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| Sunday, 19 February 2006 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Great Barrier Reef : World's largest marine park The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is the world's largest marine park. It is one of the most visited regions in the country, and is made up of over 3,000 individual reef systems and coral cays (low islets). It is included in the World Heritage List in recognition of its outstanding natural universal values.
It is the world's largest World Heritage Area, extending upto 2,000 kilometres, and covering an area of 35 million hectares on the north-east continental shelf of Australia. It is probably the best known protected marine area in the world. The Great Barrier Reef's great diversity(variety) reflects the maturity of the ecosystem, which has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. It is the world's most extensive coral reef system and is one of the world's richest areas in terms of diversity of fauna.
The Great Barrier Reef area contains more than just coral reefs. It also contains extensive areas of seagrass, mangrove, soft bottom communities and island communities. Contrary to popular belief, the reef is not a continuous barrier, but a broken maze of coral reefs and coral cays. It includes some 2,800 individual reefs, of which 760 are fringing reefs. These reefs range in size, from less than one hectare to more than 100,000 hectares, and in shape, from flat platform reefs to elongated ribbon reefs.The Great Barrier Reef provides habitats for many diverse forms of marine life. There are an estimated 1,500 species of fish, and more than 300 species of hard, reef-building corals. More than 4,000 mollusc species and over 400 species of sponges have been identified.
Other well-represented animal groups include anemones, marine worms, crustaceans (prawns, and crabs) and echinoderms (starfish and sea urchins). The extensive seagrass beds are an important feeding ground for the dugong, a mammal species internationally listed as endangered. The reef also supports a wide variety of fleshy algae that are heavily grazed by turtles, fish, sea urchins and molluscs. The reef contains nesting grounds of world significance for the endangered green and loggerhead turtles. It is also a breeding area for humpback whales, which come from the Antarctic, to give birth to their young, in the warm waters.
There are many different types of coral, some are slow growing and live to be hundreds of years old, others grow faster. The colours of coral are created by algae. Only live coral is coloured, dead coral is white. The ideal environment for coral is shallow warm water, where there is a lot of water movement, plenty of light, where the water is salty and low in nutrients. Reefs are sensitive to climate change, to changes in patterns of water movement, and to physical damage - so problems like global warming, El Nino, the building of moorings or breakwaters and any additional nutrients running off land from human habitation may well have a negative effect on the reef system, and thus on the sea and land animals which depend upon it for survival.
Tourism may also have a negative impact, with fragile corals broken by reef walking, dropped anchors or by boats dropping fuel and other polluting material. Even the number of people in the water with the associated run-off of sweat and suntan lotions, may well have a negative impact on the fragile reef environment. The latest problem the reef is facing is bleaching, which has led to corals dying in large numbers. This phenomenon is not exclusive to Queensland's Great Barrier Reef, but has been observed on reefs throughout the world. It is thought the bleaching has been caused by rises in water temperature related to the El Nino effect, although the evidence is not conclusive. Even with these problems and challenges, the Great Barrier Reef is
still one of the natural wonders of the world - an environment of
extraordinary beauty and richness, with a diversity of plant, animal and
sea life. This is why it is essential that humans conserve and preserve
it, and maintain it as part of Australia's natural heritage. |
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