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The Ritz-Carlton Maldives, Fari Islands Slidshow
- 1. CORAL REEFS Cities Under the Sea J e a n - M i c h e l C o u s t e a u ’ s A m b a s s a d o r s o f t h e E n v i r o n m e n t
- 3. There are many jobs in a city All are necessary It’s the same on the reef
- 4. There are many jobs in a city All are necessary It’s the same on the reef
- 22. Energy from the sun powers the food web from the algae to the large predators. The organic materials on the reef get recycled, ending up as nutrients that help algae grow.
- 23. Human Impact
Editor's Notes
- Coral reefs are like cities under the sea because they have power plants, farms, recycling, public housing, public health, advertisement, managers AND corals are the construction crew that creates the buildings.
- Corals are made by small animals, called coral polyps. Corals are the architects and construction crews of the reefs. The reef structure is made of coral skeletons.
- Hit spacebar Each little flower is an individual coral polyp. All of these individual coral polyps create the coral colony. It is coral colonies that become the buildings of this city under the sea. They are coral buildings. Hit spacebar These corals are green and brown. The color is due to tiny algae living inside the coral’s tissues. These algae, called zooxanthellae, perform photosynthesis. They use sunlight to make food that helps corals build the reef structure and food that also supports the reef food web. Hit space bar Notice how this coral looks like a human brain (and that is it’s name- the brain coral). It has the same strategy as the human brain to maximize surface areas and thus, it can maximize the amount of surface area and algae, which feeds the coral. Hit space bar The corals are the solar panels and the roof top gardens of the reef, as well as the builders. They reach up towards the sunlight and harness the sun’s energy, within the zooxanthellae algae.
- Almost every surface of the reef is collecting solar energy and making food. Here brownish algae cover the hard bottom. Like the zooxanthellae living inside the corals, these algae create food from raw materials and sunlight. Notice the scrape marks that from a grazer that feeds on this algae Parrotfish grind up the algae along with bits of reef and then poop sand. This parrotfish can make 200 pounds of sand each year
- When your family takes a walk on a beautiful tropical beach, you may want to remind them that some of the sand they are walking on is parrotfish poop.
- Green turtles and surgeonfish prevent overgrowth of weeds (algae). Their function is to keep space clean for new corals to settle and preventing algae from competing with corals for sunlight.
- Eels come out at night to explore the reef in search of sleeping fish and other prey. They may look scary, with their mouths open, but they have to keep their mouths open to breathe – to pass water across their gills. Groupers sit and wait for prey and then lunge forward to engulf them. Predators like eels and groupers keep populations of smaller fish under control.
- Large predators, such as sharks, maintain ecological balance on coral reefs. They are the managers of the city under the sea.
- Sea cucumbers are the sanitation engineers of the reef. They are the clean-up crew as they crawl over the reef and feed. They ingest sand, digest waste organic matter and release the sand cleaner than it was before (see chains of poop right). They are good recyclers.
- Worm snails are part of the clean-up crew as their mucous nets catch organic matter. An empty tube is not wasted, it is a home and refuge for this blenny. In the coral city there is no waste, everything gets recycled – even space!
- Anemones provide a safe home for clownfish who protrect the anemones from predators that eat their tentacles.
- The coral city is powered by renewable solar energy. Here we see how energy from the sun is used by algae to make food and how that energy moves through the food web up to large predators. The material of the reef gets recycled ending up as nutrients that help algae grow.
- Excessive nutrients stimulate the overgrowth of algae that can kill corals. This problem get even worse when people harvest too many herbivores like parrotfish, surgeonfish and even sea urchins.
- We are all connected to reefs through the energy we use. Carbon dioxide from burning petroleum is causing global warming and ocean acidification. When the water becomes too warm corals lose the algae that provide them with food. Then, corals turn white and may die. This is called coral bleaching. Acidification makes it more difficult for corals to make their skeletons.
- Each species in this city under the sea has its own way of living and each contributes to the health of the reef. Humans can upset the balance of life on the reef.