Environmental Science Week 8 – Assignment 2

Environmental Science Week 8 – Assignment 2

Overview:

In this assignment, you will research and then analyze threats to and the protection of coral reefs, one of the most biologically diverse and threatened ecosystems on earth.

Instructions

Write a 3–5-page paper in which you:

· Explain why coral reefs are important to ocean life, humans, and the overall environment.

· Describe three major threats to coral reefs, including an explanation as to why these threats are occurring.

· Outline for each threat a strategy to protect the coral reefs (a total of three strategies).

· Explain for each strategy the benefits and costs of implementation.

· Determine for each strategy whether it needs to be voluntary or mandated by local, federal, or international law and policies.

· Recommend for each strategy how it can be enforced by local, federal, or international authorities.

· Use at least three academic resources, in addition to your textbook:

· Review the Week 7 discussion, Useful Resources on Coral Reefs, you can use the resources you identified in this discussion for the paper.

· Good places to start your research include  Online Library ,  Google Scholar , and government websites, such as the  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | U.S. Department of Commerce . Key terms likely to produce useful results include ocean acidification, coral bleaching, and ocean temperature.

· Reminder: Wikipedia and personal blogs do not qualify as quality resources.

Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:

· Use the  Coral Reefs Template [DOCX]   see page 2 below as a guide to writing your paper. Be sure to include all of the headings and address the questions underneath each heading. Also, refer to  Example of Coral Reefs Paper [DOCX] see page 3 below:

The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:

· Analyze the negative and positive impacts of human interaction with a specified ecosystem.

Note: To stimulate your thinking you may find it useful to review this sample paper on the protection of coral reefs. The sample paper shows you how a student successfully completed this assignment. This is included only to stimulate your thinking. You may choose to take a somewhat different approach. Do not use the language contained in the sample in your paper.

Coral Reefs Template

Use this template as a guide to writing your coral reefs paper. Be sure to include all of the headings and answer all of the questions underneath each heading.

· Why We Need Coral Reefs

· Based on your research, what have you learned about the benefits of coral reefs to ocean life, humans, and the overall environment?

· What are the similarities and differences between the benefits of each of these groups? 

· Threats to Coral Reefs

· Based on your research, what are the three major threats to coral reefs?

· Why did you select these three threats as major instead of other threats?

· Why are the major threats you selected occurring? 

· Strategies for Protecting Coral Reefs

· For each threat, what is one strategy to protect the coral reefs (identify a total of three strategies, one for each threat)?

· For each selected strategy, why is this the best strategy to protect coral reefs from the particular threat? 

· What are the benefits of each strategy?

· What are the costs of implementing each strategy?

· Voluntary or Mandated Protection Strategies

· For each strategy, should it be voluntary or mandated by local, federal, or international law and policies? 

· How did you make the voluntary versus mandated determination?

· Enforcement Methods

· How can each strategy be enforced by local, federal, or international authorities?  

· What are the challenges associated with enforcing each strategy?

· How can these challenges be minimized or eliminated?  

SAMPLE of PAPER DUE:

The Importance of Coral Reefs to the Environment

Why We Need Coral Reefs

Coral reefs create habitats that are arguably some of the most diverse on the planet. They help to protect our coastlines from the effects of storm surges due to tropical storms, they provide shelter and habitat for many different kinds of marine organisms, they are a source of nutrients for the ecological food chain, they act as a sink taking in carbon dioxide and storing it in their structures and they recycle nutrients as well (Queensland Museum, 1).

Threats to Coral Reefs

As important as these structures are, however, they face a variety of threats, both manmade and natural. Three that I will discuss in this paper include sedimentation from human coastal development, storm water runoff, agriculture and industry; the phenomenon of coral bleaching due to warming oceans and a change in the pH of the water; and micro-plastics from improper disposal and storm water runoff (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2). I will follow these with sections on strategies for protecting corals, whether they should be voluntary or mandated and a brief discussion of enforcement methods.

Sedimentation

One large threat that corals face is the literal covering of their structures by sediment. Called sedimentation, this process is often related to anthropogenic, or man-made, processes. As we develop our coastlines, we remove the vegetation that often holds the top soil in place. This can then wash into the ocean and collect in corals that are often found just off shore. Large river systems also carry large amounts of sediments from the watershed. Reefs in the Caribbean are highly susceptible to this threat as they are often low lying, close to shore and surround populated areas (Bégin, 3).

Coral Bleaching

Coral bleaching is another threat that corals face. Climate change has led not only to an increase in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and a warming of the atmosphere, it has also led to an increase in ocean temperatures as well. Corals build a skeleton structure around which they live. Indeed, healthy coral environments are often brown, green and reddish in color, which are the living organisms. When temperatures increase beyond their capability to survive, these organisms die off, leaving behind white structures underneath. This process is known as coral bleaching and their death leads to a collapse of the food web and the resulting ecosystem as well (Brown, 4).

