Marine Ecosystems

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Coral reefs are located mainly by the coasts in places such as Indonesia, Australia, Africa and USA. There is a big concentration in southeast Asia and north Australia. There is also a high concentration in the Caribbean.

What are coral reefs?

Reefs are massive deposits of calcium carbonate (CaC03). There are 3 types of coral reefs;

Fringing reefs - occur adjacent to a land mass and are separated from it by a narrow lagoon eg. St Lucia, Tobago

Barrier reefs - larger, separated from adjacent land by deeper, larger lagoon eg. Great Barrier Reef

Atolls - ring shaped reefs which enclose a lagoon rising out of very deep water far from land eg. Maldives

Why are coral reefs valuable?

Home to 25% of all known marine fish

Protects shorelines from erosion

Supply food to local communities

Fishing

Sources of medicine

Aquarium trade

Shells/black corals used for jewellery

Source of lime for cement

Ideal habitats for scientific research

Tourism - in 2000, 150 million people visited coral reefs

Factors threatening coral reefs:

Development

Natural disasters

Poulltion - oil spills

Global warming - increased sea level rise - coral can't survive

Temperature change

Ocean acidification - acidic sea dissolves reef

Tourism

Overfishing

Population increases

Mining

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Palau's Coral Reef:

Where is Palau and how does it use its coral reefs?

North Pacific

North of Papua New Guinea

Scuba diving and tourism

13,000 residents

Supports 500 species of coral and 2000 species of fish

How are Palau's coral reefs being threatened and what are the impacts?

Temperature rise

Mangroves prevent sediment getting into reef and killing coral - lots of mangroves being cut down

Tourists diving with jellyfish - kills jellyfish that are important for ecosystems

Overfishing - dynamite fishing - catches fish that are too small to eat and then left to die

Tourists - take parts of coral reef as souvenirs

Road building - cutting down mangroves - heavy rain washing sediment into reefs, killing reefs

Climate - coral bleaching

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Protected Area Network:

The scheme compliments the goals of the Micronesia Challenge that aims to have each country within Micronesia conserve 30% of near shore environments and 20% of terrestrial environments by 2020

Green Fee - $15 fee collected from visitors to Palau on departure from airport. Fee is used for management of PAN sites

5 PAN sites:

Terrestrial;

Ngardok Nature Reserve

Mesekelat Conservation Area (Ngchesar)

Ngerbekuu Nature Reserve and Ngemai Conservation Area

Marine;

Ebill Conservation Area

Helen Reef Atoll

Watershed Management:

Since the bleaching event of 1998, greater awareness of ecosystem connectivity has developed. Creation of Babeldaob Watershed Alliance merged interests of communities, governments, agencies, conservation practitioners and traditional leaders to protect watershed areas. Outcomes include establishment of 4 new terrestrial protected areas and completion of several community level land management plans - managing rivers flowing into the sea (pollution)