An Underwater City... Drowned in Acid
"...if you take a closer look at a coral reef, you’ll see that they’re just like cities in spirit – filled with sturdy towers, plates, domes, and branches of limestone exoskeleton..."
- Nyla Husain, "Climate-driven events leave an imprint on corals in the Great Barrier Reef"
- Nyla Husain, "Climate-driven events leave an imprint on corals in the Great Barrier Reef"
Exploding with biodiversity and bustling with life, the Great Barrier Reef could easily be considered an ‘underwater metropolis’. Unfortunately, however, this may no longer be the case in a few years, as ocean acidification is destroying the Great Barrier Reef through dissolving existing corals and making it difficult for new corals to build their skeletons. A study conducted on Porites coral in the Great Barrier Reef, for instance, found that "growth of [Porites] colonies has slowed by roughly 13 percent since 1990" (Biello), likely due to ocean acidification.
Moreover, the impacts of ocean acidification do not stop here. The Great Barrier Reef also supports many industries, such as tourism and fishing, that are critically important to the area; in 2001, over 10% of the people in the region relied on the Great Barrier Reef for their jobs in some way (Hoegh-Guldberg and Hoegh-Guldberg). Thus, an acidifying Great Barrier Reef could cause a collapse of these industries as well, which would significantly impact people around the area. |
The Great Barrier Reef is currently under threat from ocean acidification, as corals find it more difficult to build their skeletons in more acidic water.
|
"Because interest in the Reef is so high, tourism is naturally vulnerable to the deterioration of coral reefs - despite the well-known resilience and adaptability of the tourism industry."
- Ove and Hans Hoegh-Guldberg, "The Implications of Climate Change for Australia's Great Barrier Reef"
- Ove and Hans Hoegh-Guldberg, "The Implications of Climate Change for Australia's Great Barrier Reef"