Micro-plastic Pollution

A third threat corals face is pollution by micro-plastics. Anthropogenic trash often ends up in the ocean and the plastics of human life will slowly break apart over time into large and small particles that can enter the ocean ecosystem. This plastic pollution can block the sunlight needed for photosynthesis by plants, can entangle and be ingested by animals resulting in death or injury and can break and damage coral structures. Additionally, toxic substances can be released that can become part of the base of the ecosystem and work its way up to larger animals including humans that eat fish from these habitats (Reichert, 5).

Strategies for Protecting Coral Reefs

To counter the three threats I have mentioned, the literature pointed to several strategies. For the sedimentation issue, policies to enforce the protection of natural vegetation and reduce construction on barrier islands has been suggested (Bégin, 3). The benefit would be that more sediment would be maintained on the land and not end up in the ocean. Costs could be high in some areas for this, especially if new land has to be reclaimed, however, maintaining natural vegetation that holds the soil in place can be done cheaply with laws and regulations that could be implemented. Brown stressed the importance of fighting climate change through international treaties and moves to reduce greenhouse gas production (4). It is difficult to nail down a cost for this idea, as the authors point out that moving to cut greenhouse gases often costs more for developing countries to implement than more developed. In addition, there has to be political will on the part of the country and the population at large for any meaningful change to occur. The most difficult of the strategies would deal with micro-plastics. We still have not found a way to remove them from the ocean environment, though Reichert noted that there are efforts to find ways to collect and remove them (5). However, limiting the amount of plastic pollution that reaches our oceans is a first step. The point out that several communities in the Caribbean have allocated several million dollars a year to trash cleanup and recycling campaigns.

Voluntary or Mandated Protection Strategies

To follow through with the strategy to fight sedimentation mentioned, a combination of voluntary and mandated policies could be utilized. Gray notes that many local governments are developing coastal adaptation plans that are designed to protect the environment and land loss that include voluntary measures such as avoiding local plants or replanting areas on their own (6). Mandatory rules and regulations enforced by law can also be drafted for new development so that long-term conservation can be preserved. For the issue of coral bleaching, the long term drivers of climate change have to be addressed. Brown noted that treaties between countries with mandatory limits on greenhouse gases and money allocated towards greener energy will likely be the only solution in the long term (4). However, short term voluntary limits on energy use and conservation may be helpful as well. Finally, voluntary and mandated limits on plastic use, increased use of recycling and finding new alternatives to plastic can help to limit the micro-plastic pollution issue in the oceans (Reichert, 5).

Enforcement Methods

As Gray points out, communities are already finding ways to have local enforcement of land use laws aimed at reducing the destruction of local vegetation and limiting construction in vulnerable habitats (6). State and federal laws could supplement this, especially near reef systems that are extensive, such as the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The challenges, as the authors point out, are the cost involved in monitoring and enforcement, maintaining rules through changes in administrations and monitoring the health of the ecosystem and making changes as needed. For the issue of coral bleaching resulting from climate change, federal laws will likely have to be implemented. Unfortunately, as we have seen recently in the United States, different administrations have different views on the subject and can cut funding or eliminate policies year to year. Thus, a cohesive strategy may be very difficult to implement (National Research Council, 7). Finally, micro-plastics will take significant buy in from industry, investment in pollution control on local, state and federal levels and significant funding to monitor the current state of our oceans. Reef systems are often in International Waters or spread across many countries, thus cooperation and cross-jurisdictional cooperation and enforcement is also an issue as well. Treaties and agreements could help solve this issue, however (Reichert, 5).

Sources

1. Queensland Museum. No date. Biodiversity and the Great Barrier Reef. https://www.qm.qld.gov.au/microsites/biodiscovery/05human-impact/importance-of-coral-reefs.html

2. United States Environmental Protection Agency. 2018. Threats to Coral Reefs. https://www.epa.gov/coral-reefs/threats-coral-reefs

3. Chantale Bégin. 2016. Effects of Protection and Sediment Stress on Coral Reefs in Saint Lucia. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146855

4. B.E. Brown. 1997. Coral Bleaching: Causes and Consequences. https://doi.org/10.1007/s003380050249

5. Jessica Reichert. 2017. Responses of Reef Building Corals to Microplastic Exposure. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.11.006

6. Janice Gray. 2016. Trans-Jurisdictional Water Law and Governance. SCI200 Routledge 1st edition textbook available at https://www.strayerbookstore.com

7. National Research Council. 2011. America’s Climate Choices. https://doi.org/10.17226/12781