Coral Bleaching:

fertilize reefs with iron

By Liz King, Lydia Maxon, and Jessica Stewart
Why does it happen? What is it?
Increased or decreased temp. stress coral
climate change
pollutants from runoff
overexposed sunlight
low tides
release zooxanthellae
Susceptible to disease and starvation
Looses color
Affects whole reef
Effect on Economy
$3.7 billion to Australia annually

500 million people depend on fisheries for income

Impact on ecosystem
only cover 0.1% of the oceans
support almost 25% of marine species
40% of coral reefs have died
could be gone altogether by 2050
Our Solution: promoting
zooplankton populations
The Plan
1. Fertilize to encourage
phytoplankton blooms
2. phytoplankton attract
zooplankton
3. phytoplankton take in CO2
during photosynthesis
Help lower ocean
pollution
How Iron Fertilization Helps

Feeds coral-- keep ecosystem alive

Buys time
1 ton of iron could remove 30,000 to 110,000 tons of
carbon
Decrease temperature more than 10
Location: Pixie Reef off the coast of NE Australia
Pixie Reef 26% dead

-16.548549, 145.860894 Salvageable

Limitations and How to Fix
Depletes waters oxygen
Limit size of blooms
Wont save the colorful algae from leaving
But it decrease stresses
Dont know affect on environment
experiments
Occurs naturally
Azolla event 49 million years ago helped make earth habitable
Currently not legal (too many unknowns)
Conduct thorough experiments
Lab Tests
1. Iron levels in reef water
2. Type of fertilizer
3. Amount of fertilizer
4. How many days of cloud cover before phytoplankton deplete oxygen levels
5. How to disperse iron
6. How often to replenish iron

https://docs.google.com/a/students.nusd.org/document/d/1y5TGkOOF7Ur-JknRyk
hqtE5Aqyzc-U530w_4RJ17nfc/edit?usp=sharing
Fundraising
Materials list (Google sheets)

Budget for preliminary research and tests: $33,000 (including a 10%

contingency)

Plan: make a GoFundMe website, reach out to biotech companies

FUNdraising
Time Scale
At least 1 year for testing (and retesting if needed)
1 day for test 1
1 month for test 2
Over 3 months for test 3
Undetermined for test 4 (probably less than a month)
Over 6 months for test 5
Over 4 months for test 6
Submit proposal to government
Once approved, we would release the iron fertilizer from September to
February (their warmest months) the following year
Consumer
Local Lab Biotech company does tests
Field Biotech Company in Australia implements plan
(possibly the ARC Center of Excellence Coral Reef
Studies at James Cook University)

Competition
Becoming more important
Different ways to save the reefs
Space and money to implement
Works Cited
https://www.outsideonline.com/2112086/obituary-great-barrier-reef-25-million-bc-2016

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/03/29/widespread_coral_bleaching_in_australia_s_great_barrier_reef.html

https://clipartfest.com/download/96a462db5ed5da6739466579cd63e27627c61a6a.html

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwi8h5Cc6_nTAhUQ8GMKHew8BA
8QjxwIAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjolelek.info.hu%2Ftaplalkozas%2Falgakrol%2F&psig=AFQjCNG_32pqjWlM2Pn7zw2GJkU
Ax2hzvg&ust=1495210443500061

https://judithcurry.com/2017/03/11/scott-pruitts-statement-on-climate-change/

http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/fertilizing-the-ocean-with-iron

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/species-we-stand-to-lose-if-coral-reefs-are-destroyed/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/science/great-barrier-reef-coral-climate-change-dieoff.html

http://theconversation.com/how-much-coral-has-died-in-the-great-barrier-reefs-worst-bleaching-event-69494
Works Cited #2
http://serc.carleton.edu/eet/phytoplankton/primer.html

http://www.greatbarrierreefs.com.au/plankton/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6jDGzVuQxg

http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/iron-sulfate-slow-global-warming.htm

http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/tools-clip-art-pictures

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiO-af5yqrUAhUW52MKHWpoAn0
QjxwIAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.clinicallabconsulting.com%2F&psig=AFQjCNFuBTD6VF5lAad5zqn6aQtMmnWa0g&u
st=1496885415441328

http://littleshoppersfundraising.com/

https://www.iclasspro.com/blog-article/business-management/fundraising-ideas-for-your-team-or-business

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/63300/63357/63357_clock_1150.htm
Thank
You