A process called mass bleaching has also become a danger to coral reefs. Mass bleaching happens when water temperatures rise to unusual levels, which then causes the coral to release colorful microscopic algae that usually provide the coral polyps with food. This process affects plankton and other small organisms, which in turn affects the fish that typically feed on such organisms. The affect of climate change on coral reefs is only one prime example of how climate change can affect marine life. Phytoplankton populations have also been affected by the warming temperatures in the ocean.
Causes: -Elevated/decreased sea water temperature Coral species live within a relatively narrow temperature margin, and anomalously low and high sea temperatures can induce coral bleaching. Bleaching events occur during sudden temperature drops accompanying intense upwelling episodes, seasonal cold-air outbreaks. Bleaching is much more frequently reported from elevated sea water temperatures. -Solar irradiance Bleaching during the summer months, during seasonal temperature and irradiance maxima often occurs disproportionately in shallow-living corals and on the exposed summits of colonies. Solar radiation has been suspected to play a role in coral bleaching.
Factories create equipment that destroys species in the ocean. When these species are destroyed the food chain is ruined and this threatens the ocean. Over Fishing is also harming the ocean. Entire populations of fish are being killed. Over fishing occurs when there are more fish caught than fish in the ocean to sustain fish stock.
The article talks about how El Niño affects people, it can cause diseases and food shortages as just two examples. The article goes on to discuss how people can effect El Niño. When El Niño occurs the oceans and the atmosphere shift which causes trade winds and warm water to move from west to east, La Niña is just the opposite. Scientists are unsure what causes El Niño and La Niña but Climatologists fear that rising air and water temperatures due in part to global warming will only increase the already drastic devastative power of El Niño. It is also a possibility that there will be a “permanent” El Niño in the future.
(UN Chronicle, 2013). Predictions suggest that coral reef ecosystems could be lost by the end of the 21st century. Carbon dioxide levels will increase in the atmosphere to 600ppm over the next 100 years, the oceans pH will drop by 0.1 to 0.3 units and laboratory and field experiments and climate models show that even the lower acidification levels will slow the calcification of corals and growth by almost 50% by 2050. Under more extreme acidification, coral skeletons will dissolve entirely. (Eoearth, 2008).
The large population centres near coasts has led to silting of reefs, pollution by nutrients that lead to algal growth that smothers the coral, and overfishing that has led to increase in number of predators that eat corals. Warming of the ocean causes corals to sicken and die. Even a rise of one degree in the average water
Consequences The most conspicuous effect of cultural eutrophication is the creation of dense blooms of noxious, foul-smelling phytoplankton that reduce water clarity and harm water quality (Figure 2). Algal blooms limit light penetration, reducing growth and causing die-offs of plants in littoral zones while also lowering the success of predators that need light to pursue and catch prey (Lehtiniemi et al. 2005). Furthermore, high rates of photosynthesis associated with eutrophication can deplete dissolved inorganic carbon and raise pH to extreme levels during the day. Elevated pH can in turn ‘blind' organisms that rely on perception of dissolved chemical cues for their survival by impairing their chemosensory abilities (Figure 3) (Turner & Chislock 2010).
This combination makes waters toxic to crayfish, clams, fish, and other aquatic animals. It also affects the food sources of herbivores and insects. How does acid rain affect the environment? Acid rain has a hand in global warming as well which is rapidly changing climates around the world. With the climate changes many plants and animals are having to relocate or are dying because they are not fit for the changes in their surroundings.
Normal rainwater can sometimes be as low as a pH level of 5.0. The issue comes in that the levels in the area of the Adirondack Mountains have levels most commonly between 4.0 and 4.8, sometimes as low as 2.1. Levels this low put aquatic life in sever danger or wipe out all life completely. This was first noticed in the 1800’s. A geologist noticed the gravestones in New York were becoming impossible to read.
ABSTRACT Coral reefs ecosystems have drastically changed over the past 40 years. The main reasons for the decline of coral reefs is due to weather and temperature changes, too much pollution, boats, and overfishing. As a result, coral reefs are considered an endangered species. Over 50% of the people in the Florida Keys rely on the coral reefs in one way or another. Many don’t realize that they provide humans with a source of income and more importantly, life for a wide diversity of marine animals.