Fauna Journal Entry
Bleaching is Killing Coral Reefs (March 25, 2006)
Satellite view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. The reef has suffered from coral bleaching and other problems. NASA.
Coral bleaching from rising temperatures is killing coral reefs. The problem is especially bad on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Australia just went through its warmest year on record with ocean temperatures way above normal. Large sections of coral in a region of the reef called the Keppels were wiped out.
Last summer, reefs in the Caribbean Sea were killed from bleaching due to warmer water. The problem is getting worse in reefs in other parts of the world as well.
The outer layer of a coral reef is made up of living polyps. These are tiny animals that lie on top of the remains of many earlier generations of coral. Warmer water temperatures can kill the algae that living coral depend on for food. When the algae dies, the coral loses its color and turns white. Often, the coral dies as well.
The Great Barrier Reef is considered one of the wonders of the natural world. The reef stretches for more than 1,200 miles (2,000 km) along the coast of Queensland. It's the largest structure built by living organisms on Earth. The reef is the site of incredible biodiversity. About 1,500 species of fish and hundreds of different invertebrates and plants live on the reef.
The world's reefs are also threatened by sediments and farm runoff, pollution, and overfishing. In some parts of the world, reefs are blasted with explosives to gather tropical fish for pet stores.
Coral reefs are called "rain forests of the sea" because of their rich biodiversity. They support about one-third of all the world's fish species and close to a million different kinds of animals overall.
