Coral reef protection
Coral reef protection is the process of modifying human activities to avoid damage to healthy
Recreational scuba diving can have a measurable adverse impact on tropical coral reefs, mostly due to contact damage of brittle and fragile branched stony corals. The most common damages of corals while diving occurs due to the fins striking the corals as well as hands, knees, and equipment gauges.[2] This can be reduced by improving diver buoyancy and trim skills, and by educating divers on the consequences of clumsy behavior on the reef ecosystem.[3][4] Divers given a 45 minute presentation on coral biology and protected areas combined with a brief in water demonstration have been shown to cause less damages to corals during their dive.[5]
It takes approximately 10 thousand years for coral polyps to form a reef, and between 100,000 and 30 million years for a fully mature reef to form.[6]
Coral reefs
Coral reefs are among the most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth.[7] Differences in exposure to wave patterns create a variety of habitat types.[8] The coral need a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with zooxanthellae algae in order to build a reef. The single celled algae derive their nutrients by using photosynthesis, and the coral provide shelter to the algae in return for some of the nutrients.[6] Zooxanthellae populations can die with changing environmental conditions, causing the coral to lose color, known as coral bleaching.[9] Environmental conditions such as a rise in water temperature inflict stress on the corals causing their symbiont Zooxanthellae to be expelled. The loss of Zooxanthellae causes corals to starve because they have lost the sugar food source Zooxanthellae had provided.[10] Corals that require the symbiotic algae receive their vibrant colors from the different species of Zooxanthellae that inhabit them.
Ecosystem services
Corals provide millions of people with
Biodiversity
Also known as the "rainforests of the sea," coral reefs cover less than 10% of the ocean yet provide a habitat to over 9 million species, approximately one fourth of all marine life, for food, shelter, and even hunting grounds for predators.[12][13] Species found on coral reefs include fish, invertebrates, birds, and megafauna such as sharks, sea turtles, and marine mammals.[12] Finally, they serve as essential spawning, nursing, and breeding grounds for numerous organisms.[14]
Coastal Protection
Coral reefs provide complex structures that buffer the ocean's waves, protecting coastlines from strong currents and nasty storms. Approximately 500 million people live within 100 km of coral reefs and rely on them for this protection. Not only are they critical in preventing the loss of lives, property damage, and erosion, but they also serve as a barrier for harbors and ports that depend on them economically.[12]
Fisheries
Over a billion people globally depend on the fish that live among coral reefs as a major food source.[15] It is estimated that half of all US commercial and recreational fisheries depend on coral reefs to provide them over $100 million annually.[12] Globally, fisheries account for $5.7 billion of the net income provided by coral reefs.[15]
Medicine
Species found in coral ecosystems produce chemical compounds that are used to develop new medicines to treat cancer, arthritis, asthma, heart disease, ulcers, bacterial infections, and viruses.
Tourism & Recreation
Millions of scuba divers and snorkelers visit coral reefs every year to observe their incredible beauty, as well as beachgoers who are protected by the reefs. Local economies rely heavily on coral reefs, receiving about $9.6 billion through diving tours, recreational fishing trips, hotels, and restaurants.[15]
General interests
There are four main categories of interest the public should have for the preservation of coral reefs: the preservation of natural beauty and value, the promotion of the local economy, potential source of new biological products, and preservation of the world ecosystems of which they are a part.
Over one-third of marine species live in coral reef ecosystems. These provide a beautiful underwater experience for snorkelers and divers with a significant tourism value.[19][4] This great genetic biodiversity has a lot of potential for industries like pharmaceutics, biochemistry, and cosmetics. This biodiversity also boosts the economy through an increase in marine tourism and commercial fisheries. Long-term, coral reefs have been recognized as large contributors to the absorption of carbon dioxide emissions which has been an important part of the mitigation of climate change.[20]
Stressors
Two types of stressors are associated with reef systems: natural and human-induced. The effects of these stressors can range from negligible to catastrophic.
The warming waters, ocean pH changes and sea level rise associated with climate change operate on a global basis.[21][22]
Localized examples include residential, developmental, agricultural and industrial runoff, sedimentation from land clearing, human
Acute stressors can inflict other damage, via unsustainable fishing practices, boat
During the 20th century recreational scuba diving was considered to have generally low environmental impact, and was consequently one of the activities permitted in most marine protected areas. Basic diver training has concentrated on an acceptable risk to the diver, and paid less attention to the environment. The increase in the popularity of diving and in tourist access to sensitive ecological systems has led to the recognition that the activity can have significant environmental consequences.[3]
Scuba diving has grown in popularity during the 21st century, as is shown by the number of certifications issued worldwide.
