Coral Reef Refuge Areas

It is no secret that coral reefs around the globe are at a very high risk of being damaged and/or destroyed due to rapid climate change and overfishing. In an article that can be found here, there are efforts being made to find areas of the ocean where reefs and the species that are found in them can take refuge and revitalize themselves regardless of the inevitable climate change that is happening.
This is a picture of the reefs of Northern Mozambique.
Source: http://www.scubamozambique.com/images/content/images/colourfulreef1.jpg

In this specific article, the ocean of Northern Mozambique have been found to be able to support systems that are in need of a place to thrive due to their original home being altered by either rising ocean temperatures or over fishing. The waters in this area are cool enough for the species to live but also have enough light that the plants need to thrive. There is a lot of environmental variability in this area as long as the populations of different species stay at a viable level. An example of the article was that there needs to be a certain number of predator fish such as trigger fish because they eat sea urchins and if there are too many sea urchins, that can be damaging to the reefs themselves.
The secret to healthy reefs is balance and that is what the scientists that are working of these refuge areas in Mozambique are really striving towards.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Deeper Look into Cosmetics- Do We Really Know What's In Our Products?

Image
This week we are looking at cosmetic products and the chemicals they have in them that are turning out to be a lot worse for our bodies than I would have expected. Our instructions were to choose a product we use frequently and look more deeply into the ingredients. I chose to take a look at the face cleanser that I use twice a day, Cetaphyl Gentle Skin Cleanser. I have used this face wash every day for about 5 years now so I figured this was a great opportunity to find out what I was putting on my face all the time. I was pretty nervous but the results were a lot better than I initially thought. Here's what I found: Ingredients in Cetaphyl Gentle Skin Cleanser: Cetyl alcohol Propylene glycol Sodium lauryl sulfate Stearyl alcohol Methylparaben Propylparaben Butylparaben This product scored an overall score of 3 on EWG’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database. The most concerning ingredients include Propylparaben and Butylparaben which both had a score of 7 b...
Read more

Ecological Footprint Reduction

Image
Hello! My name is Zoe Haywood and as a senior at Western Washington University studying business and sustainability, I would like to consider myself an environmentally conscious person. The reality is, telling that to yourself is the easy way out. We tend to go about our lives in the same ways with the same little habits paying thinking our actions are so small they don't really matter, right? The thought of walking flashes across our mind as we fasten our seat belts; our shoes crunch on a candy wrapper as we walk to class but we just keep walking, one foot in front of the other. The trash cans scattered about campus are often overflowing with paper coffee cups that we all are very aware should be in the recycle but for some reason, we can't be bothered to carry that empty cup until there is a place for it to be recycled. It's much more convenient for you at that moment to throw it into that bin right there where you know you'll leave it never to really think about it...
Read more

Ecological Footprint Re-Calculation

Image
At the beginning of the quarter, I calculated my ecological footprint and these are the results that I got: If everyone in the entire world lived the same way as I did, it would take 4.1 planet Earths to sustain everyone. This is not a good thing! I constructed some goals to attempt to reduce this number. My goals were: I will start a compost bin in my apartment with my two roommates so that our food waste isn't just thrown in the trash but instead can be carried on into a cyclical system of putting the food back just where it came from in the first place.  On the first day of class, the alliteration of Meatless Monday really stuck with me so once a week, every Monday, I will stay away from any meat at all seeing as that is where a fair amount of my impact is rooted. The food that I choose to purchase is more frequently than not something that's a little more on the convenient side rather than the eco-conscious side. With that being said my final goal for the quarter wi...
Read more