Human activity on food web

Coral reefs are the homes of some of the most diverse ecosystems and biologically
productive habitats. The Great Barrier Reef is known as the largest biological organism in
the world. To learn about the basic coral biology click here. The balanced ecology of the
Great Barrier Reef is one that is vulnerable to even slightest human influence. In these
times, human activity has intensified to a level where our actions have extended to the coral
reefs on a global scale. Today "The diversity, frequency, and scale of human impacts on
coral reefs are increasing to the extent that reefs are threatened globally (Climate
Change). The ripple of human activity has not only affected the corals, but also the
surrounding biodiversity that coexist within these systems. The question that we want to
answer in our research is, to what extent has human activity changed the coral reef
systems? We will relate our findings on the coral reefs to specific data and graphs on the
Great Barrier Reefs.

Over-fishing, pollution and global warming are main factors that are tipping the equilibrium
of the ecosystems within the coral reefs. So far a fifth of the reefs have been destroyed and
are not recovering, a quarter of the reefs are endangered and another quarter face long-
term collapse (Spotts). Global warming that has been induced by human activity has
affected the reefs by creating warmer temperatures in the waters that will have adverse
effects on these highly productive ecosystems. Aggressive fishing has caused major
disruptions to the food web and in turn will have a negative domino effect. Overexploitation
of marine life disrupts the entire stability of oceanic life because it depletes keystone plant
and animal life. Pollution is another major threat to the health and stability of the Great
Barrier Reefs ecosystem. Development and farming off of Australias coast is harming the
coral reef habitat with dangerous runoff and sedimentation that may eventually destruct the
fragile coral reefs.
Effects of Climate Change on Marine Ecosystems

Climate change has had a significant impact on the marine environments throughout the
world. Global warming is caused by the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
These greenhouse gases trap in solar radiation to keep the heat within the atmosphere of
the earth. Due to the industrial era, greenhouse gases levels have escalated in the past
century. The result is intensified solar radiation and higher temperatures throughout the
planet, which has a negative effect on marine ecosystems. Higher temperatures will melt
the polar ice caps and raise the sea level, some have predicted sea level to rise up to 80cm
by the end of the century (AU). The increased UV radiation will hinder the ability of plants
and algae to photosynthesize. The result of this is that less energy is available overall in the
marine ecosystems. Climate change has a fatal impact on the oceanic environment and
more specifically harm the coral reef ecosystems.

Pollution: Fertilizers and pesticides

Pollution has made significant impacts on the Great Barrier Reef and its struggle for
survival. Human based pollution that has caused such harm to our reefs needs to be
stopped or reduced significantly if we wish to save this fragile ecosystem. Certain model
estimates indicate that 22% of the worlds coral reefs are threatened by land-based
pollution. (Puglise 2007) Main-land based pollution stressing the coral reef ecosystems are
chemical and nutrient based. This type of pollution includes fertilizers, herbicides,
pesticides, human derived sewage, and large amounts of sedimentation from costal land
development. These pollutants have many serious direct impacts on our coral reefs
ecosystem such as altering the species composition by fauna shifting from phototrophic to
heterotrophic. Largely impart to the corals inability to obtain necessary energy from light
because of the increased turbidity of the water due to the pollution process. There is very
high nutrient enrichment effecting the Great Barrier Reefs such as nitrogen and
phosphorous. Other pollutants also have a great effect on the coral such as heavy metals.

It is noted that 80% of the land adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef is farmland that supports
agricultural production, intensive cropping of sugar cane, and major beef cattle grazing.
(GBR, 2007) These types of agriculture and cattle production pose large threats to the Great
Barrier Reef close by. Fertilizers are highly used with agriculture and contain high amounts
of phosphorous and nitrates. Farmers use nitrogen fertilizers frequently because it is an
essential nutrient for crop and animal production, both found on the area near the coral
reefs. If the farmers over feed or fertilize with the N fertilizers, it can be lost to ground
water and surface water. (Nitrogen Management, 2007) The same is true for the
macronutrient fertilizers used such as NPK. This is a fertilizer made up of nitrogen,
phosphorous, and potassium, which is also used by numerous farmers on their crops. The
same issue of runoff occurs if farmers apply too much. Overall when these fertilizers and the
nutrients used, the runoff and leaching that occurs posses a large threat to the coral
ecosystem.

