Ecology HW 9.

1: Communities Essay

The great barrier reef is a popular tourist attraction, but it is also a thriving and beautiful

community. It is the largest coral reef in the world, with over 3,000 individual reef systems and

coral rays. It has an abundance of marine life and is home to several tropical islands. Found off

the northeastern coast of Australia, it extends more than 1,250 miles which is fairly equally

distributed in distribution of life.

The great barrier reef in an aquatic habitat. It is home to nearly 9,000 species of countable

marine life, including soft coral, sharks, fish, and marine mammals like whales, dolphins, and

seals. The coral reefs themselves require a certain set of circumstances in order to form. They

require a specific water chemistry, temperature, and water depth. The majority of reef builders

prefer shallow waters, where there is enough sunlight to enable photosynthesis of the algae there.

The reef begins when coral larvae floating in the ocean attach themselves to something solid.

The coral animals build their skeletons, which over time cement together to form large deposits

of limestone. There are three types of structure when it comes to coral reefs. One is fringing

reefs, which form close to the shore. Second are barrier reefs, which are stronger and more

substantial and are located further from the shore. Finally, the third atolls, which put simply are

fringing reefs that formed around an island and stayed after the island became submerged.

There are many different relationships among the vast wildlife found in the great barrier

reef. Predation relationships are found between the sharks and fish, as sharks feed of off their

prey: fish. There are also herbivory relationships found among the fish who feed off of aquatic

plants. Clownfish, for example, are omnivores, and thus feed of off small life like algae,

zooplankton, worms, and small crustaceans. Another type of relationship that can be found in the

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 coral reef is parasites. There are many parasites in the great barrier reef, but one such parasite are

the trematodes, which occur as sexually mature worms in almost all of the body fish species.

Finally, there are many mutualistic relationships among the great barrier reef, include the

relationships between the algae and the corals. The corals protect the algae and provide the

compounds needed for photosynthesis, and the algae produce oxygen and help the coral remove

waste.

There are many dangers to the great barrier reef, but naturally occurring and due to

human influence. The greatest threat to the great barrier reef is climate change. As

aforementioned, coral reefs require a specific climate to grow. Climate change affects the

temperature of the water, making coral unable to be produced. Water quality is also detrimental

due to climate change, as an increase in sediment, contaminants and nutrients affects the acidity

and community there. Another danger to the great barrier reef is the crown of thorns starfish,

which are coral-eating starfish that outbreak quickly. Finally, fishing is another danger to this

great reef, as overfishing causes the delicate balance found there to shift.

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 Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Great Barrier Reef". Encyclopedia Britannica, 16

Aug. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/place/Great-Barrier-Reef. Accessed 19 October

2021.

Cribb, T. H. (2014, October 15). Trematodes of the Great Barrier Reef, Australia: emerging

patterns of diversity and richness in coral reef fishes. PubMed.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25200353/

curious. (2017, December 18). Biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef.

https://www.science.org.au/curious/great-barrier-reef

Great Barrier Reef | Australia’s Great Natural Wonder. (2020, March 31). Great Barrier Reef.

https://greatbarrierreef.org/

Nanami, A. (2003, October 1). Population Dynamics and Spatial Distribution of. . .

Environmental Biology of Fishes.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B:EBFI.0000003799.77382.de?

error=cookies_not_supported&code=88b162f9-1f44-43f6-bc28-f86b8d632711

Threats. (2021). Great Barrier Reef Foundation. https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/threats

Zooxanthellae: Corals Tutorial. (2021). National Ocean Service.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/tutorial_corals/coral02_zooxanthellae.html#:

%7E:text=The%20corals%20and%20algae%20have,the%20coral%20to%20remove

%20wastes.

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