmer and more acidic. Scientists

have just recently had more of a

hands-on approach to saving the coral polyps. They are trying to cool down waters and breed a

hybrid species of coral that could withstand warmer waters (Warne.) It is also quite frightening
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because in our oceans the Co2 levels are

increasing which is turning ocean waters

into an acidic form. Just like the heat

coral polyps are reacting silly to them

and are a bit confused about what is in

the water. Although they don't expel any

algae this acidic water is increasing

natural disasters. One of the most common of these ocean disasters is hurricanes. Hurricanes

harm land masses and also ocean masses. If a coral reef were to be in the middle of one of the

hurricanes it would leave a detrimental hit to the coral polyps. This could vary from breaking

and tearing the polyps to pieces or even killing the many fish in the proximity (Warne.) In the

end, the main threat to coral reefs is climate change because it influences natural disasters,

confuses coral polyps, and heats up not only our ocean but our whole world as a whole.

Threatened coral reefs is a huge issue and are impacting our human society. Coral reefs

are amazing ocean sites. A huge impact in some societies near the ocean is the amount of money

tourists bring in to mostly scuba dive. In the future, if coral reefs were to die off it could cut

some income for families or cities. Another huge issue is the amount of overfishing that is

happening near the coral reefs. These reefs hold millions of fish and are impacted because of all

the fish that are taken. Then the coral reefs lose the nutrients needed to survive (Janke.) Another

huge issue in our society is the drop in oxygen. It is called Hypoxic Episode which is a huge drop

of oxygen in the ocean which is allowing sulfur colonizing bacteria to form. This bacteria
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actually gives the coral diseases and can be a minor threat to the polyps, and it goes to show that

our earth’s oxygen is dropping which is a very scary problem. It is frightening because while the

earth's oxygen is dropping the co2 levels are rising (Janke.) Another problem is that many

land-based pollutants are getting into rivers and then into the oceans. This is an impactful issue

because many of these pollutants like toxicants, sediments, and nutrients, are affecting organisms

in the ocean. One huge issue that comes from pollution is the diseases that affect ocean

organisms. One disease comes from oil spills and other land-based pollutants. Scientists call this

disease the white plague. It actually bleaches the coral polyps and hurts other creatures. (NOAA)

In the article “What Can You Do To Help Protect Coral Reefs” it states that, ¨The overuse of

fertilizers on lawns harm water quality because nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from the

fertilizer are washed into waterways and eventually end up in oceans. These nutrients pollute the

water and can harm coral reefs¨ This quote explains that any sort of land-based pollution can

find its way to the ocean ( EPA, Paragraph 4). These impacts on society are in the long run

affecting our economy.

There are many solutions and improvements that can be done to help save our oceans

coral reefs. A possible solution for stopping the number of carbon emissions are vehicles let off

would be riding bikes and walking more than driving (EPA). Although this can be a little hard at

some times it could help a lot. Another huge issue is fascinated human beings diving and

touching the coral polyps. This doesn't seem to bad but actually, all of the oil on the hand of a

human can kill the polyps because they aren't used to oil in large quantities (EPA). If our society
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were to respect the Coral reefs and not touch them while diving we could help keep them around

for longer. Those issues are pretty big but the well-known issue is the rise of carbon emissions

and climate change. Climate change is heating up waters and rising ocean levels. The increase in

heat temperature can confuse the coral polyps and kill them. Also, the increase of ocean levels

can cut off some coral polyps oxygen and

eventually bleach them. An improvement to

climate change could be using more renewable

energy sources instead of burning nonrenewable

energy sources. Nonrenewable energy sources let

off smoke into the air which heats up our earth's

air. Climate change is an overwelming issue. At

this rate, we may never be able to stop it. However, if we can stop some man-made heat

pollution maybe we could make an improvement to this issue. This could help save some coral

reefs from two threats, the ocean levels rising and the heat waves that grow bigger every year.

Another threat to coral reefs is overfishing and explosion fishing. We could try to stop

overfishing in coral reefs so they can get the nutrients needed from the millions of fish that they

house. But the bigger issue is explosion fishing

because it is not only unethical mutilating fish

but also is a threat to Coral Polyps. The

explosions on coral reefs can shatter the coral

polyps to pieces or kill lots of fish inside of the

reef itself (Seymour). We need to as a society

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put a stop to explosion fishing so ocean creatures are caught with respect. This will hopefully

help one threat towards coral polyps. In the end, these possible solutions could help improve the

chance of coral polyps surviving and most importantly help save our environment.

In the end, the threats towards coral polyps and reefs are very serious. They are serious

because it shows that if climate change and the rise of co2 can harm ocean creatures and reefs

than they can also harm land-based climates as well. The science behind the deaths of coral reefs

is very interesting because if these creatures were confused about the sudden change to water.

Than land creatures might have the same results as well. The issues of the endangerment of coral

polyps can harm ocean civilizations but also harms our world as a whole. Lastly, our society can

try and make improvements or help make solutions to save the coral reefs. It will not only help

coral polyps survive but may also make our world precious again. This is useful knowledge to

know because if these improvements were to work they could show that humans can work for a

goal or it can help save our world in the future. In the end, this issue is an issue that affects our

whole world because it goes to show the immense carbon emissions and climate change that is

heating our world.

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Works Cited

EPA.​ ¨​What You Can Do to Help Protect Coral Reefs¨. ​EPA, ​September 26, 2018.
https://www.epa.gov/coral-reefs/what-you-can-do-help-protect-coral-reefs

Janke, Art. “Inside The Search for a Coral Killer.” ​Research, ​Boston University, Research,
Wednesday September 19, 2018
https://www.bu.edu/research/articles/why-coral-reefs-are-dying/

​ cience
NOAA, “How does land-based pollution threaten coral reefs?” ​National Ocean Service, S
Service Stewardship, April 18, 2019.
​https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral-pollution.html

Seymour, Simon. ​Coral Reefs​. Harper, July 30, 2013

​ ational
Warne, Kenedy. “Can new science Save Dying Coral Reefs.” ​National Geographic, N
Geographic, November 29, 2018.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/great-barrier-reef-resto
ration-transplanting-corals/

Image Citation

Explosion:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-04fool/eb/index.php

Bleached Coral:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/04/how-catastrophe-is-changing-the-science-o
f-coral-reefs/522648/

Hurricane:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hurricane-florence-path-track-latest-weather-forecast-north-caro
lina-evacuation-2018-09-12-live-updates/