Transcript The World Below - San Pedro High School

Coral Reefs and the
Papahānaumokuākea Marine
National Monument
What do you know about these topics?
• What are the major characteristics of a
coral reef ecosystem?
• Where are coral reefs located?
• Are there any coral reefs in the United
States?
• What value, if any, are coral reefs to
humans?
Please answer these pre-assessment
questions on your worksheet 
You’ll learn more information on
these topics throughout this slide
show!
Major characteristics of reefs
• complex, biologically
diverse ecosystems
• home to more kinds
of life than any other
marine environment,
• rivaling even the
tropical rainforests on
land
More Reef Characteristics
• The delicate
marine
environment of the
reef itself relies
upon the
interaction of many
different forms of
life:
• hard and soft
corals, algae, fish,
sponges,
crustaceans,
worms, turtles,
dolphins and other
sea life.
Corals – the basis of the reef
• Composed of thin
plates or layers of
calcium carbonate
secreted over
thousands of years by
billions of tiny, softbodied animals called
coral polyps.
• The reef is constantly
growing new colonies of
polyps on top of the
skeletons of older ones.
• Corals typically grow
only one-half inch per
year.
A single coral polyp is a tiny animal
Check out a coral polyp
from different
perspectives!
Up close!
In cross section!
Corals are consumers!
• They may look like plants or tiny flowers
but….
• Corals use their tentacles to capture or
collect plankton from the surrounding
water
• In places where there is limited plankton,
corals have another way of getting fed…..
Corals often contain a
symbiotic algae in their tissues
called zooxanthellae
This symbiosis benefits both the
coral and the algae
• Coral provides the algae with a protected environment
and the compounds necessary for photosynthesis:
• carbon dioxide, produced by coral respiration, and
inorganic nutrients such as nitrates, and phosphates,
which are metabolic waste products of the coral.
• In return, the algae produce oxygen and help the coral to
remove wastes.
• They also supply the coral with organic products of
photosynthesis.
• These compounds, including glucose, glycerol, and
amino acids, are utilized by the coral as building blocks
in the manufacture of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates,
as well as the synthesis of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)
that forms the hard part of the reef
Zooxanthellae often are
critical elements in the
continuing health of reefbuilding corals. As much
as 90% of the organic
material they manufacture
photosynthetically is
transferred to the host coral
tissue!
There are other organisms that
build coral reefs
• Algae that
produce a
hard exterior
called
coralline
algae
• Sponges
• Other
invertebrates
like mollusks
Healthy reefs in Hawaii are often
algae-dominated
Given what you’ve learned about coral
reefs…..
• Where in the world do you think reefs
exist?
• What kind of environmental conditions do
they need to survive?
Take a few minutes to discuss your ideas with a
classmate sitting near you!
Abiotic (environmental) factors
are also important in defining
coral reefs
Reefs need:
• Sunlight
• Clear water so that the sunlight can
penetrate
• Temperatures in a range near 18°C
They are affected by currents
and wave action
Coral Reefs are located near
the equator
We do have reefs in the U.S.
Red dots represent the reef study sites of the Millennium Ecosystem Study
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, northwest
of the main Hawaiian Islands, is one the largest marine preserves
in the world and contains extensive coral reefs
The Papahānaumokuākea Marine
National Monument
• Created by President
Bush in 2006
• Encompasses
137,797 square miles
of the Pacific Ocean
(105,564 square
nautical miles) - an
area larger than all
the country's national
parks combined.
The Monument is part of
your natural heritage!
• The monument benefits from the most stringent
environmental protection and ongoing scientific
research
• The extensive coral reefs found in
Papahānaumokuākea - truly the rainforests of
the sea - are home to over 7,000 marine
species!
• It is a place of great cultural significance to the
Hawaiian people
What value, if any, are coral reefs to
humans?
• Reefs protect coastal areas
from storm surge by absorbing
the impact of wave and wind
action
• Coral reefs are also valuable
for commercial and sport
fishing, tourism and
recreational opportunities for
diving, boating, and
photography
• They have value as a natural
wilderness that provides
habitat for numerous speciessome of them endangered.
• Coral reefs also filter water and
trap sediments
Coral reefs are storehouses of genetic
resources with vast medicinal potential –
currently being researched are:
• a cancer therapy
made from algae
• a painkiller taken from
the venom in cone
snails
• antiviral drugs Ara-A
and AZT and the
anticancer agent AraC, developed from
extracts of sponges
Are there other reasons you
can think of to value coral
reefs? Why would Hawaiians
or other island cultures hold
them sacred?
Discuss these questions
with your classmates!
Acknowledgements
• Contributors to the NOAA CoRIS web site
including: R.D. Barnes (1987), R.S.K. Barnes
and Hughes (1999), Lalli and Parsons (1995),
Levinton (1995) and Sumich (1996)
• David A. Krupp, online lecture notes
• Andrew W. Bruckner, “Life Saving Products
from Coral Reefs”
• Photo credits: James Watt, Daniel Suthers,
Andy Collins, John Reed and Keoki Stender