Why are coral reefs so important?
Because 500 million people depend on coral reefs for their resources such as food and nutrition, revenue of finishers and tourism, and protection from storms and waves. coral reefs dissolve inorganic carbon in sea water, this carbon comes from burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and cement burning. ever year the ocean recycles about 2,300,00,000,000 PGC (porous graphite carbon) if you take a train carrying 2,300,000,000 PGC carts the train would stretch around the world 14 times! A lot of carbon every year just by the ocean alone.
why are we concerned?
Because at the rate we are burning carbon the coral reefs are deteriorating faster then they are building and are unable to produce fast enough causing them to break down faster. For example The parrotfish feeds primarily on the algae matters which they remove from chunks of coral that are shredded from the reef. They crush the coral with their grinding teeth so as to digest the polyps. but while they feed parrot fish break off more and more coral doing so because coral reefs use calcium carbonate to build stronger structures. Using calculations by the rate coral reefs are breaking down they could be potentially gone in 2050 or maybe even sooner.
If you would like to learn more about ocean acidification you can watch this youtube video linked here> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwQnweQWaFQ
and can also read about it in the following link below
http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-ocean-acidification/
cuddlefishcutie 