CORAL REEFS

Coral Reefs Evaluation Gabriel A Dionne Strayer University ENV SCI 200 1/19/2013

CORAL REEFS

Coral Reefs The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef structure in the world. The coral reef is comprised of three thousand different reefs and approximately more than eight hundred islands. The Great Barrier Reef supports an immense deal of organisms. The organisms include different species of whales, porpoises, dolphins, more than one thousand fish species, different species of sea turtles, crocodile species and many other animal species. Lakshadweep coral reef is a group of different islands that are located in South West Coast of India. In the Lakshadweep Islands, only the Amindivi group of islands and Minicoy Islands are made up of coral reefs. The islands are made up with over five hundred and fifty species of fish. In addition, the Lakshadweep is made up of twelve species of bivalve, one hundred species of birds, species of gastropods, and multiple species of sea crabs and many other organisms. It is apparent that the Great Barrier Reef and Lakshadweep coral reefs have uniquely different animals and plant species (Schwartz, 2005). This paper will highlight the reasons behind the existence of different organisms in the Great Barrier Reef and the Lakshadweep Reef in India despite being similar ecosystems. Climate Climate has played an exceptionally crucial role in making certain that the organisms found in the two similar ecosystems are different. Different organisms can tolerate a specific type of climatic conditions. The Great Barrier Coral Reef is associated with exceedingly warm temperatures. This simply means that those organisms that will survive in the marine life have to tolerate warm temperatures. Organisms, which are used to extremely cold conditions, may not be

CORAL REEFS

able to flourish in the Great Barrier Reef marine ecosystems. This is converse to the climatic conditions of the Lakshadweep Reef ecosystem. The Lakshadweep Reef ecosystem is associated with minimal plant cover. This has resulted to the number of the marine species to be minimal compared to the Great Barrier Reef (Veron, 2008). The Lakshadweep is also associated with high temperatures, which results in less plant and animal species. The Lakshadweep is exposed to extremely intense offshore winds, which make certain that the moisture from the surrounding ocean is carried far into the main land. The offshore winds result in making this area on the island dry with high temperatures which limit marine and tropical plant growth. The difference in climatic conditions between the two Reefs has made certain that their marine life is unique from the other. It is evident that marine species of crab, bivalve and gastropod are only found in the Lakshadweep. The Great Barrier Reefs boosts to up to one thousand fish species whereas the Lakshadweep has about five hundred fish species (Schwartz, 2005). Human activities Human activities have played a major role in making certain that the marine life in the Lakshadweep is different from the marine life in the Great Barrier Reef. Human activities have been intense in the Lakshadweep Reef. It is apparent that the main source of livelihood in the Lakshadweep inhabitants is fishing. Many marine species have become extinct simply due to over fishing by the inhabitants of Lakshadweep. This has been stimulated due to the high population of the people in the islands. It is reported that in each year approximately more than four fish species in the island become extinct. This has played a role in reducing the number of marine life species due to human activities within the island. Moreover, other human activities

CORAL REEFS

like pollution and bleaching of the coral reefs have resulted in permanent migration of marine species in Lakshadweep. This is simply due to pollution which makes the surrounding conditions intolerable by the marine organisms. This is converse to the case of the Great Barrier Reef. The government of Australia has controlled human activities within the Great Barrier Reef. The presence of different sources of livelihood apart from fishing has made certain that the impact on the marine life is limited. This reason explains why the marine species in the Great Barrier Reef are high and different from the marine life in the Lakshadweep (Schwartz, 2005). The nature of the coastline The nature of the coastlines plays a vital role in determining the existence of the marine species in any water body. There are two types of coastlines, which are regular and irregular coastlines. The Great Barrier Reef has a regular coastline compared to the Lakshadweep Reef in India, which has irregular coastlines due to presence of many islands. Different marine species prefer certain types of coastlines to act as mating and habitat for their young ones. The marine species found in the Great Barrier Reef are suited in the regular coastlines compared to irregular coastlines. This is different for the species in the Lakshadweep, which are conversant with the irregular coastlines. This explains the difference in terms of the species that are found in the two ecosystems that are similar (Veron, 2008). These three reasons; climate, human activities and the nature of the coastlines have played a pivotal role in ensuring that despite the Great Barrier Reef and Lakshadweep being similar the marine organisms occupying them are different.

CORAL REEFS

Reference Schwartz, M. L. (2005). Encyclopedia of coastal science. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer. Veron, J. E. N. (2008). A reef in time: The Great Barrier Reef from beginning to end. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.: Belknap Press.