1 / 9

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef. A Natural Wonder of the World. Coral Reefs – What are they?. Coral: a tiny marine polyp that makes up the living part of the coral reef; they give the reef its colourful, swaying appearance

margo
Download Presentation

The Great Barrier Reef

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Great Barrier Reef A Natural Wonder of the World

  2. Coral Reefs – What are they? • Coral: a tiny marine polyp that makes up the living part of the coral reef; they give the reef its colourful, swaying appearance • Coral Reef: a build-up of the ‘skeletons’ of dead coral; living coral ‘roots’ itself on the dead coral; dead coral is a white colour because it has calcified over time and has built up over hundreds and thousands of years

  3. A Coral Reef’s Demands • Warm, shallow, and clean salt water • 17c • Water no deeper than 27m • Easily killed by pollution (“bleached”) • Need lots of sunlight and plankton • Feed on minute plankton and invertebrate life forms

  4. What is the Great Barrier Reef? • It is the world’s largest coral reef • Over 2000km long (about the distance from here to Nova Scotia) • It stretches along the eastern coast of Queensland • It is made up of 2,900 individual coral reefs that are very close to one another

  5. So, what’s the big deal? • The Great Barrier Reef attracts about 1.5 million tourists every year and generates $1 billion annually – but why? • Superb weather • White sandy beaches • Lush rainforest islands • Clear blue, green, and turquoise ocean waters • Attractions include: scuba diving, snorkelling, swimming, surfing, sailing, bird watching, etc.

  6. Scuba Diving theGreat Barrier Reef • Scuba diving is the greatest attraction; enthusiasts travel from all over the world\ • Life on the Great Barrier Reef: • 1,500 species of fish • 400 different types of coral (fan, brain) • 400 types of mollusks (clams, sea slugs) • 500 species of seaweed • 215 species of birds • 16 species of sea snakes • 6 species of sea turtles • Winter migration ground for whales

  7. Increased Tourism = Increased Damage • Increased tourist activity has had negative environmental effects • How can we damage the reefs? • Trample and kill the coral (walking on it) • Scrape and bang the coral, making it vulnerable to disease (dragging diving gear, dropping anchors, dragging nets) • Removal of coral (souvenirs – very illegal) • Pollution (oil spills, pesticides, sewage dumping, fertilizers, boat fuel,) • Accelerates seaweed growth, which blocks out sunlight • Accelerates algae growth, which smothers the coral • Global warming

  8. Conservation and Protection Initiatives • The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has introduced park zoning (1975) • Is a way to minimize negative impacts of tourism • Reserves some areas of the Great Barrier Reef for enjoyment by the public, while others are preserved for their natural states and are left undisturbed (except for scientific research) • Was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations (1981) • Permanent dock built to avoid anchor damage • Education program targeted toward tour boat owners and tourists

More Related