Great Barrier Reef Research Paper

Words: 1194
Pages: 5

The Great Barrier Reef; it’s a land filled with the wonders of marine life and the beauty of biodiversity. A land where clear, crisp water can flow freely and fish can swim without the restriction of humans. At least that’s how many wish to imagine it. However, the current situation off of Australia’s northeastern coast is far from the picture-perfect image we all hold so dear. Human actions have damaged this beauty of nature to the point where it is nearly irreversible. Day by day the coral wonders have become increasingly more monotone.
Coral, like the majority of Earth’s living species, requires a specific ecosystem to thrive. Coral needs an clear water with a temperature between of 20° and 28° Celsius. Coral also shares a crucial symbiotic relationship with an aquatic algae. The coral’s limestone outer shell provides the algae with a dwelling place, and in return the algae provides important sugars to the coral. This symbiotic relationship works well until the coral is stressed by the rising water
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The government did not approve several attempts at passing laws that prevented land clearing. Land clearing speeds the process of erosion and leads to an increase of sediment that flows into the Pacific Ocean. Also, a plan to build a coal mine only 200 miles away from the reef has been proposed, with little consideration of how the wastes released from the mine will affect the reef. This potential mine, currently known as the Carmichael mine, is expected to be the largest coal mine in Australia and to contribute 120 tons of pollution to the atmosphere each year. If this mine is built it will certainly have a major impact on the Earth’s rapidly changing climate. And it just so happens that one of the greatest threats to the Great Barrier Reef is climate change. The rising temperatures of the ocean’s water is cause for coral