Sediment
Sediment pollution from land has severe consequences for coral reef ecosystems. However, even along one coastline, separate reefs can experience different water flow conditions that affect sediment distribution. A 2015 study assessed sediment from two streambeds less than a mile apart on the island of
Overfishing
The vast biodiversity of coral reefs consequently create an abundant fishing area for locals. This leads to overfishing of reef herbivore organisms which makes the coral reefs more vulnerable and unable to recover from large environmental disturbances.[30] Unfortunately, most marine ecologists expect future oceans to be more overfished than now.[31]
Other
See Environmental issues with coral reefs#Issues
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (September 2019) |
UV Filters UV radiation is a threat to public health in terms of sunburn risk, and skin cancer. In turn People use sunscreen that has UV filters in it to absorb excess UV radiation. Protecting the skin, and each UV filter has its own absorption rate based on the SPF amount for skin sensitivity. UV filters in sunscreen can be either organic or inorganic. Inorganic UV filters reflect and absorb UV light. Zinc oxide is widely used inorganic UV filters and are mainly incorporated into sunscreen because the larger, size particles usually leave unpleasant white marks on the skin. Some of the mineral UV filters do get additional coatings such as alumina or incorporated manganese to minimize the formation of free radicals. Exposure to all tested sunscreen and led to the conclusion that UV filters induce a lytic viral cycle that leads to coral bleaching. However, the study is limited by the lack of analytical data as well as flaws in the experimental setup.[32]
Monitoring
The continuous assessment of the health state of coral reef is an important task. To perform large-scale studies on the condition and bleaching of shallow-water coral reefs usually satellite or airborne imagery is used.[33] To more accurately document the status of the reef, recently, photogrammetric techniques have been introduced to generate orthophotos of the interested areas either by using consumer drones[34] or by capturing photos with scuba divers.[35] To analyze and annotate the large orthographic images generated with these techniques semi-automatic segmentation techniques are applied using open source tools like TagLab.[36]
Restoration
It is difficult to create a substantial plan for the protection of coral reefs due to their location out in open water; there is no distinct ownership over certain parts of the ocean, which creates difficulty in delegating responsibility.[31] But private and government groups whose purpose is to help the environment have made steps towards the restoration of coral reefs.
The aim of coral restoration is to help coral adapt to stressors and changing environments. NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program and Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program approaches restoration by responding to and restoring physically damaged reefs, preventing the loss of habitat, implementing coral conservation projects, focusing on restoring endangered coral species and controlling invasive species.[37] The Coral Restoration Foundation has restored over 100 genotypes of staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis) using coral nurseries, and also has research goals of determining ecological success, ideal restoration locations and how surrounding organisms affect restoration.[38] Laboratories located near reefs, such as Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research & Restoration — which has planted more than 43,000 corals in the Florida Keys — play a crucial role in maintaining these nurseries.[39]
Coral reefs can be grown both asexually or sexually- in land-based or ocean nurseries. One of the first and most crucial steps taken to restore coral reefs is assess the land using acoustic technology. Gathering live coral and coral fragments is essential. Once coral reach a certain size in the nursery, they are out-planted and then transported to coral reefs for the restoration process. Planting nursery-grown corals back onto reefs is a tedious process. However, it is of the utmost importance to make sure the habitat is suitable for natural coral growth. It is best to build coral that is resilient to threats like climate change. Moreover, each coral must be handled manually and transplanted to the reef by hand.[40] Researchers and marine biologists have used 3D printing to produce coral structures designed to stimulate coral growth and preserve the underwater ecosystem.[41][42]
Managing stream flow
Sediment flux can be reduced in steep watersheds on montane tropical islands in the Hawaiian archipelago by restoring vegetation and controlling invasive species. Gabions — check dams — created by planting normally invasive kiawe trees by a local community group, stopped 77 tons of sediment from flowing into the ocean that would have needed about five weeks of natural water flow to flush from the reef.[29][clarification needed]
Coral nurseries
