MARINE LIFE HABITAT CONSERVATION

I. INTRODUCTION

When we talk about Marine life habitat, the first thing that comes to our mind is the coral reef.
Coral reefs have the highest density of marine life than any other part, in fact it is believed to have the
highest biodiversity of any ecosystem in the planet. In addition, only less one percent of ocean floor is
covered by coral reefs but this area is the home of 25 % of marine life, this is because of the reason that
this is the most abundant source of food, a cover or protection, a good breeding ground, sunlight and
oxygen abundant. So, it is expected that when the coral vanish millions of species will be gone and the
ocean will become imbalance. But this is a sad scenery that most of the coral have been affected by so
called coral bleaching, in the Philippines only 5% of coral remains, while the great barrier reefs the
largest coral reef system in the world estimated that 29-50% of the corals here have been killed by
bleaching. The bleaching is triggered by the global warming, toxics and pollution, acidification and many
other factors. sadly, it would take a century for a coral to form, and thousands of years to grow. from
the Coral fishes also lives in other part of ocean including coastal region, shallow waters, cold and warm
sea, mangroves, ocean surface and deeper part of ocean. These remaining regions are the home of the
huge marine life species like whales, sharks etc. But just like the corals the problem in this are the
human factors.

II. OBJECTIVES

a) Types of marine life habitats

b) Importance of marine life habitats
c) problems of marine life habitats
d) Effects of marine life habitat deterioration
e) Different ways to protect marine life habitat

III. Definition of Terms

Coral Reefs- Coral reefs are diverse underwater ecosystems held together by calcium carbonate
structures secreted by corals. Coral reefs are built by colonies of tiny animals found in marine water that
contain few nutrients.

Coral bleaching- occurs when coral polyps expel algae that live inside their tissues. Normally, coral
polyps live in an endosymbiotic relationship with the algae and that relationship is crucial for the coral
and hence for the health of the whole reef. This is mainly caused by:

sedimentation- Is the process in which the coral are covered by off-shore run off of sediments.

Ocean acidification- a significant and harmful consequence of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
that we don't see or feel because its effects are happening underwater.

Salinity - the amount of salt in ocean water. increase in salinity kills many marine lives including coral
reefs. This happens because of deposit of salty elements to the sea and much water evaporation.
IV. Summary

1. Types of marine life habitats

 Mangroves
 Coastal Region
 Coral Reefs
 Shallow waters /sunlit zone
 Deeper sea/night zone

2. Importance of marine habitats

 Home of all marine life

 Balancing of worlds ecosystem
 Largest source of world’s oxygen
 Largest Food source
 Source of livelihood

2. problems of marine life habitats

 Coral Bleaching
 Global Warming
 Land reclamation
 Excessive and Illegal harvest
 Marine Pollution

4. Effects of marine life habitat deterioration

 Clearing of Corals
 Death of marine life
 Large nutrition problems
 Loss of livelihoods to coastal region
 Loss of balance ecosystem

5. Different ways to protect marine life habitat

 Ocean clean-up
 Water treatment
 Coral farming
 Implementation of laws and treaties
 Lessen the use of plastics and other toxins
V. Bibliography
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution
-http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/fishes/environment/environment_zones.html
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_conservation
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_global_warming_on_oceans
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reclamation