The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is found off the northeastern coast of Queensland, Australia, in the Coral Sea of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists believe that the coral reef structure was formed 60,000 years ago, but deteriorated due to climate & sea level changes. However, the coral reefs grew over the old structure. The current GBR is about 6,000 - 8,000 years old. The reef’s abiotic factors include sunlight, soil, water, climate, & temperature. It has a tropical climate & two distinct seasons, winter & summer. The winter temperature of the reef’s surrounding areas is from 14 to 16°C, while the water temperature is 24°C. Additionally, there is little rainfall. In the summer, the surrounding temperature ranges from 24 to 33°C, the water measures
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The GBR’s coral rarely grow lower than 40 meters below sea level since sunlight passes through shallow and clear waters. It has no real soil, being a marine coral ecosystem, but loose carbonate mud covers 135,000 square miles of land. Its biotic factors are animals & plants. It is highly diverse, with 1,500 fish species, hundreds of types of corals, 500 algae species, and many sharks, rays, marine mammals, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Animals like the dugong, butterfly fish, jellyfish, green sea turtle, tiger shark, blue-ringed octopus, krill, cuttlefish, and Crown of Thorns starfish, although of different species, sizes, and niches, all adapt for one of two common goals: to eat or to keep from being eaten. Adaptations include camouflage and poison. Producers like Halophila seagrasses, diatoms, cyanobacteria, mangrove trees, zooxanthellae, sea lettuce, caulerpa, dinoflagellates, coccolithophore, and rhodophyta, whether they are green plants or phytoplankton, all adapt to stay in the reef. Adaptations include roots that anchor the organisms into the mud and protective cell walls. Coral is a keystone species of the GBR. Without them, the reef’s biodiversity would dramatically decrease, organisms would lose their homes, & a source of
The GBR’s coral rarely grow lower than 40 meters below sea level since sunlight passes through shallow and clear waters. It has no real soil, being a marine coral ecosystem, but loose carbonate mud covers 135,000 square miles of land. Its biotic factors are animals & plants. It is highly diverse, with 1,500 fish species, hundreds of types of corals, 500 algae species, and many sharks, rays, marine mammals, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Animals like the dugong, butterfly fish, jellyfish, green sea turtle, tiger shark, blue-ringed octopus, krill, cuttlefish, and Crown of Thorns starfish, although of different species, sizes, and niches, all adapt for one of two common goals: to eat or to keep from being eaten. Adaptations include camouflage and poison. Producers like Halophila seagrasses, diatoms, cyanobacteria, mangrove trees, zooxanthellae, sea lettuce, caulerpa, dinoflagellates, coccolithophore, and rhodophyta, whether they are green plants or phytoplankton, all adapt to stay in the reef. Adaptations include roots that anchor the organisms into the mud and protective cell walls. Coral is a keystone species of the GBR. Without them, the reef’s biodiversity would dramatically decrease, organisms would lose their homes, & a source of