Where is the Great Barrier Reef?
http://wwf.panda.org
What is the Great Barrier Reef?
The Great Barrier Reef was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage Site in 1981. The reef is a habitat for a few endangered species, including the Dugong (Sea Cow) and the large green sea turtle and is also a breeding location for humpback whales, migrating from from the Antarctic. Due to its astounding natural beauty, the Reef is one of the worlds most popular tourist destinations. In 2006 the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authorized 820 operators and 1500 vessels and aircrafts to operate in the marine park, as a means to encourage visitors to experience the Reef and enjoy its unique beauty.
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Interesting Great Barrier Reef Facts
- The reef contains 1,500 species of tropical fish
- The reef contains 411 types of hard coral
- The reef includes one-third of the world's soft corals
- The reef includes six of the world's seven species of threatened marine turtles
- The reef contains more than 30 species of marine mammals (including the dugong)
- The Reef is home to 175 species of birds
- Tourism on the Reef is a $1 billion industry annually
- Over 1.6 million tourists visit the Reef each year
http://www.wwf.org
History of the Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is an ancient and vast abundance of living entities, composed of living coral growing on top of dead coral, and dating back as much as twenty million years. Many generations of dead coral mounted themselves into into huge walls of stone covered in a diverse assortment of living organisms including coral, algae, anemones, sponges, fish, starfish, turtles, and worms and a collection of thousands of species of animals and plants. Historical evidence suggests that human contact with the Great Barrier Reef first occurred a very long time ago. Aboriginal people occupied extensive areas of the Australian continent for approximately 40,000 years, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities fished and hunted the waters of the Reef region. During episodes of glacial activity, the Reef was extremely dry with expansive flat coastal plains. Interestingly, today the depth of the Reef is less than one hundred meters below sea level.
http://www.skepticalscience.com
The earliest documented evidence of European sightings of the Great Barrier Reef was by French explorers in 1768. Louis de Bougainville, commanding the ships La Boudeuse and L'Etoile, arrived to Australia from the east and first encountered Bougainville Reef near Cooktown on June 6. Running low on food and facing rough currents in the ocean, Bougainville steered his ships north toward Asia along the north coast of New Guinea, completely missing Australia.
From May to August 1770, James Cook sailed the entire length of the Reef and Cook's voyage caught the attention of the international scientific community. On June 11, Cook's ship hit the Endeavour Reef, north of Cape Tribulation, and Cook and his crew were forced to spend six weeks repairing their ship at the location of modern Cooktown. Due to the unforeseen dilemma, Cook and his team of scientists were unable to spend their time scientifically observing the Reef. Regardless, Cook's voyage was monumentally important to science because the scientific community was finally made aware that this beautiful ecosystem existed. After Cook finished all repairs, he made the decision to confront the open sea, but he struggled to find a way through the barrier of the Reef. After sailing north to Lizard Island, Cook and his botanist, Joseph Banks, climbed to the highest point of the island and could discern a narrow break in the Reef large enough to allow the passage of their ship. This is now referred to as Cook's Passage.
Captain James Cook
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook
Matthew Flinders is recognized as the man who named the reef the Great Barrier Reef. He is also celebrated for his discovery of a safe passage, now known as Flinder's Passage, which he charted by releasing small ships ahead to test the dangerous depths.
Chinese cucumber fisherman and Japanese pearl divers frequented the Great Barrier Reef in the 19th and early 20th century. It is also important to note that there are 30 shipwreck sites of historical importance, a multitude of significant lighthouses, and impactful World War II sites that are known to have existed at the Reef.
What did the Great Barrier Reef look like historically?
The origins of the Great Barrier Reef date back tens of millions of years ago when Australia broke off and drifted northwards from the massive super-continent of Gondwana. About 50 million years ago Australia separated from Gondwana and moved northwards, while rotating anti-clockwise so that the Cape York (the northern tip) entered the hotter climate of the tropics. Numerous ice ages shaped the coast of Australia by whittling away the land and generating intense fluctuations in sea levels. The fluctuations either completely exposed the continent or completely submerged the continent, and eventually the outer mountains were worn down to a small portion of their original size. The last rise in sea level flooded the island again, and the peaks and summits became new islands. In addition, shallow lagoons materialized near the coast, providing an ideal environment for coral growth.
http://www.the-great-barrier-reef-experience.com
http://www.reef.crc.org.au
Human Impact on the Great Barrier Reef
Both an increasing population and the popular attraction to live near the coast has resulted in the development of towns, cities, planned communities along the Queensland coast. Over the past 200 years the Reef has lost wetlands and crucial vegetation due to urban development, resort and hotel development, and industrial development. Sediment, nutrients, chemicals, and other dangerous pollutants can be emitted into the water due to commerical activities like fishing and boating.
http://www.reefed.edu.au
Aquaculture facilities, located next to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, produce an array of marine and freshwater species including oysters, prawns, and barramundi. The Queensland Aquaculture industry is growth based with the majority of facilities employing pond-based operations to produce prawns. Aquaculture farms often discharge high concentrations of suspended solids and nutrients into nearby bodies of water, however, the creation of new techniques like settlement and bio-filtration ponds that contain algae, bivalves, or fish have improved the problem dramatically. Discharges from aquaculture farms are now monitored to ensure that they protect the water quality of the Great Barrier Reef.
