Coral Bleaching Research Paper

Pretend someone is about to go scuba diving in the ocean. They jump in the water and sink down. As they to survey the coral reefs around them, something catches their eye. The coral has turned white, and no longer moves with life. This whiteness seems to have spread over a big area of the reef. One can no longer see the colorful branches swaying in the current, or the schools of tropical fish swimming through. It’s a vast, white, death-like reef.

This phenomenon is known as coral reef bleaching. This makes corals unattractive and a breath away from death. Coral reef bleaching happens when the fragile relationship between coral and the tiny algae that live inside the corals’ tissues break down. This tiny algae is called zooxanthellae. The coral expels the living zooxanthellae when it breaks down. Zooxanthellae gives the coral most of its color and almost 90% of the energy required for the coral to grow. Without zooxanthellae in the coral, the coral loses almost all its color, appearing white (therefore “bleached”), and loses its primary food source. Coral can feed itself plankton they catch from the water, but will starve if the zooxanthellae does not return to the coral soon after it leaves.

Zooxanthellae gets broken down by many …show more content…
When coral dies, fish and other animals that shelter or feed on the coral move away. Larger creatures that feed on the smaller animals also go away. This includes birds. Birds are very important to a plant’s ecosystem. Plant ecosystems are nourished by bird droppings. No birds, no bird droppings, which means a decrease in plant nutrients. If there is a decline of populations of fish and other sea life, it will affect food supplies for humans and destroy the tourism factor. This will create hardship for people with lives connected to those industries. The loss of coral reefs will also increase the threat from storms and coastal erosion, because coral reefs act as a barrier between land and the