Great Barrier Reef. By William Lovell, Cade McNamara, Ethan Gail

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1 Great Barrier Reef By William Lovell, Cade McNamara, Ethan Gail

2 Marine biome Characteristics Covers about 70% of earth one cup of salt per gallon of water Over 1 million species discovered Importance Provides rain for crops through evaporation Provides wind to circulate air Affects coastal temperatures Marine plants provide much of the words oxygen

3 Food Web

4 Welcome to the Great Barrier Reef The reef is in the Coral sea of the coast of Queensland Australia It can be seen from outer space The reef is the largest single structure made from living organisms It is built by tiny organisms called coral polyps It is one of the 7 wonders of the world You cannot touch the Reef

5 Climate change Biggest threat Thermal stress Too much heat leads to separation of zooxanthellae and corals Ocean acidification Storms

6 Cause of the climate change Fossil fuels Greenhouse effect Changes of reflectivity of Earth s atmosphere and surface

7 Solution There aren t many things that can be done to stop climate change, but things you can do to help are... Ride a bike Pick up any litter Change to environmental friendly light bulbs Turn off electronics at night

8 Other problems Pollution Industrialization Declining water quality

9 Endangered Keystone Species Green Turtle - Green Turtles eat algae, seagrass, mangrove fruit and jellyfish Chelonia mydas Adult Green Turtles can reach 1.5 meters long in length. There colors are green, brown, grey, black, and yellow. They have a single pair of scales on the top of their head. Their hatchlings weigh about 25 grams. The hatchlings are black on top and white on the bottom.

10 Green Turtle s Role Green Turtles eat Algae. Secondary consumer. Algae Population would increase. Sharks mainly tiger sharks feed on the them. What would happen without them? Algae spread covering sea floor.

11 Status Their population is declining. Endangered Harvested for meat and a case of lethal tumors.(unknown)

12 Population 85,000 to 90,00 nesting females, males unknown Live from years 2 years, nests 3-5 times a season, 115 eggs on aver. per nest Some eggs are taken(food, humans), Since every 2 years may take a little longer, number of females is inconsistent per year.

13 Conservation Monitoring migration patterns. Improving and supporting trade control. (meat, eggs) Reducing bycatching and promoting smart fishing. Protecting nests.

14 Invasive Species Common name: Crown Of Thorns Starfish Scientific name: Acanthaster Planci Traits: can grow 1 meter in diameter long, venomous spines on it s body arms spines are different color than the rest of their body they turn inside out when eating

15 Position in the Food Web eats fast growing coral (staghorn and plate corals) it s a primary consumer (eats producers) it gets eaten by the Triton s trumpet

16 Problem Why is the Crown of Thorns Starfish invasive? feeds on fast growing corals makes it hard to form colonies it s lowered coral reefs by 50% in the past 30 years the starfish outbreaks every 17 years females can produce up to 65 million eggs in spawning season

17 Transportation it s a native species the Red Sea got to the reef by attaching onto boats eggs get taken by current lives in the Great Barrier reef

18 Solution Short term strategy: a team that lethally injects the starfish a reef health database to see if what they are doing helps the injection is a bile salts solution Long term strategy: to protect the coral reefs they use early surveillance to prevent future outbreaks to improve water qualities to make the starfish larvae die

19 Sources William Lovell Ethan Gail au/our_work/saving_the_natural_world/oceans_and_marine/priority_oce an_places/great_barrier_reef/threats/

20 Sources Cade McNamara wwf.panda. org/what_we_do/endangered/species/marine_turtles/green_turt