1. Where are Coral Reefs Found?
What do you notice about the location of Coral Reefs?

2. Most Reefs are located along the equator & on the Western Side of Ocean Basins

3. Huh?
“Coral reefs require clear, nutrient-poor water, but they are among the most productive and diverse marine environments” (Barnes, 1987).

4. What Conditions do Coral Reefs Need to Survive?
Salinity: ppt
Moderate water motion
Clear water/low nutrients
Zooxanthellae need the sunlight

5. Why are Coral Reefs Important?
Protect shorelines against wave action
Prevent erosion
Support more species per unit area than any other marine ecosystem
Used to make drugs/medicines

6. Economic Importance/Tourism
Fishing, diving, hotels, restaurants, etc.
Approximately $375 billion/yr industry (reefs make up less than 1% of the Earth’s surface)

7. Brainstorm a list of threats to coral reefs

8. Natural Threats Predation Weather related damage Tidal emersions
Long periods of exceptionally low tides when corals are exposed (sun can dry out corals causing them to become stressed)
El Nino
Can lead to Increased sea surface temps, decreased sea level & increased salinity

9. Anthropogenic Threats
Pollution
Overfishing
Trawling
Collecting live corals for the aquarium trade
Dynamite & cyanide
Mining coral for building materials

10. Coral Diseases Coral Bleaching
When water is too warm, corals will expel the zooxanthellae causing the corals to turn completely white.

11. Black Band Disease
A bacteria that destroys live tissue as it moves over the surface of the coral colonies exposing them to hydrogen sulfide
Leaves a bare white skeleton
May kill entire colonies in a matter of months, however colonies have been known to recover after the black band disappears.

12. Potential Coral Uses Sunscreen Pill (Research from Australia)
Together, the algae & coral make a compound that protects them from UV damage
Fish that feed on the coral also benefit from sunscreen protection.