Essay Sample on Great Barrier Reef: Australia's Crown Jewel of Heritage and Tourism

Introduction

The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is one of the country's most significant heritage and tourist attraction worldwide. The reef stands out as being the largest coral reef in the world has more than three thousand individual reef systems that stretch from as far as the northern tip of Queensland to the city of Bundaberg to the south. It also has coral cays and many picturesque tropical islands with beautiful beaches. In 1981, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) granted the Great Barrier Reef a World Heritage status thus giving it the desired attention as being a critical definitive natural feature in Australia. The reef is one of the wonders of the world which hosts some of the complex marine ecosystems. The beauty and uniqueness draw partly from its coral reef and rich biodiversity which include aquatic creatures such as anemones and jellyfish. The biodiversity in the Great Barrier Reef has unique body forms, colors, and sizes. The coral reef is formed from tiny seas creatures called polyps; hence they replenish with time if the conditions are favorable. Based on its ecological role, the reef is not only a heritage for Australia but also a critical attraction for more than two million visitors annually who are stunned by the unique biodiversity hosted there. Despite its importance as world heritage and vital ecological role, the Great Barrier Reef has experienced some of the most severe and repeated bleachings in the recent years which as damaged it as well as reduced its recovery potential.

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Bleaching of Great Barrier Reef

Coral bleaching is one important process that threatens to deplete the Great Barrier Reef biodiversity completely. It is estimated that more than half of the Great Barrier Reef has been undergone rigorous bleaching since 2016, and the trend is likely to continue if the causes of such a deleterious process are not adequately addressed as a matter of urgency (Ainsworth, Heron, Ortiz, Mumby, Grech, Ogawa,... & Leggat, 2016). The mass coral bleaching experienced in the Great Barrier Reef has so far resulted in the death of some marine species living there. Between the year 2006 and 2007, mass bleaching which was characterized by the destruction of the reefs' colorful algae occurred thus leaving the coral with no source of food. From a scientific point of view, such mass bleaching has long term effects on the reef ecosystems and are projected to alter their character forever. Coral bleaching denotes the process through which the corals lose their color as a result of the expulsion of the symbiotic algae from the coral cells. Ordinarily, these symbiotic algae are the source of nutrients for the corals. There are two categories of coral bleaching (Ainsworth et al., 2016). The moderate coral bleaching is one in which corals can naturally replenish after the episode. However, the severe bleaching is caused by critical changes in the conditions around the corals that kill them and leaves the surviving ones so vulnerable to infection and other threats. It is always difficult and takes time for corals to recolonize their initial habitat following a period of severe bleaching (Hughes, Kerry, Alvarez-Noriega, Alvarez-Romero, Anderson, Baird,... & Bridge, 2017). This means that extra measures such as coral restoration have to be initiated to re-cultivate the destroyed area.

The destruction of coral in the Great Barrier Reef is so massive and demonstrates the extent to which negative environmental change can undermine natural ecosystems and render them either malfunctioned or inexistent. 30% of the Great Barrier coral died in 2006 followed by another 20% in 2007 (Ainsworth et al., 2016). This is a massive loss not only to Australia but also to world heritage. The effect can be characterized by a forest fire that destroys everything along its way. The sea creatures that lived and subsisted in the corals have either been forced to migrate, killed or left vulnerable to any forms of destruction including diseases as well as lack of food. Today, much of the ocean ecosystem along the north coast remains barren and skeletal with little to no hope of successful recovery. Much of the marine ecosystem along the reef's north coast has become barren and skeletal with little hope of recovery.

Causes of the Great Barrier Reef bleaching

The bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef coral occurs naturall, but it is highly attributable to global warming and climate change which collectively change the conditions of the surrounding environment. The recent damage of the coral resulted from the high ocean heat waves which have reduced the resilience and recovery of the natural ecosystem (Ainsworth et al., 2016). If unchecked, climate change and its effects are likely to make the situation even more severe in the next few years. Climate change is one process that has various adverse long-term implications for both the marine and terrestrial ecosystems. Some of the effects of climate change that threaten the sustainability of the Great Barrier Reef include rising temperatures of the ocean, rising seas levels, more frequent and severe weather phenomena, and acidification of ocean water (Hughes et al., 2017).

