大堡礁你還好么

05-16

中文字：715,建議閱讀時間：1分鐘；英文字：478

What is the

Great Barrier Reef, you may hear about it on the news when they are talking

about the effects of climate change but you might not know what it is. First

thing to know is that it is great in the both meanings of the word, great as it

is amazing sight to see and great as in it is huge. the size of the Great

Barrier Reef is bigger then most countries combined it stretches 2,300

kilometres over 900 islands and is 344,400 square meters, this is the largest

coral reef in the world and can be seen from space.

The location of the Great Barrier Reef is in Queensland Australia』s, since the

Great Barrier Reef is so beautiful it does attract people from all over the

world. Tourism brings Australia 5 -6 billion Australian dollars every year. The

Reef is protected by a group called Great Barrier Reef Marine Park which help

protect the reef and try to stop further damage done by humans. While the reef

is ancient it has its place in religion mainly with the Australian Aborigines

who use the reef for cultural purposes and for spirituality. The Great Barrier

Reef is one of the seven wonders of the world for its size, beauty and the

amount of life that lives in and around the reef. In 1981 the Barrier Reef was

made part of World Heritage Site

Since the

Great Barrier Reef is so large the amount of life that it holds is very

different and very vast, the reef holds 10% of the worlds fish since this is a

perfect place for the fish to breed and even give birth. The reef is made up of an organism called

coral polyps, which are tiny soft-bodied organisms that are closely related to

jelly fish and sea anemones, the base is hard and is a protective shell called

calicle which form the structure that we know called coral reefs.

Life that has been recorded on the reef are:

· 30 species of whale, dolphin and porpoises

· 6 species of sea turtle

· 215 species of birds

· 17 species of sea snake

· 1,500 species of fish

· 330 species of ascidians

Threats to the reef

Climate change is one of the most dangerous threats, since the temperature of the water

is changing and effecting the life that needs to be at a certain temperature.

If you have ever kept a marine fish tank you will know that the slightest thing

to change from water temperature, Ph balance and too much salt will kill

everything in the marine tank, It』s the same for the Great Barrier Reef. When

the temperature becomes too high it becomes too hot for the microalgae to live

and coral bleaching will occur which will kill off any animal that lives in or

on the coral

中文翻譯：

啥是「大堡礁」呢？當你在聽政府、學者討論氣候變化時，你可能聽說過它，但是你未必真正了解它。首先，你需要知道它的了不起有兩重維度：其一是視覺體驗，其二是它的規模大小。大堡礁的大超過了其他任何國家加起來暗礁的大小。它延展了2300千米，超過900個島嶼，佔地344400平方米，是世界上最大的珊瑚礁，即使在太空中，也能看到它的身影。

大堡礁位於澳大利亞的昆士蘭，世界各地的人們都為了一睹其風姿，慕名來到此處。為此，旅遊業每年可以為澳大利亞帶來50-60億澳元的收入。大堡礁的日常維護由大堡礁公園承擔，同時也避免進一步得人為破壞。然而，暗礁由於其自身的悠久感，它在宗教上也佔有一席之地，特別是澳大利亞土著居民，他們會將暗礁用於文化與靈性的傳播。由於其美麗、規模之大以及依此而生的生命數量，大堡礁被視為世界七大奇蹟之一。1981年大堡礁被列入世界文化遺產。

由於大堡礁偉岸的規模，依靠其生存的生物體的種類與數量也相當廣泛。由於大堡礁獨特的造型結構為魚類提供了完美的繁殖場所，因此大堡礁處涵蓋了世界上10%的魚類。暗礁是由一種有機體——珊瑚蟲演變而來的，它是一種軟體生物，與水母、海葵是近親，它有堅硬的保護殼，如同杯狀體，這層殼就是我們所熟知的珊瑚礁。

生存在其周圍的生物體有：

· 30種鯨類、海豚以及鼠海豚

· 6種海龜

· 215種鳥類

· 17種海蛇

· 1500多種魚類

· 330種海鞘

暗礁面臨的處境

氣候變化是暗礁面臨得最大威脅，由於水溫的變化，會引起海洋中生物生存環境的變化。如果你曾經養過海水魚類，你就會明白只要稍微改變水溫、PH值、以及鹽度，就能輕而易舉殺死魚缸中的一切生物，以此類推，同樣適用於大堡礁的生存環境。如果水溫變得很高，對於微藻類生物的生存就會變得極其艱難，珊瑚白化也會持續發生，進而殺死以此為生的生物體。