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Kelp Forests and Coral Gardens

Kelp Forests and Coral Gardens. Amanda Dougherty. Geography of Coral Reef and Kelp Forest Locations Worldwide. Climate & Physical Conditions. Light Enough to support photosynthesis. Growing in surface water with depths ranging from a few meters to 100 meters. Temperature Needs

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Kelp Forests and Coral Gardens

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  1. Kelp Forests and Coral Gardens Amanda Dougherty

  2. Geography of Coral Reef and Kelp Forest Locations Worldwide

  3. Climate & Physical Conditions • Light • Enough to support photosynthesis. Growing in surface water with depths ranging from a few meters to 100 meters. • Temperature Needs • Coral needs temperatures > 20 degrees C usually ranging from 23 to 25 degrees C. • Kelp can grow in temperatures < 10 degrees C in the winter to rising above 20 degrees C in the summer months

  4. Chemical Conditions Needed • Oxygen is needed for both coral and kelp to grow. • Salt • Kelp can grow in areas that have less salinity although salt is still a necessity. • Coral Reefs can only grow in areas where there is a stable salinity level. Anything below a level of 27% can be lethal. • This can be caused by heavy rainfall or runoffs

  5. Biology • Coral reefs and kelp beds are the most productive and diverse of all ecological systems. • There are over 600 different kinds of coral and over 2000 species of fish living in a newly formed reef. • Over 100 species of worms and over 75 species of fish can live on 1 coral head. • Kelp beds are estimated to home 800 species of animals and about 130 species of plants and other photosynthetic organisms.

  6. Biology

  7. Human Influences • Kelp is harvested for food and fertilizer • Coral reefs are harvested for decorations • Coral reefs are also heavily fished for food and aquarium trades. Fish are now becoming rare. • Destructive means of fishing using dynamite and poison

  8. Human Influences

  9. References • Google.com http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&q=coral+reef+decorations&sa=N&start=42&ndsp=21 • Molles Jr., 2010 Ecology: Concepts and Applications, 5th edition. WCB/McGraw Publishers, Boston.

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