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What can I say? You just can
not beat a coral reef for its sheer beauty of form and the diversity of
life that can be found in a relatively small area. It is no wonder that
anyone who has ever laid faced down over such a sight becomes enchanted
with reefs. Once enchanted though, the real adventure of discovery
begins. I will admit that it took me a few years to calm down enough to
where I could look beyond the corals and begin to see the reef for what
it really is, another planet full of alien life forms in such diversity
and function that I am not too sure if we will ever fully discover and
understand what a coral reef truly entails. Put your face mask within a
few inches of a reef wall and the sheer number of species that can be
seen within the frame of your mask will blow your mind. Take the time
and pick out one small animal to study, and you probably have just
found a new career. Any given animal family that lives in the ocean
most likely has more species in it than you have time left on this
planet to study.
Just as with any reef, the corals here have to compete with algae. Being near shore, this means the reef is subject to shore based nutrient run
off. Normaly this only becomes a problem when mankind adds additional
pollutants through sediment run off, farming fertilizors and industrial
waste water. If not too extreme, the reefs algae can be kept under
control even under most of these circumstances. It is when through the
collection of herbivore species of fish and invertebrates does the reef
start to sucumb to the algae. The hardest hit areas are of course,
those closest to the shore.
Over the last few years, I have noticed that during the
rainy season (Oct - Feb) the algae is very prolific. I assume this is
due to the near constant rain water flushing nutrients into the ocean
and driving the explosive growth of all algae species. A few months
into the dry season, and there is a significant decline as the algae
uses up the nutrients and the remaining herbivores are able to clean up
quite a bit of the original growth from the wet season. This reef seems
to be on a very delicate balance between the wet and dry seasons.
Should the human population continue to increase, or an industry
establishes itself nearby, I am sure this reef will find itself in
serious trouble quickly if the nutrient load should increase by even
the slightest of margins.
Application within the Reef Keeping Hobby
- The above photo shows what a typical coral encrusted
outcropping or boulder looks like. I find it interesting to note that
while this may look like a typical reef aquarium set up, all of the
species shown are all stony corals. A good clue as to how we should
stock our aquariums and avoid mixing not only the soft corals, but the
more aggressive stony corals as well.
The Human Factor -
While pollution and nutrient run off are the largest factors
concerning the health of the reef, there are also a great many day to
day individual activities that compound what the corals must endure.
Below is a typical scene when a boat anchor is dropped with no regard
as to what lies below.
Please take a moment and
consider supporting any one of the projects listed within. Thank you.
This mirror is being hosted with the permissions of the original content creator for preservation and educational purposes.
