Coral reefs

Reefs exist in all their splendor in the warm and clear waters of all the planet's tropical seas, yet corals themselves are found everywhere, even in the dark voids of temperate deep seas. Coral animals provide the foundation for a wide variety of life forms, providing living spaces in nooks and crannies for plants, sponges, crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms fishes, marine turtles, and even marine mammals. Reefs have been critically important in furthering our understanding of marine ecology and nature in general - the delicate balances between reef inhabitants have taught us much about how the world works and how human activity can upset the web of life. Tropical reefs have great value to humans, not just as treasures seascapes (that generate revenues for neighboring coastal communities all around the world), but also as sources of food, as providers of materials, as beach-forming agents and as natural buffers from storms and tsunamis, and as repositories of pharmaceutical compounds for treating human disease. Yet despite this great value, coral reefs are rapidly becoming degraded. Overfishing, pollution -- especially too many nutrients coming from sewage and animal waste, fertilizers, and other anthropogenic sources, poorly planned or uncontrolled coastal development, and climate change effects like warming and ocean acidification are taking their toll on reefs. Some predict the disappearance of reefs as we know them in just a few short decades, unless action is taken to improve reef health today.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• coral
• reefs