Endangered Ocean Life

Coral Reef

Coral reefs are mountains or colonies of built up limestone (calcium carbonate) The top layer of the coral is the living part The bottom layer is the skeletons of the previous generations of reef building corals Coral occur only where sea water is warm (a low of 68 degrees F to a high of about 86 degrees F), thus usually in tropical locations Coral’s tissue include millions of symbiotic singlecelled photosynthesizers that require access to sunlight, thus reef coral die when the surrounding water is muddy, cloudy, or dark Coral require water that has a high salt content Coral is important because it is the home to a great number of species and offers protection to these species

Examples of species living within the coral.

Things that are damaging/endangering the coral reefs Global Warming Tourists stepping on the reefs Boats dropping anchor on the reefs Pollutants Population growth in coastal areas -with the increase in people comes the increase in problems like sediment from agriculture, erosion, and sewage in the coastal waters Over fishing

What Can We Do To Help? Be aware of the problem Watch pollutants When on vacation don’t collect or touch the reefs or coral Sustainable fishing Stable Climate-changes in climate in recent decades where predominately caused by unrestricted and unwise energy use

Now It’s Your Turn To Do Some Research Go to: http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we _do/marine/ Now follow the instructions on your worksheet