Pesticides are another agricultural practice that damages the health of coral reefs. Farmers
to kill off specific types of insects and weeds that may be harming their crops specifically
use insecticides and herbicides. These pesticides are made up of heavy metals such as lead,
mercury, arsenic and other toxins which are not only dangerous to humans, but other
aquatic and plant species. (Pesticide, 2007) The pesticides are found in the runoff that
occurs with erosion of farm soil, taking the chemicals downstream and into the coral
ecosystems off the coast. Both of these farming practices of pesticide and fertilizers have
many negative impacts on the Great Barrier Reef and its diverse ecosystem.

Runoff

An example of the dangerous harm the farmers have caused the Great Barrier Reef from
runoff are those located in Queensland Australia. There is very compelling evidence that
farming is harming the Great Barrier Reef. The Queensland farms have been damaging the
reefs because of increased run-off of agricultural sediments, nutrients and chemicals. They
have reduced coral cover and biodiversity in recent years. Two scientists, Katharina
Fabricius and Glen Death of Australia Institute of Marine Science, have compared the health
of the reef at several different locations close to agricultural areas with that at several
others around 400 kilometers away. The technique used was an epidemiological technique,
which was first used to link smoking to lung cancer in the 1960s. In this experiment they
used certain criteria to see if there was a casual relationship between farming and its harm
on the Great Barrier Reef. These included whether known biological facts support the
hypothesis that poor water quality stresses coral, if run-off is associated with a corals
struggling health in other circumstances, and if the dose of pollutants have effects on the
coral. The results suggested a casual link between agricultural pollution, low coral
biodiversity, and poor re-colonization of the reef. An example from there experiment is that
hard coral biodiversity were in greater abundance, almost double, on reefs that were far
from agricultural areas than the reefs that were closer. There was also found to be a
relationship that as coral cover and biodiversity decreased as the dose of pollutants
increased. (Nowak, 2003) Overall this research has led to the conclusion that farming in this
area and the pesticides and fertilizers used are a major health risk for the coral and
biodiversity of the reefs.

The runoff from many farmlands by the coast is also destroying the biodiversity of the Great
Barrier Reef with the major increase in population of the crown-of-thorns starfish. Nutrient
run-off has been a main trigger for crown-of-thorns starfish that eat coral across the Great
Barrier Reef. There is evidence that this is due to water pollution rather than over-fishing or
natural causes. These large increases in crown-of-thorns starfish started back in the early
1960s. Since then around every 15 years there has been another large increase in this
starfish. Glenn Death and his colleagues chose to look at the influence of chlorophyll levels
in reef waters, which indicate the amount of phytoplankton available for the crown-of-thorns
starfish larvae to consume. A doubling of the chlorophyll in water leads to a tenfold increase
in the crown-of-thorns starfish larvaes survival rate. It is also shown that run-off nutrients
such as phosphorous, has increased over the past 50 years which has driven an increase in
phytoplankton levels. By changing the nutrient levels found in the water downward, they
would decrease significantly the amount of crown-of-thorns starfish that are destroying the
Great Barrier Reef. (Young, 2004)

Sedimentation

Sedimentation is another large impact on the Great Barrier Reefs that harms its fragile
ecosystem. The sediments that flow out from rivers and large amounts of erosion carry with
it many of the pollutants and fertilizers from the farms inland from the reefs. There are
various levels of sedimentation and how it can affect the coral communities when run-off
occurs. In this table it shows the three degrees of impact and how it can affect the health of
the coral ecosystem.

