Biodiversity and Human Impact
A major threat to the great barrier reef is pollution. According to an article by WWF, the amount of sediment and trash flowing into the Great Barrier Reef has quadrupled over the last 150 years. this is due to people not properly taking care of their garbage and sometimes even dumping it in the oceans. Currently, about 80 percent of the material dumped at sea is dredged material. Dredged material is dirt, sand and mud also known as sediment. Sediment is usually is eroded from land as a result of agriculture, urban development and deforestation.
The variety of life along the Great Barrier Reef is enormous. The Reef's amazing biodiversity makes the Great Barrier Reef and surrounding areas one of the most complex natural systems on Earth. Sadly, as people continue to abuse the earth, the biodiversity of the Great Barrier reef continues to drop. This is happening especially in corals, when water temperatures rise, corals can turn completely white which means the coral is dead. This is called coral Bleaching. One human activity that is changing the natural state of the Great Barrier Reef is the Crown of Thorns Starfish. This starfish has recently been having population outbreaks, which is terrible because this starfish is poisonous and kills coral. A solution to the sediment and trash problem is extremely simple. Us as a community and world need to stop taking advantage of the earth. People need to start to recycle and make sure all of their trash is properly taken care of. The only way to stop coral bleaching is to somehow stop global warming, an idea for this is to stop polluting our air with things like cars and factories. To stop the Crown of Thorns from overpopulating, i think that to stop the Crown of Thorns Starfish from killing the coral, trained people need to catch them and keep them in a place like an aquarium where they can't continue to kill the natural habitat for so many creatures. |