Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Hello. My name is Sarah Stress and I did my
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presentation on causes and effects of coral bleaching.
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So coral bleaching happens when corals lose their colors and
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turned white.
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Um, this is when the ocean environment changes so much
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that it causes, uh, the corals to lose important allergy
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and to turn white.
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Um, this can happen because of an increase in water
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temperature, which is the leading cause of coral bleaching.
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And coral bleaching can also happen because of low tides,
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pollution or too much sunlight, some effects of coral bleaching.
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Um, it has a huge impact on fish communities.
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Um, almost everything in a coral reef ecosystem depends on
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corals, and they provide a source of food and shelter
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for multiple different types of fish and degraded reefs are
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less able to provide the ecosystem with services that we
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depend on.
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So, for example, fishing and a timeline of what coral
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bleaching looks like now and what it will look like
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in the future.
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Um, currently, there are more than 75% of coral reefs
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in the Atlantic that are threatened, and this number has
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gone up by 30% in the past 10 years and
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27 countries and territories are identified as highly vulnerable to
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reef loss.
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Nearly all coral reefs will be gone in 2050 and
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scientists estimate that about 70 to 90% of all coral
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reefs will disappear by then.
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This is mainly a result of the warming ocean waters,
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ocean acidity and pollution, and by 2100 there will be
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no suitable coral left.
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And this will cause nearly all living coral reef habitats
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to die off.
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And this is because the ocean environments will be too
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harsh for corals to survive.
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Yeah, some solutions that can help stop this process are
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super simple.
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I mean, one is just picking up your trash.
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Trash can be very harmful to coral reefs, and disposing
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of trash properly can help avoid it being blown or
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washed away into waterways and oceans.
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And another solution is when you go diving, don't touch
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the coral.
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This is because stirred up sediment can smother the corals,
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and also they are super, super delicate, so touching one
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can cause some pieces to break off.
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And even if you don't live near an ocean, you
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can still make a difference.
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And one of the main difference is that you can
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make is minimize the use of fertilizers.
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Um, the overuse of fertilizers on lawns can go into
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waterways and eventually end up in oceans.
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And this can pollute, pollute the water and can harm
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coral reefs.
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Thank you for listening.