Welcome to our Project: why saving coral reefs matter to everyone!
Coral reefs are bustling habitats that have a profound impact on marine life, coastal communities and the world's economy. Deemed "the rain forests of the sea," reefs support approximately 25% of all marine creatures, many of whom are near the bottom of the ocean's food chain. They also play an instrumental role in coastal protection, acting as a buffer for incoming waves to prevent massive coastal flooding. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that reefs generate $375 billion for the worldwide economy annually, with tourism and food being its primary economic contributions. And this incredible productivity and biodiversity also has very practical implications for our health: the same chemicals that help corals, sponges, and other organisms survive in the reef are saving people’s lives. The first anti-retroviral therapy for the HIV virus (AZT) came out of a Caribbean sponge. Coral skeletons also make great human bone grafts, and several compounds have been developed or are under development (some already under clinical trials) to treat cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, bacterial infections, pain and other diseases.
Unfortunately, coral reefs face their largest threat to date due to global climate change. Corals are living animals, and like other creatures, they become stressed when their environment undergoes rapid changes. Increased temperature and light pressure cause corals to expel their microscopic algae that generate much of their energy. Without the algae, corals starve and their white calcium carbonate skeleton appears through their transparent tissue making them look "bleached."
So what can we do? We know that different coral species respond differently to stress, but there is still a long way to go to understand why and to what extent. Rising ocean temperatures are widely considered to be the leading culprit of bleaching, but light stress can also be incredibly harmful. Based on corals' physical properties, the microscopic algae may receive too much light which causes them to produce toxic substances instead of food and forces the coral to expel them. With more research, we hope to further study this phenomenon to understand which coral species are most likely to resist bleaching, and in doing so, we can help reduce reef mortality.
If you want to learn more about the importance of coral reefs check these sites:
http://issues.org/18-3/p_bruckner/
http://dailynightly.nbcnews.co...
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