Coral aquaculture, the process of using coral nurseries to restore the world's reefs is a project that is capable of improving biodiversity, structural integrity and coral cover.[43] Coral nurseries can provide young corals for transplantation to rehabilitate areas of reef decline or physical damaged. Direct transplantation is a common process where corals from coral nurseries or salvaged coral that has been dislodged is transplanted and attached in a new area.[44] In this process, coral gametes are harvested from spawning grounds and grown in a laboratory environment, then replanted when they grow larger. This allows the coral to grow safely in controlled amounts under lab conditions.[45] Nurseries can begin as small patches of rescued coral colonies, and may be salvaged and restored before transplantation.[46] In 2009, The Nature Conservancy began to grow over 30,000 young coral in underwater nurseries in Florida and the Caribbean for transplantation.[47]
Management Strategies of Invasive Species
Invasive species are non-native species that are introduced to an ecosystem through a variety of pathways such as: intentional introductions, accidental releases, and natural events like tsunamis.[48] The most common pathways are said by researches to be ballast water exchange of ocean going vessels and the marine ornamental trade.[48] Many species that are introduced into non-native areas either die out because they are not able to adapt to their new environment fast enough or they do survive but don’t alter the ecosystems enough to cause any damage.[49][50] However, invasive species are given their name because they are able to adapt and thrive in non-native ecosystems causing significant damage to their new ecosystems, the food-web and the environment itself which why it is necessary to develop these management strategies to control them.[50]
Invasive species affect coral reefs both directly and indirectly, corallivores like the Crown of Thorns Starfish directly consume corals while Pterois pose a threat through their over consumption of native species within coral reef ecosystems.[51][50] Management strategies may vary depending on the type of invasive species.[50] Outbreaks of these invasive species have become more frequent over the past century and are adding to the frequency at which coral cover is being lost.[52]
Crown of Thorns Starfish
Native to the Indo-pacific these marine invertebrates feed on coral and play a critical role in the coral reef ecosystem, regulating the diversity of corals and maintaining balance within the reefs.[53] However, the crown of thorns starfish (Acanthaster sp., COTS) is also a natural boom-and-bust species which mean that their population dynamics are characterized by the extreme fluctuations in adult abundance, followed by population collapse as coral food levels decline, leaving a swath of dead coral behind.[54] COTS outbreaks were first discovered in the 1960’s on the GBR, occurring under natural conditions as frequently as every 50–80 years. However, unnaturally there has been an increase in the frequency of outbreaks to every 15 years has led to further research that still hasn’t been answered.[54]
Manual control
Manual control is the process in which experienced COTS control divers remove COTS from reefs either by lethal injections or hand collections and disposal on shore.[55] This method has been around from the 1960s, since then 17 million starfish have been killed or removed as a collective by 84 manual control programs at an estimated cost of $15–44 million USD.[54][55] Due to the large cost and limited success in preventing COTS outbreaks and coral loss, scientists doubt the effectivity of this method.[54][55] Sites are selected by the national governments of individual countries with coasts based on the potential significance in the overall pattern of coral and COTS larval spread for example: economically important for tourism, or located on reefs that oceanographic modeling suggested were highly connected to other reefs.[54][55][56] Selected sites including permanent survey marked sites are used to precisely relocate RHIS survey sites for continuous measurements of coral cover.[54]
Marine Protected Area zoning
Marine Protected Area zones are areas created by
Water quality management
Increasing water quality has the ability to increase or decrease COTS outbreaks.[54][56] According to earlier studies, controlling the quality of the water can help prevent breakouts to some extent but this is not always tangible.[54] Exposure to flood plumes variables and the presence of COTS indicated a positive threshold type response at low levels, highlighting the significance of larval nutrition availability for the establishment of COTS populations.[58][56] Excess nutrients run-off from agricultural land uses (grazing, grain, sugar cane, and horticulture) create phytoplankton blooms in reef waters that can be carried to COTS populations.[54][56] Water quality can be managed by controlling how catchments discharge water, but this requires intensive land management employing best management practices.[54][56]
Marine protected areas
In Australia, the Great Barrier Reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, and is the subject of much legislation, including a biodiversity action plan.[citation needed]
Inhabitants of Ahus Island,
See also
- Environmental issues with coral reefs
- Coral Reef Alliance
- Seacology
- Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
- Marine cloud brightening
- Frozen zoo
- National Ice Core Laboratory
- Amphibian Ark
- Svalbard Global Seed Vault
- Rosetta Project
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Further reading
- A Research Review of Interventions to Increase the Persistence and Resilience of Coral Reefs. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. S2CID 134877358.
External links
- Maui Coral Reef Recovery Team (2012). "Maui Coral Reef Recovery Plan" (PDF). mnmrc.org. Maui Nui Marine Resource Council. Retrieved 2016-02-21.