By Ruby Ramaker
Did you know that 25% of the ocean’s life is supported by corals? Also did you know that the corals in the oceans are dying? My goal is to tell you about what coral is, what they help with, how they help the Ecosystem, how they are dying, and what other people are doing to help.
Corals are a hard stone-like or soft organism that has an external skeleton. They can come in lots of colors, textures and sizes. Some of them glow in the dark and all of them can move. There are around 6,000 species of corals in our waters. They can survive in shallow waters or on the ocean floor. The scientific name for coral is Anthozoa. They live in the ocean and they are a primary consumer. Coral is a marine organism that is a crucial part of the ecosystem.
Corals create homes for other marine organisms and are food for the organisms around that area. Humans can also eat coral to survive. Most corals are not toxic, but there are some that are like the zoanthid that could contain toxins. When a large group of corals come together they form a coral reef. This coral reef serves as barriers for storms, waves and floods. They are like a living habitat for other marine organisms. If they die, lots and lots of other organisms will die, too.
From 2009-2020 we lost about 14% of our corals. The cause of the many deaths of coral reefs is climate change. You might think that climate change is not that important, but it is very, very important. Even the smallest rise of degrees in the ocean can kill a vast amount of corals. Because of the degrees incline they become stressed and discard an algae from their tissues that is called zooxanthellae. Without zooxanthellae algae they will starve and can develop disease or get disease which causes them to die. When they starve and have disease they turn white and pale. This is called “coral bleaching.” Not only is climate change a huge threat to corals, there is also an organism that is called the crown-of-thorns starfish. These starfishes eat the tissues of coral and kill them. If corals die, lots of groups of people can die, too. Some people live off of corals and the fish that benefit from coral. If corals die then these populations can also die. All of this happens from climate change.
People around the world are trying their best to save our coral reefs. They are doing things called Coral IVF, which is where they take the eggs and sperms from other reefs that are thriving and when they are ready they take the new corals to dead or struggling coral reefs to restore the coral reef. Also, they are putting salt or vinegar in the reefs to kill the crown-of-thorns starfish without harming the rest of the ecosystem. Not only are they doing these things, but they are also informing the world about our coral reefs’ problems and how climate change is affecting the coral reefs.
The corals need your help. Even the little things can help. You could donate to websites like barrierreef.org and help them pay for what they need. You could try your best to help reduce climate change by carpooling to work, save your energy in your house, or recycle the things that can be recycled rather than throwing them away. Or you could educate people about climate change and coral reefs. All of these are ways to help save the corals and climate change. Please try to help.
Ruby Ramaker is a Chatfield High School student, one of 15 area students participating in the Journal Writing Project, now in its 26th year.
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