The Mesoamerican Reef

1. The Mesoamerican Reef How global warming and overfishing are threatening the life of this astonishing reef

2. The Mesoamerican reef Facts Threat #1 – Global Warming Effects on the Reef: 1. Increase in water temperature 2. Coral Bleaching 3. Increase in severe storms • About the reef: • Second largest coral reef in the world • From Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to the Islands of Honduras • Home to • - 60 coral species • - 300 mollusk • - 500 fish species

3. Rising Temperature • This is a major problem facing the Mesoamerican reef because rising water temperatures are a leading factor to coral bleaching and may also increase the prevalence of coral and fish disease • As the concentration of dissolved carbon dioxide is increasing so is the acidity of the water. Due to the increase in acidity it is difficult and takes much longer for certain organisms to grow and develop.

4. Graphs Global Sea Surface Temperature Increase Land and Ocean Temperature Changes

5. Coral Bleaching • Coral bleaching is the whitening of corals and is due to the loss of symbiotic zooxantheallae and is also caused by the loss of photosynthetic pigment concentration in the symbiotic zooantheallae that are amongst the coral. • Why is coral bleaching bad? • With the loss of corals symbiotic zooantheallae the coral will not receive sufficient nutrient production because the symbiotic zooantheallae is responsible for photosynthesis in the corals

6. Coral Bleaching • Two major causes for coral bleaching • 1. Increased Water Temperature • 2. Solar Irradiance • The increase in global temperature has not only increase the water temperatures all over the world but due to the thinning of the ozone layer more UV radiation is reaching the corals

7. Increase in Severe Storms • As the seas continue to become warmer the severity and frequency of both harmful storms and hurricanes increases. This in turn could lead to flooding and high wave events which are capable of destroying reefs and the wildlife that is supported by these reefs

8. Proposal • All all these problems are caused by Global Warming and one way we can help to slow down the effects of global warming would be to cut down on our greenhouse gas emissions. • Green house gases are responsible for trapping some of the heat energy from the sun which would normally be lost. This excess heat energy which is being reflected back at the earth by the atmosphere is responsible for global warming. • If we were to cut down on our green house gas emissions we would be able to decrease the amount of heat energy that is being trapped inside our atmosphere. This would in turn slow down the effects of global warming

9. Threat # 2 – Overfishing • Overfishing is a major problem facing the Mesoamerican Reef • Overfishing of a certain species can lead to a depletion of their population. Due to the constant fishing by commercial industries it is very difficult for a species to replenish their population a they do not have enough time to reproduce offspring. • If commercial fishing continues at this rate many of the organisms being fished for have a possibility of becoming extinct from the reef all together

10. Overfishing • Three organisms that are being overfished in the Mesoamerican Reef are the finfish, the conch, and the lobster. • There has been many conflicts over the fishing of lobster along the Mesoamerican Reef • The population of lobster is steadily decreasing and industries are also fishing both undersized lobster and female lobster that are carrying eggs • By fishing both juvenile and pregnant lobster they are decreasing the likelihood for the lobster population to repopulate the Mesoamerican reef

11. Proposal • My proposal would be to put a limit on the amount of species of whether is be fish or crustacean that can be caught annually • WWF (World Wildlife Fund) have introduced the use of sustainable lobster traps. These traps allow the juvenile lobster to escape while trapping the mature lobster. The juvenile lobsters will then be able to mature and reproduce