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Coral reef environments

What does the future hold for this environment?

What threatens coral reef environments & how could they be protected?

The purpose of this enquiry is to establish what the nature of these environments is. They are amongst the most beautiful, fragile and endangered ecosystems anywhere in the world. One of the things that threatens them is global warming and sea level rise that we have been studying recently.

At the end of this exercise you should hand in a piece of work that covers the questions below. You can either hand it in as a word processed document, with clipart and maps in it if you like, or do it in your exercise book.

 What are coral reefs? Why are they important communities?

Visit these sites to find out answers to questions that follow: http://www.wcmc.org.uk/marine/data/coral_mangrove/coral.main.html http://www.ourplanet.com/imgversn/122/atlas.html http://www.mcsuk.org/marineworld/coral.html

• How warm must the water be?
• Do they grow in deep or shallow water?
• What is a polyp?
• What is the difference between a fringing reef and a barrier reef?
• How many species of coral are there estimated to be?
• List 5 reasons why they are thought to be important.

Whereabouts are coral reefs to be found?

This site should provide the answers. Use a world map to display your findings.

How does global warming threaten them?

http://www.panda.org/resources/publications/climate/coral/page4.html should help. Select three areas from the regional links on this site to find out what the problems are in a specific area. You might find some reefs threatened by more than just global warming. Write these up in your account.

How can we help protect them?

Even here in England we can do our bit to help protect these environments. Visit this site to find out how.