Sedimentation - The degree of impact

http://www.clw.csiro.au/new/2007/sedimentplumes.html

This is a satellite image that was taken to show the significant impact that sedimentation
has had on damaging the Great Barrier Reef. The picture was taken February 9, 2007 of the
coastline Australian coastline from Crains in the south to Diantree in the north. The image
shows the sediment run-off (brown and aqua colors) has clouded the entire inner-reef. In
the upper part of the photo it shows the runoff from the Diantree river [1](yellow-brown
color) that travels away from the coast towards the Balt Reef and Trinity Opening [2]. The
sediment plumes can be seen merging with other plumes from the south rivers that travel
over 100kms through the Grafton Passage [3] and into the open ocean. (CSRIO, 2007)

Overall there is major issues that occur with human pollution to our reef ecosystem and
changes need to be made in order to save such a diverse and important part of the earths
ecosystem
;erfishing
Reefs are suffering directly and indirectly from the increasing pressure of mans' resource
exploitation (Reef Education Network). Overfishing is one driving pressure that has had
devastating impacts on coral reefs. Aggressive fishing methods have hurt coral reefs
sometimes beyond repair. However, over-fishing in general is also a damaging problem to
many coral reefs around the world. Specifically to the Great Barrier Reef, overfishing has
caused a shift in the reef ecosystem. Overfishing of certain species near coral reefs can
easily affect the reef's ecological balance and biodiversity (Reef Education Network).

Causal loop of o;erfishing - reinforcing loop

Importance of Fish and Coral Reefs

The biodiversity of reefs supports the aquarium and aquaculture industries, biomedical
industry and other commercial industries. The management of coral reef fishers falls across
several groups, including NOAA through the regional fishery management councils, and
state, territory commonwealth and local agencies. Because over-fishing has become a huge
problem in the Great Barrier Reefs, the Australian government has had to make plans in
order to help future projections. Overfishing of important herbivores has only been
increasing over the past few decades. Direct overexploitation of different fishes and
invertebrates by recreational, subsistence, and commercial fisheries has resulted in the
rapid decline in populations. The NOAA has proof that overfishing effects fish size,
abundance, species composition and genotypic diversity. Also, overexploitation of marine
organisms contributes to the degradation of coral reef ecosystems as a whole. (Puglise, K.A)



Domino Effect and Food Chain

A domino effect comes into play when overfishing occurs in or around a coral reef. First we
have to take a closer look into the food web of a coral reef. It is important to know that
each specific plant and animal species has an important role and function in the coral reef
ecosystem, they require certain environments, nutrients and are dependent on other
organisms (The Coral Reef Food Chain). These relationships among other species are crucial
to the survival of coral reefs. The food chain goes as follows: producers, which are
photosynthetic organisms and have a key role in the reef system because they are not only
the base of the food chain but all of the energy for the system comes from them (The Coral
Reef Food Chain). Also, these producers are key to reef-building corals (The Coral Reef Food
Chain). The reef-building corals have a relationship with the zooxanthellae, plant-like
organisms that photosynthesis for reefs (The Coral Reef Food Chain). Then these producers
are eaten by the consumers, which are either herbivores or carnivores (The Coral Reef Food
Chain). It is important to notice that for coral reefs specifically some carnivores eat and
keep in check the coral reefs themselves. "Fishing for a particular species obviously affects
that species directly, but it also affects the animals and/or plants in both directions along
the food chain - the predators and the prey of the fish will both be affected, and changes to
them will also affect their predators and prey, and so on (The Coral Reef Food Chain). A
specific example includes the grouper fish, a very popular fish to eat, can be found in the
Great Barrier Reef (Coral Reefs). The overfishing of grouper in some cases has led to an
increase of damselfish, which is a major food supply for the Grouper fish. Damselfish, help
create pockets in corals that are important for coral reef life (Coral Reefs). That's where the
algae the damselfish feed upon grow (Coral Reefs). If the damselfish population isnt
controlled by natural predation, these algae can take over a reef, eventually killing it (Coral
Reefs). Overfishing of other herbivorous fishes can also lead to high levels of algal growth in
different cases.