The Great Barrier Reef is defined by the corals which have microscopic marine algae attached to their tissues in a symbiotic relationship. In the relationship between the two, the coral provides shelter for the algae while the algae provide it with nutrients, amino acid, glucose and oxygen which are critical for its survival. The algae also give the coral their coloration. Climate change has resulted in increasing ocean temperatures which causes stresses to the corals. In the last century, the average global temperature has risen by about 0.8C (Nicholls, Marinova, Lowe, Brown, Vellinga, De Gusmao,... & Tol, 2011). The ocean is responsible for absorption of more than 90% of this ever-increasing heat. Every one to two degrees Celsius increase in temperature causes coral stress. Besides, prolonged heat stress makes it highly probable that mass coral bleaching would occur thus the coral in the Great Barrier Reef becomes highly predisposed to other threats that arise as a result of the bleaching and .stress. Such increases in temperature and heat expel the algae from its tissues. By doing this, the symbiotic relationship is destroyed; thus the reef turn white. This drastic change in coral coloration occasioned by the expulsion of the algae from its tissues is what is referred to as bleaching. Bleaching does not necessarily lead to the death of corals, but a prolonged loss of algae accompanied by an intensified stress on the corals may lead to its death (Ainsworth et al., 2016). Even when corals undergo a natural or artificial replenishment following bleaching, they generally become weak, experience difficulties in growth and reproduction as well as become more vulnerable to disease infections.

Climate change resulting in frequent severe weather events limits the time that reef corals take to recover following a damaging occurrence. In recent times, tropical cyclones have not only become more intense but also occur frequently. This severity and frequency of the tropical cyclones physically damage and destroy the structure of the reef. The effect is also extended to the reduction of coral cover, alteration of species diversity and the productivity of the coral (Wooldridge, 2009). Sometimes, the tropical cyclones generate low pressure which decreases the sea levels and leave some of the previously well-covered corals exposed to the surface sun and other destructions. Severe weather and extreme precipitation (rainfall) can result in the movement of sediments and a lot of freshwater from the cost onto the reef. Corals live well under low PH conditions (salinity). Hence, when a lot of freshwaters enters the area around them, the PH rises thus subjecting the corals to stress which may culminate to a beaching event. Also, a lot of sediments swept into the areas inhabited by the coral creates shade which prevents the sunlight from penetrating to the coral (Wooldridge, 2009). This reduces the growth of the corals thus limiting its role of sheltering other creatures that live within the environment. While coral reefs have a natural resilience to physical damage and can recover quickly from such stress as storms and natural phenomena, they undergo suppressed recovery from conditions of changed pH, levels of nutrients available and salinity. These changes in the coral growth environment generally increase the time that they ordinarily take to recover.

The Consequences of Coral Bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef

Bleaching of coral and subsequent coral deaths associated with it have myriads of adverse effects on the ecology and society. Coral communities, fishes, and humans rely on the sustainability of the coral reefs in different ways. Bleached corals often have a reduced rate of growth, reduced productivity and vulnerability to various strains of diseases (Olsson, Folke, & Hughes, 2008). Furthermore, the bleaching effect can result in the death and disruption of the ecological systems established by the biodiversity that live in the corals. For instance, there is always a firmly entrenched food chain in reefs with the corals as the primary source of food. The death of corals thus implies a complete alteration of such food relationships as well as a possible elimination of species that solely depend on the corals as a source of food. The diversity and abundance of fish assemblages in the reef are likely to decline when the corals die due to bleaching.

Apart from the direct effect of coral bleaching on species diversity and abundance, it has a ripple effect on the society which depends on quality coral reefs for ecosystems services such as the protection of the shoreline. Besides, be aesthetics of coral is due to its quality which implies that the degrading effect of bleaching makes it less tractive thus essentially killing the reef tourism industry (Zeppel, 2012). The revenue generated from the Great Barrier Reef is likely to continue dwindling with the bleaching of the coral. Also, severe coral bleaching leaving to their mass death dramatically reduces the quality of fish catches from such prime fisheries hence making it difficult for the fishing communities to survive. The reduced catches for reef fishers significantly affect their livelihoods and food supply.

Methods that can be adapted to control bleaching of coral in the great barrier reefExtreme coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef is highly attributable to climate change and its associated effects. Therefore two approaches can be used to mitigate the coral depletion as a result of climate change. The short term should focus on re-establishing the depleted coral (Maynard, Marshall, Johnson, & Harman, 2010). This approach provides the short-term to medium term intervention. The benign effects of climate change such as tropical cyclones which destroy corals make it difficult for the corals to replenish hence the need for recruitment of new ones naturally is the most effective way of restoring the ecological dominance of the corals (Olsson, Folke, & Hughes, 2008). Alternatively, research into more biogenetically resilient corals for the restoration of depleted coral is also a priority that should be explored

On the other hand, a long term intervention which ambitiously focuses on improving climate change action is necessary (Maynard, Marshall, Johnson, & Harman, 2010). The coral vulnerability has been documented to have a direct relationship with rising temperatures of the sea which destroys the most important symbiotic relationship between algae and coral. To mitigate this, there is a need for concerted i...