rainforest of the sea

If I ask you to picture a scene underwater what would come to your mind? 1) The beautiful, majestic coral teeming with beautifully coloured fishes or 2)a dead sea with hardened ground and no life?

Before I go on,
Do you know coral reef, called the rainforest of the sea house one of the most diverse ecosystem in the world and is largest structures made by living organisms? (Coral reefs are living structure) Unfortunately, Coral reefs that took millions of years to build have been disappearing within just decades as a result of human activities.

This video makes a summary of coral reef:



The greatest collection of coral reef is located at the north-east coast of Australia, the Great Barrier reef. Does that location strike a bell? Yeap, the great barrier reef is located close to Queensland, the land currently suffering from flood. As water floods into the seas west of the reef, it inevitably freshens the environment around the reef; which is not good news.

Freshwater kills corals.

Pesticides, herbicides, fertilisers and sediment - mud - are washed off the farms, into the rivers and then onto the reef. Floodwater, with is cargo of mud and nutrients, is pouring into the sea from the Fitzroy and other riversThe fertilisers do in the sea what they do on land - stimulate the growth of plants.But here, that is a problem, as the marine plants cover growing coral, choking it to death

Not only are properties destroyed, human lives lose, even the marine life suffer!

For more info: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12190895

Back to my inital question: whichever picture you had in mind. You were right. However, the former scene is slowly disappearing, replaced by the latter.

I hope you found this post interesting and helpful.

Regards,
Sharon