Coral Reef Article Synthesis

The Coral Reef Article Synthesis

            Although coral reefs account for about two percent of the world’s marine environment, they provide habitats for one third of all described marine species, many of which can only be found in these areas.  As with numerous other resources on Earth, the coral reef is being depleted due to the growing demands of civilization.  To reduce the amounts of coral reefs is to cause a large proportion of Earth’s biodiversity to be decimated.  Humanity has a tendency to use resources at a rapid rate until there are no resources left, versus using resources at moderate rates.  Pollution is causing coral reefs to lose the algae that provide color, which is known as bleaching.  A main contributor of these bleaching phenomena is when the level of CO2 gets above a certain amount of ppm.  As discussed on the treehugger website a safe amount of CO2 in the air is around 350 ppm. Today the number is higher than that and is steadily rising.  To save the planet humanity needs to try to reduce the amount of CO2 that they produce and try to get this number at a stable 350 ppm and perhaps even lower. Coral reefs are important to the biodiversity of the planet without them resources will be lost forever and many species will become extinct. 

 Veron, J.E.N, O Hoegh-Guldberg, T.M. Lenton, J.M. Lough, D.O. Obura, P. Pearce-Kelly, C.R.C. Sheppard, M. Spalding, M.G. Stafford-Smith, and A.D Rogers. "The Coral Reef Crisis: the Critical Importance of <350 Ppm CO2."Marine Pollution Bulletin 58.10 (2009): 1428-1436. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X09003816>.