This issue’s Landscapes Pictured centrespread shows the amazingly diverse ecosystems found on coral reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef. Coral looks like rock but is in fact living organisms that grow slowly over hundreds of years. These marine invertebrates typically form compact colonies of individual coral polyps. They secrete calcium carbonate forming a hard skeleton, which slowly builds into a reef. Coral is covered by algae, which brings colour to the reef and attracts many other species of marine plants and animals. Scientists believe that by 2050 all our coral reefs will have disappeared as a result of warming ocean waters and pollution. But what can we do to save them?
Changes in water temperature, light or nutrients affect corals, causing beautifully coloured reefs to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching and it happens because the coral becomes stressed, and so algae, which bring colour, leave the surface of the coral. Although coral can survive a bleaching event, without the algae they lose their main source of food and become dull in colour and more susceptible to fatal disease.
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