Coral Reefs

By Melissa Cantwell and MaryClare Woodforde

Coral Reefs

• Coral reefs are areas in the ocean that are made up of various corals. Lots of fish live in coral reefs. The biggest coral reef in Australia and the world is the great barrier reef.

Coral Reefs

The great barrier reef is located in the pacific ocean in the coral sea. It runs from the top of Queensland down to around the Sunshine Coast.

There are also other reefs in North Queensland.

Coral Reefs• There are all sorts of marine animals in coral

systems such as sharks, dolphins, turtles, clams, clownfish, sparkle fish, glow fish, glow-worms, whales, bass, trout, seahorses, octopuses, squid, jelly fish, sea snails called nudibranch, crabs, lobsters, scissor tails, surgeon fish, sting rays, kelp fish, butterfly fish and rainbow fish.

• There are also lots of different types of seagrass and coral.

Human Impact on Coral Systems

• Humans have a very big impact on the environment in general, but the impact we have on the coral systems is enormous.

• There are smaller things like body lotion and sweat polluting the water, as well as other sources of pollution

Climate Change

• There’s also the impact of global warming and climate change. The climates changing means that storms will be more intense, and cyclones can do serious damage to coral reefs.

• There is also the impact of ocean levels rising. The corals try and grow to keep up so that they can be a certain distance from the ocean surface.

• There’s also the fact that when certain species of fish and coral and grass become endangered, from things like the sea temperature or people fishing, other species cannot eat and soon become endangered as well.

Bibliography• www.wikipedia.com

• The Great Barrier Reef,(2009), www.australia.com, [2009, April 3]

• No Title, (no date), http://explorations.ucsd.edu/Features/Paradise_pt1/popup/popup_2.php, [2009, April 3]

• Rashid's Earth Blog, (no date), http://rashidfaridi.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html, [2009, April 3]

• Dolphins and Coral Reefs, (no date), http://www.magicporthole.org/dolphins.html, [2009, April 3]

• Coral Reef Farm, (no date), http://aquariumlife.info/, [2009, April 3]