The impetus for this series of blogs comes from a few readers, who would like to better understand what the implications of regular use of sunscreen on coral reefs is.
True to my own form, I am doing a semi-deep dive in the next few blogs.
What are coral reefs?
The National Geographic, have an excellent five minute youtube video on coral reefs that I would encourage you to watch. They also have an entire educational section on coral reefs.
Key points to note are:
- Corals are living animals and join together to form larger reefs, that can range hundreds of miles
- The biodiversity of coral reefs rivals that of a rainforest (think the Amazon)
- Coral reefs are not only beautiful and colourful, but they are also home to marine life such as thousands of species of fish, sea urchins, turtles etc. The National Geographic write that about 25% of marine life is coral reef dependent
- These reefs support the local economies they are located by being part of the human food chain (marine life) and through tourism
Location of coral reefs
The largest coral reef is the Great Barrier reef in Australia, but they are found close to the tropics of Cancer and Capricon and span the entire globe.
More than 100 countries have a coral reef within their borders, and over half of the world’s coral reefs are found within six countries: Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and the Maldives.
Coral reef org
Its unsurprising that these are also very popular tourist destinations.
What are the threats to coral reefs?
The bottom line is that these are quite robust entities – they have been around for longer than you or I have been. However, modern human living is a direct threat to coral reefs. Corals derive their beautiful colour from algae they house and when they are stressed, they expel this algae, leading to coral bleaching. Coral bleaching involves the coral losing its colour and can result in the death of corals.
Threats to coral include:
- Pollution (e.g.) sunscreen
- Rising ocean temperatures (so global warning)
- Acidification of the ocean (e.g., caused by rising ocean temperatures, making it hard for coral reefs to form exoskeletons)
- Overfishing