http://www.earthlyissues.com
http://www.reefed.edu.au
Ships regularly travel through the inner shipping route of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park carrying a broad range of cargoes including bauxite and alumina, manganese, iron ore, coal, sugar, silica sand, general container freight and petroleum products. As ships travel along the Queensland coast, oil and chemical spills from the vessels can cause very serious environmental damage to the Reef.
http://www.plosone.org
Climate change has a fatal impact on the oceanic environment and specifically harm coral reef ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef. Coral bleaching is caused by the combination of increased temperatures in the atmosphere, higher UV radiation, sedementation, reduced lighting levels and salinity changes. Due to the fact that coral reefs can only survive and prosper within a strict temperature bracket, the most minute change in temperature can can disrupt the balance of the coral reef ecosystem. During coral bleaching, the corals become colorless and are no longer able to produce energy. During the process of bleaching, the corals lose 60-90% of their zooxanthellae and the remaining zooxanthella lose about 50-80% of their pigment.
This is a graph of todays sea surface temperature anomalies. Image is provided by statellite data from NOAA analyzed to a 50 km resolution. Color bars represent .5 degrees Celsius anomaly increments, red is positive anomalies, blue is negative anomalies.
http://sitemaker.umich.edu
Cases of coral bleaching observed. Notice that the regions of the oceans that have higher temperatures have the most cases of coral bleaching
http://sitemaker.umich.edu
Overfishing is one driving force that has had disastrous impacts on coral reefs. Aggressive fishing techniques have damaged coral reefs sometimes beyond repair. However, over-fishing in general is also a detrimental problem to coral reefs around the world. Specifically to the Great Barrier Reef, overfishing has caused a shift in the reef ecosystem. Overfishing of species near the Reef affects the reef's ecological balance and biodiversity. Certain amounts of nutrients, oxygen and salt satisfy the fishes in the Reef, who help maintain the balance needed by the corals, and without these fishes the Reef will collapse. The Great Barrier Reef Park manages specific zones of fishing, through the Australian Commonwealth law, which protects important areas. In 2003, 24% of coral reef habitats were included in “no-fishing zones” which is about 4% of the total park area (Sustainable Fishing). In order to end overfishing, we can design effective conservation programs, determine the impact of management actions, and identify the drivers of overfishing (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority).
http://see-the-sea.org
Future of the Great Barrier Reef
Based on my personal research on the current human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef, I propose that there is undeniable evidence that the Reef is going to change dramatically in the future. The primary concern for the survival of the Reef is global warming. Over the past 100 years, the earth's climate has warmed by 0.6 degrees Celsius and according to many scientific studies, it will likely increase another 1.4-5.8 degrees Celsius over the next 100 years. Thankfully, not all of the 3000 reefs will encounter the same temperature rise. The inshore reefs, particularly those between Cape Melville and Innisfail, are the most vulnerable to temperature changes, while areas around Whitsundays will continue to have cooler climates. Scientists studying the Great Barrier Reefs indicate that more coral bleaching will occur and total coral coverage will decrease when heat tolerant species migrate to the area.
http://www.travelwithachallenge.com
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, head of the University of Queensland's Centre for Marine Studies, agrees that the biggest threat facing the Great Barrier Reef and other reefs around the world is increasing sea temperatures, which cause thermal stress for delicate corals. Hoegh-Guldberg explains that "By 2050 bleaching may be an annual event, that is, if there are still reefs around to be bleached. If you have bleaching events every four years and they take 15-20 to recover, you will start to see bleached reefs not recovering. They will be dying" (mongabay.com).
http://news.mongabay.com
Protecting the Great Barrier Reef
Today, a multitude of management strategies have been developed to protect the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The main strategy is a multiple-use zoning system that offers high levels of protection in important areas, while permitting a variety of other sustainable uses, including many types of fishing, to occur in other zones across the marine park. Between 1999 and 2003 a highly controversial rezoning plan was instituted. A revised zoning plan came into effect in July 2004 and made the proportion of the park protected by no-take zones increase to more than 33 percent (115,000 square kilometers). The Reef is comprised of the world's largest network of no-take zones to ensure the effective protection of this World Heritage-listed area.
http://www.wwf.org
Many things can be done to improve human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. Humans can take action to reduce land-based sources of sediment, nutrient, and pesticide pollution. In addition, government officials can create environmental policies to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in order to put an end to global warming. Ending poor fishing practices is another important step in protecting this global treasure. Sustainable levels of fishing in the marine park are needed to minimise the impacts on the reef's biodiversity. Building and maintaining a network of well- funded, enforced and monitored marine sanctuaries throughout the reef is essential to protecting representative areas. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are also important for those regions of special or unique biological value.
References
http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/saving_the_natural_world/oceans_and_marine/priority_ocean_places/great_barrier_reef/threats/
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/1117-corals.html#QydpSDsIjX2AKk4x.99