Impacts of ;erfishing

Destructive fishing techniques can have direct physical impacts on reef environments or
create a deceit of certain species in the ecosystem. Unauthorized fishing occurs in areas
that are not supposed to be fished causing even further destruction to coral reefs (Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority). "Recreational fishing is also an important activity with
about 56,000 privately registered boats fishing in the Great Barrier Reef region
(Sustainable Fishing). "The vulnerability of coral-reef species is partly because of their life-
history adaptations to uncertainty in survival of recruits and juveniles in diverse
communities where predation and competition are intense. With low rates of survival of
recruits, multiple attempts at reproduction are favored through longevity and large size.
These traits lead to low rates of population turnover and special vulnerability to overfishing.
ecosystem overfishing occurs when overfishing affects multispecies assemblage
composition, food-web dynamics, or ecosystem function (Birkeland, Charles). Overfishing
can devastate the marine ecology of the Great Barrier Reef because of the specific needs of
the coral reef. Since certain amounts of nutrients, oxygen and salt content the fishes in the
coral reef ecosystem help maintain the balance needed by the corals, with out these fishes
the coral reef will collapse (Coral Reef). The Great Barrieer Reef Park has several methods
to manage specific zones of fishing, the created the Australian Commonwealth law to
protect critical areas. In 2003, 24% of coral reef habitats were included in "no-fishing
zones which is about 4% of the total park area (Sustainable Fishing). There are many
necessary steps needed to help stop overfishing including, designing effective conservation
programs, determining the impact of management actions, understanding the drivers of
overfishing, and deciding how are made to exceed sustainable limitations on fishers (Great
Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority).
Conclusion
Coral reefs live in very precise, fragile and balanced marine environments, even the
slightest change can have a huge impact on an entire coral ecosystem. Coral reefs require
light, oxygen, clear water, special nutrients, stable temperatures and salt content. With all
of these specific conditions, we can clearly see that human actions can pose grave threats
to coral reefs. Coral reefs are able to endure natural stresses by adjusting, however the
present human pressures are destroying the reefs such that they cannot recover. At the
present time "More than half of the worlds coral reefs are at high or medium risk(Coral
Reef). Human impacts have had severe negative effects on the ecology and marine life of
the Great Barrier Reef.

The destruction of corals in the Great Barrier Reef will have an affect the tourism industry.
Since corals are the main attractions to these national parks, their destruction will cause a
significant decrease in the ecotourism in these areas. Tourism is the source of a major
source of revenue to the countries that draw profits from this revenue. In 2005-2006 the
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authoritys had an approximate income of 22.716 million
dollars, which was less than 2004-2005 by about 1.259 million dollars. If coral reefs become
extinct, the money and jobs created from the coral reef tourism will become extinct with it.
The Marine Park is expensive to run, however, coral reefs bring in jobs, suppliers, and other
revenues to generate money (Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority). Without coral
reefs, countries that are heavily dependent on tourism for revenue will have to forfeit the
highly profitable industry.

Without the coral reefs, the balance of the entire oceanic ecosystem will be thrown off. It
will change our relationship with the resources in the ocean. Just as our actions here,
thousands of miles away, can cause harm to the coral reefs all the way in Australia, what
happens to the corals over there can impact us as well.

The coral reefs act as a barrier between the island shore and the open ocean. If the reefs
are left to die from human impacts, there would be nothing to block the organisms from the
deep sea to come into the shore.


Current research on the Great Barrier Reefs is trying to find ways to help maintain and
sustain the coral ecosystem. Research is necessary to gain knowledge on the current
impacts and possible future outcomes of human destruction on coral reefs. There are many
options available to you as an individual to help sustain and protect this fragile ecosystem.
Here is a link to certain steps you can take: 25 Things You Can Do To Save Coral Reefs