The Fate of Coral Reefs

What would you do if I told you that nearly 20% of life on earth is predicted to die by the year 2050? This devastating statistic describes the population of marine life that is dependent on the coral reefs dying in our oceans. Being that an estimated 19% of our world’s reefs have already died, many scientists have begun to raise questions about the cause and prevention of this worldwide threat.

For starters, to properly define what exactly a coral reef is, one would have to incorporate all of the pieces of a reef that makes it whole. To do so, an image would have to be conjured that would analyze every aspect of life relying on the reefs in order to encapture the complexity of the ecosystem. Occupying less than one percent of the ocean floor, coral reefs still manage to be the most biodiverse environment in the world, and the news that their death rates are increasing exponentially has led to great concerns for our planet.

The saddest part about the eradication of these vital habitats is that it is entirely due to human actions. Although people aren’t physically nor intentionally destroying the reefs around them, it is because of human emissions that the deaths are occuring. To further explain, the coral are dying through a process called coral bleaching, which occurs when the water is too warm that the corals being to expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues and make them to turn completely white. This lethal process is difficult to recover from and ultimately leads to the mortality of the coral. The leading reason why coral bleaching is at the fault of the human race is due to the climate change caused by the release of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere and oceans. The rise in these gases comes from the immense amounts of fossil fuel consumption and the fact that the ocean is absorbing as much as 93% of its excess heat.

If we as a human race don’t take action to try and prevent this coral destruction, not only would we be responsible for the extinction or endangerment of 2 million unique species of marine life, but we could also be placing people out of jobs, homes, and instead, into an environment lacking healthy ecosystems. This mass destruction of our planet’s coral reefs and all of the biodiversity that lives within it will lead the malfunctioning ecosystem to cause people to suffer from lack of natural resources, inability to break down pollutants, and social, cultural, and recreational deprevities. In order to try and solve the problems that we have created, we can limit greenhouse gas emissions and learns to protect and restore marine and coastal ecosystems. By following these steps, we can help to save one of the most incredible environments on this planet and possibly even protect ourselves from future ocean-related issues that could take away the quality and beauty of our planet.