Intro to Coral Reef Bleaching - Lab Report Example

The brown colour comes from zooxanthellae. They’re ecologically important and have high biodiversity, which serves as a storage of rich genetic resources. Coral reefs are found in about 100 countries and are home to over 25% of the marine population and are the world's most fragile ones. They are topographically complex. Thousands of species of fish and invertebrates live in association with reefs, because of their complexity. For example, hundreds of colonial invertebrate species are found living on the undersides of platy corals in the Caribbean Sea.

Coral bleaching is the whitening of diverse coral colonies. It happens as the reaction of the loss of symbiotic zooxanthellae, residing within corals, or a reduction in their photosynthetic pigments. Factors causing coral bleaching include various anthropogenic and natural variations in the environment including sea temperature, solar irradiance, sedimentation, xenobiotics, sub-aerial exposure, inorganic nutrients, freshwater dilution, and epizootics. Coral bleaching is caused by both low as well as high levels of salinity. Low salinity level originates from seawater dilution that is a result of high precipitation events or storm runoff. High salinity levels are produced by the desalination plant operations. Copper accumulation is the dominant trait of Aiptasia pallida. They are sensitive towards the relevant copper concentrations. Hence they may be useful in the bio-monitoring of copper-polluted environments.

‘The increase or decrease in the level of salinity affects photosynthesis responses thus decreases the population of sea anemone Aiptasia pallida, containing zooxanthellae, resulting in increased bleaching.