Depletion of Coral Reefs Table of Contents Introduction......�

Introduction........................................2

Depletion of coral reefs............................3

Water pollution................................3

Costs..........................................4

Reefs of Southeast Asia........................4

Coral bleaching................................5

Conclusion..........................................5

Coral reefs are extremely large limestone structures which

take thousands of years to grow, and many of the contemporary reef systems are from 5,000 to 10,000 years old (Florida, 2005).A reef consists of millions of tiny coral polyps, which are marine invertebrates which produce a calcium carbonate skeleton. As polyps die, they are surrounded by new ones, and so the reef grows. There are hundreds of different species of coral, but only the hermatypic corals contribute to the building of the limestone bed of the reef. Ahermatypic soft corals have the appearance of leaflets or palm fronds and are attached to the limestone bed. Their function is to clean the water and to attract fish. Coral needs pristine, warm, salt-rich water in which to grow, and most need sunlight to flourish. Coral reefs provide shelter for roughly one quarter of all marine life that exists today.

The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network estimates that 25

percent of the world"s reefs have already been destroyed or severely damaged and another third have been degraded and are threa

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The cost of coral reef depletion is high: the loss of reefs and fish populations in the Philippines has led to an 18 percent decrease in protein in the average diet; almost all the coral reefs in Northern Jamaica are dead or degraded to the point that local fishermen have to strain the water for fish larvae to make fish soup; and the human impact on reefs around the United States have resulted in a 50 percent decrease in the top ten aquarium fish which have been taken for private use (Moore and Best, 2005). Mangrove forests serve as nurseries for many coral species and help maintain the quality of coastal waters by reducing the amount of sediment runoff, pollutants and excess nutrients from the land reaching the waters (Moore and Best, 2005). Construction of shrimp farms for the world markets has led to the destruction of many mangrove forests. Trade has also led to the overfishing and selective removal of key groups from coral reefs such as: groupers and wrasses for live food fish trade; dead fish and invertebrates for medicinal products and ornaments (sharks, sea cucumbers, sea stars, molluscs, sea horses); live fish, coral and other species for aquaria; and "live rock" - the calcerous base of coral for marine aquaria.

Category: Science - D