The Great Barrier Reef with The Corals

Esther Jerald

Maya

The Great Barrier Reef

We have heard a company, Fabulous Fishing Co. wants to majorly fish in the reef. This is something to think about: What would happen if the reefs had no more fish? The following slides will tell you a bit about the Great Barrier Reef and how over fishing there will disrupt the ecosystem.

The coral reef is an ecosystem that includes a collection of biological communities, representing one of the most complicated ecosystems in the world. For this reason, coral reefs are often referred to as the Rainforests of the Oceans.

The Australian Great Barrier Reef stretches over 3000km, almost parallel to the Queensland coast, from near Bundaberg, up past the tip of Cape York. The reef, between 15 kilometres and 150 kilometres off the shore and around 65 kilometres wide in some parts, is a gathering of brilliant, vivid coral, providing divers with the most spectacular underwater experience ever imagined.

Coral reefs house millions and millions of life, so much we cant express it. Without them, there will be a tremendous amount of habitat and nourishment loss. Many animals depend on the reef. There are so many endangered marine animals. If the reefs are gone, what will happen to them? Will our beautiful underwater world survive? What will happen to our planet if the ocean is destroyed?

Climographs of The Great Barrier Reef

Warmest/Coldest:25 Celsius (All year round) Most Rainfall:449 mm ( February, Cairns) Least Rainfall:25 mm ( August, September, Cairns)

The animals in the coral reef include sponges, nudibranchs, dolphins, reef sharks, clown fish, eels, parrotfish, snapper, scorpion fish, jellyfish, anemones, sea stars, sea snakes, sea turtles and other animals.

Psst did you know that scorpion fish can stay out of the water for 24 hours?

There are many top predators like dolphins and sharks that depend on fish to eat. Lesser predators like grouper eat smaller fish. And sea turtles help keep the jellyfish population in control by eating the bite-size ones.
The corals polyp eat as well. They have tentacles that pull sea animals to the mouth. There are also stingers that paralyze corals prey.

There are interesting types of plants in the reefs. A few are seagrasses (Halophila and Halodule), zooxanthellae and even seaweed! These plants often grow close together and serve as an all-you-can-eat buffet for many herbivores, such as dugongs, manatees, sea turtles and sea urchins. This is a picture of a starfish among kelp.

The energy pyramid is a precarious thing. There are less predators and more prey. If there is too little prey, then the few predators will not have enough food. So the predators will die out before the fish can repopulate again. ( See the energy pyramid below.)

Tertiary Consumers (least) Secondary Consumers (more less) Primary Consumers (less) Producers (most)

Humans pollute, ship, dredge and do many other harmful things to this wonderful watery world. Tourism leads to careless people throwing their garbage around, which washes into the ocean, waiting for a fish to swallow it. And as humans continue to contribute to global warming, the rising temperature can reduce huge reefs to only a tiny fraction of what it used to be (coral bleaching).

Sometimes, people fish too much in certain areas, so there are not enough fish to eat and feed other organisms. When there are not enough fish, the food webs balance (see below) will be disrupted, as fish are a main source of food. Also, the organisms they eat could overpopulate.

If there are no fish, then there wont be any organic waste and the food will only be eaten by the decomposers. Then there will be less ammonia, and there wont be as much nitrites and nitrates.

If the fish are taken away, then less oxygen will be taken and converted into carbon dioxide. This isnt good for all the beautiful plants in the coral reefs.

Well, many coral reefs are at risk. If you take away the fish, the animals will perish. The Great Barrier Reefs size has diminished. We ask this company to try fishing in a different area, or the reefs life might not survive. Many animals might die because their habitat would be destroyed. And also plants might become extinct.

http://www.greatbarrierreef.org http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/habitat/coral_index.c fm http://wwf.panda.org http://www.ecokids.ca http://school.eb.com http://www.reef.crc.org.au http://www.livescience.com http://oceanservice.noaa.gov http://www.exploringnature.org http://www.actionbioscience.org http://www.aquariumguys.com