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The Coral Reef Ecosystem
BIO/101
The Coral Reef Ecosystem
Coral reefs have symbiotic and mutualistic associations with their occupants that generate biodiversity in the coral reef ecosystem. Algae and other various creatures supply the corals with food stuff, energy, and defense against predators and in return, the corals supply protection, shelter, and living space (Simon, Reece, & Dickey, 2010). The coral reef environment is among the richest in biodiversity. They are believed to be animals which are fixed to the sea bottom however come in contact with the atmosphere around them. They take advantage of several symbiotic associations with various creatures. One of the more significant symbiotic associations is that of the algae and the coral reefs. Algae or zooxanthellae are one-celled eukaryotic creatures which are sensitive to salt, light, and high temps. The algae live in the coral and utilize sun rays to transform energy into food energy or photosynthes
1. BIO 101 Week 5 Learning Team
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Sample content
The Coral Reef Ecosystem
BIO/101
The Coral Reef Ecosystem
2. Coral reefs have symbiotic and mutualistic associations with their occupants that
generate biodiversity in the coral reef ecosystem. Algae and other various
creatures supply the corals with food stuff, energy, and defense against predators
and in return, the corals supply protection, shelter, and living space (Simon, Reece,
& Dickey, 2010). The coral reef environment is among the richest in
biodiversity. They are believed to be animals which are fixed to the sea bottom
however come in contact with the atmosphere around them. They take advantage
of several symbiotic associations with various creatures. One of the more
significant symbiotic associations is that of the algae and the coral reefs. Algae or
zooxanthellae are one-celled eukaryotic creatures which are sensitive to salt, light,
and high temps. The algae live in the coral and utilize sun rays to transform energy
into food energy or photosynthesis. The specific circumstances in which the corals
and algae should live, restricts the quantity of atmospheres which they can live.
They can just reside in warm waters with temps varying from seventy seven to
eighty four degrees Fahrenheit. These types of limitations make the corals
extremely susceptible to the smallest modifications to their atmosphere. The
human influence also presents a danger to the continuous survival of the coral
reefs. Human actions for example over-fishing, seaside development and climatic
change a few of the methods in which the coral reefs are afflicted. In spite of these
types of damaging set-backs, they supply several creatures with a useful home in
order to reside and is among the most useful ecosystems on the planet.
There are many different animals and plants that comprise the Coral Reef. Each of
these types has got an important role to perform in the coral reef ecosystem. Coral
reefs are frequently known as the rain forests of the sea since the quantity of
organism they help is similar to that of terrestrial rainforest. The food chain of any
environment consists of manufacturers who produce the energy and people who
consume the energy. Coral itself is a good example of manufacturer in the food
chain. There are about seven hundred types of coral which amazingly represents
roughly a quarter of all known sea life and yet coral reefs constitute less than one
percent of the world’s oceans. It’s important to know that coral need to eat
certain things such as algae and utilize photosynthesis to assist manufacture the
energy most of the animals and plants required to exist. Undoubtedly, the great
majority of plant life in the sea consists of microscopic planktonic algae which
comprise the basis of the whole marine food chain. The wealth of plant life in turn
helps numbers of small moving animals that feed on the moving plants, and a few
of these are eventually swept all around coral reefs. Together with the nutrients
provided by their associated zooxanthellae, coral polyps also fulfill their nutrition
needs by eating on small zooplankton hanging in the continuous movement of sea
water which bathes coral reefs. There are a lot of various kinds of plankton which
eat the coral reefs. The lobster in the coral reef eats the plankton. The plankton
and lobsters are the customers in the coral reefs food chain since they feed off
other life. One more food chain which is linked with coral reef environment is the
3. putter fish that feeds on the coral, and eaten by the barracuda that is eaten by the
shark. Just imagine a coral reef having high coral biodiversity, which contain
branching-form, massive, pillar and finger corals in addition to seafans as well as
other gentle corals. In case a black-band disease was to descend on this reef,
odds are high that sufficient corals would live through to supply food and protection
for the other deep sea animals.
Specialized feeding tentacles are grabbed and handed down to the gut for
digestion of food, with the resulting nutrients shared by the zooxanthellae. In many
hard coral varieties the tentacles are utilized just at night, when they are
comparatively safe from starving coral reef fishes. Coral reef fishes are possibly the
most obvious, decorative, and exciting of all of the numerous animals which live in
the coral reef biome. Coral reef communities are quite efficient at keeping and
recycling the nutrients obtained from all resources. The extremely effective
recycling program provides for the sustenance and development of coral reefs in
the middle of waters so stripped of dissolved nutrients which they are also known
as biological deserts.
Marine Anemones, marine turtles, and anemone clown fish are well-suited for their
atmosphere and are important contributors to the coral reef environment. Their
existence plays a role in the huge biolog
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