Transcript Climate Change and the Reef (introductory)

What is climate
change?
By burning fossil fuels and other activities, humans are
creating a thick blanket of greenhouse gases around the
Earth. This blanket of gases is trapping heat from the
sun and warming up the planet. This is called climate
change.
Watch animation: What is
climate change? (2 min 37 sec)
Climate change
impacts on the Great Barrier Reef
Which future will we choose?
Climate change is changing our Reef. If carbon dioxide continues to rise, the Great Barrier
Reef could look very different. It is up to us to determine what the Reef’s future will be.
Low
CO2 levels
Moderate
CO2 levels
High
CO2 levels
+ 1 °C
+ 2 °C
≥ +3 °C
Watch animation: Impacts of climate change (2 min 36 sec)
Coral bleaching
Our warming seas
Sea temperature increases of just a couple
degrees can cause corals to bleach and die.
Without corals, the future of reefs and the
marine life they harbour is at risk.
Watch animation: Coral
bleaching 1 (2 min 41 sec) or Coral
bleaching 2 (2 min 38 sec)
Ocean acidification
One-third of the carbon dioxide we produce ends up in the ocean. When carbon dioxide is
mixed with water it creates carbonic acid. Human activities are making the oceans more
acidic than they have been in hundreds of thousands of years.
More acidic oceans will mean:
Corals and animals with calcium shells and
skeletons may grow slower (coral growth on the
Great Barrier Reef has already declined 14 per cent
since 1990)
Shells and corals may become more brittle and
breakable
Watch animation: Ocean acidification (1 min 36 sec)
Corals:
living history books of the seas
Unlocking climate secrets
from corals
Long-lived corals growing on the Great
Barrier Reef are used to help construct
global climate records.
Core samples from corals up to 400 years
old show that:
1. temperatures have warmed
2. rainfall has become more variable and
coral growth has declined
3. human land use has increased the
sediment carried out to the Reef.
Something fishy going
on here
Animal Impact
Climate change is impacting marine animals and
many fish species will be affected.
1. Fish that live in corals or anemones could lose their
homes.
2. Coral-eating fish could lose their food supplies.
3. Baby fish may not be able to find their way home as
changing ocean chemistry interrupts their senses.
4. Sharks and fish could lose nursery habitat due to sea
level rise.
Sea turtles
Gender bender
Increasing temperatures are changing
the proportion of boys and girls in sea
turtle families.
As temperatures rise, more female
hatchlings are born leading to an
unbalanced population.
If temperatures get too high, the fragile
eggs won’t hatch at all.
Seabirds are feeling the
heat
Signs of decline
Climate change has been blamed for dramatic declines
in seabird populations on the Great Barrier Reef and
with tens of thousands of seabirds failing to breed due to
food shortages caused by warming waters.
As climate change warms coastal waters, fish move
further away trying to find cooler water and seabirds
have difficulty finding food.
Sometimes seabirds can’t find enough fish to feed their
chicks and in cases of extreme weather, none of the
chicks survive.
A resilient reef is a
healthy reef
Just as a healthy person is better able to cope with an
illness, a healthy reef is better able to cope with the
impacts of climate change.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority is working
with schools, tourism operators, Traditional Owners,
government and industry to ensure the Reef is as healthy
as possible.
What you can do…
Everyone can help keep our Reef healthy by:
1. Using less energy
2. Reducing, reusing and recycling
3. Disposing of waste properly
4. Planting native trees and vegetation
5. Keeping drains free from chemicals and
rubbish
6. Encouraging others to adopt reef-friendly
practices.