Sofia Lara

09/13/22

ENC 2135

Annotated Bibliography

What is the critical importance of Australia's Great Barrier reef to marine life?

Zhao, Zhang, H., Zhong, Y., Jiang, D., Liu, G., Yan, H., Zhang, H., Guo, P., Li, C., Yang, H.,

Chen, T., & Wang, R. (2019). The Status of Coral Reefs and Its Importance for Coastal

Protection: A Case Study of Northeastern Hainan Island, South China Sea. Sustainability

(Basel, Switzerland), 11(16), 4354–. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11164354

This source focuses on the coral reefs in east asia, but in particular those in the South

China Sea and the Hainan Island. These two coral communities were placed into groups based on

their health and their conditions; and how stable those conditions are. The point of the paper is to

prove how (by comparing both communities) a weaker coral reef would not be able to maintain a

stable coastline or prevent erosion which is known as one of the biggest tasks of a coral reef for

the coastline environment. This is a peer reviewed article and it was published by a publisher of

open access scientific journals. This source is useful because although the focus of my research

paper is on the Great Barrier Reef, it would support my argument to compare it to other reefs and

how they are both important for their respective communities. The other sources focus on either

general coral reefs or that of the Great Barrier Reef and I believe it is important to my research to

include munti-perspective.
 Harris, Bridge, T. C. L., Beaman, R. J., Webster, J. M., Nichol, S. L., & Brooke, B. P. (2013).

Submerged banks in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, greatly increase available coral

reef habitat. ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70(2), 284–293.

https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fss165

This source analyzes the global decline in coral reef sizes. However, it also discusses how

this type of information is found and what it is based on. According to the article, they are hard

to measure because some reef habitats are still unknown therefore the extent to their size is also

unknown. This is a peer reviewed article and it is published by several authors in the

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. It is a peer-reviewed scientific journal

covering oceanography and marine biology. Additionally, It is published by Oxford University

Press. This source is useful because I know that in the Great Barrier Reef there is the coastal reef

and the deep reef, therefore when analyzing how it is useful and how its destruction can affect

marine life, I need to take into consideration all the factors discussed in this article. As

mentioned before, this source will help me look at the data from the articles with the knowledge

that there is more data to be analyzed.

Osborne, Dolman, A. M., Burgess, S. C., & Johns, K. A. (2011). Disturbance and the Dynamics

of Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef (1995-2009). PloS One, 6(3), e17516–e17516.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017516

This article focuses particularly on the certain factors that have recently affected the

Great Barrier Reef. Since the Great Barrier Reef is so big it is hard to generalize its decline and

its specific importance is hard to pinpoint. Additionally the ecosystem is so diverse it can be

analyzed in different ways. The Great Barrier Reef is divided into several regions and each
provides a vast amount of data. This is a peer reviewed journal with a specific publishing in

health and science. This source is useful because it opens up the conversation about The Great

Barrier Reef and how I can start to answer my research question. Compared to the other sources,

this one is more specific location wise and even dives into some of the organisms that live in the

Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Frade, Bongaerts, P., Englebert, N., Rogers, A., Gonzalez-Rivero, M., & Hoegh-Guldberg, O.

(2018). Deep reefs of the Great Barrier Reef offer limited thermal refuge during mass

coral bleaching. Nature Communications, 9(1), 3447–3448.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05741-0

This article addresses the overall issue of coral bleaching which is basically the killing of

coral reefs due to global warming. This article describes how great reefs such as that of the Great

Barrier Reef serve as refuge for most of these reefs from the fast changing dangerous rise in

global temperature. However, the main argument here is that it has gotten so bad that not even

the reef provides sufficient refuge. This is a peer reviewed article published by springer nature

which dedicates itself to publishing trusted research and open ended science topics. This is a

useful source because part of understanding the Great Barrier Reef's importance is recognizing

what happens when it weakens and it fails to do its job. Additionally it mentions the topic of how

large the reef actually is so these changes happen at varying depths and as do the factors that

cause this change. It is another article that specifically targets issues in the Great Barrier Reefs

and has figures and charts to report its findings, therefore it does not simply state results.
 Graham, Chong-Seng, K. M., Huchery, C., Januchowski-Hartley, F. A., & Nash, K. L. (2014).

Coral Reef Community Composition in the Context of Disturbance History on the Great

Barrier Reef, Australia. PloS One, 9(7), e101204–e101204.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0101204

This article focuses on the overall composition of the Great Barrier Reef. It immediately

acknowledges the fact that the reef is so big therefore there is a difference in what is happening

throughout this vast diverse ecosystem. It also states what particular things affect parts of this

ecosystem from areas that are hardly touched and affected to those tht undergo constant scrutiny.

This is a peer reviewed article by many authors and was published by PLOS which is a non-

profit science journal publisher. This article is for one important because it agrees with many of

the other articles used in this research paper. It is also useful because it provides information

about the ecosystem (its ecology and organisms) as well as the changes each have gone through

over time. Its important to note the time scales because you need to focus on the amount of

changes to these things in recent years.

Larson, Stoeckl, N., Farr, M., & Esparon, M. (2015). The role the Great Barrier Reef plays in

resident wellbeing and implications for its management. Ambio, 44(3), 166–177.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0554-3

This article focuses on the non-marine residents of the Great Barrier Reef area and how its

management or lack of management affects them. This ranges from emotional, physical

(health) or economic factors. This is in turn also an argument for why its health should be

a concern and why it should be managed. It is a peer reviewed research paper written by a

research fellow and a university professor. The main importance of this journal is its real
life social implications. Additionally from all the other data I am collecting about how it

affects marine life hence the research question, it shows its importance to the residents of

Australia. Its relevance to the other sources is how there is none at all, therefore it is

simply yet another perspective on the same topic.