If coral disappears, what will happen?
The situation of coral reefs around the world is in a critical state due to climate change that is becoming more severe every day. Coral is considered an important ecosystem that has many benefits. It is both a refuge for aquatic animals and a source of fisheries for humans. If one day corals disappear, what will happen to the world?
What is coral?
Coral is a marine organism that belongs to the group of invertebrates. The body is soft. It has tentacles with needle-like tips that protrude to catch prey that are larvae of various animals floating in the water as food. Coral has a layer of limestone coating its body, making the external structure strong. It also has beautiful colors, making areas with a lot of coral reefs become tourist attractions that many tourists visit.
For the most part, coral tends to be in groups of coral or coral reefs. Each coral that comes together will create a structure in the form of limestone in a different shape. Each type of coral takes a very long time to grow, depending on factors and the environment, such as water temperature and light. It grows well in areas with clean water, relatively hard sea conditions or little change, relatively high salinity, enough light, and a suitable temperature of about 20-29 degrees Celsius. Coral can grow for up to 500 years.
Benefits of Coral
Coral has many benefits and importance. It can be considered an important ecosystem of the sea or ocean. The benefits of coral are as follows:
1. A habitat or food source
Coral or coral reefs are like a tropical forest because they have a complex ecosystem with a high diversity of species. Both plant and animal life often use coral reefs as a breeding ground, spawning ground, nursery ground, shelter and feeding ground. Many types of economic fish are also found in coral reefs. Fishermen in some areas with coral reefs often hunt for aquatic animals or marine animals directly on the coral reefs.
2. A tourist attraction
Because coral reefs have a variety of beautiful colors, they have attracted a lot of attention from both domestic and international tourists. In addition to being a place to relax, coral reefs are also a place for activities for tourists to visit the coral reefs.
3. A barrier to prevent coastal erosion
Coral reefs help protect coastal communities from storm waves and erosion from waves, both of which tend to increase when faced with rising sea levels.
4. A building material
In some countries, coral stones are still used to make lime to mix with cement for construction. Using coral as a construction material will damage a lot of corals. This is a serious disadvantage. In Thailand, corals are not allowed to be used as construction materials.
5. As medicine
Currently, scientists have been researching important drugs for treating diseases, especially anti-cancer substances. These drugs are likely to be found in corals as well as in many coral reef organisms, such as sponges, soft corals, sea fans, barnacles, sea cucumbers, etc. In addition, it has been found that some corals, such as sea anemone corals (Goniopora spp.), have pores similar to human bones. Therefore, this type of coral is used to make artificial bones to treat patients with broken bones.
What if coral disappears!
Climate change is getting more and more severe every day. Corals are starting to bleach more and more. If one day all corals disappear in the ocean, the world will definitely be severely affected. Without corals, many aquatic animals and plants may become extinct because they have no place to breed and shelter. Communities along the coast may be damaged by sea waves because there are no coral reefs to slow the waves. And of course, humans are definitely affected, whether it is in terms of fisheries, disasters, and loss of food sources.
Global warming is currently affecting life on Earth more and more every day. Some animals and plants are also becoming more extinct. At the moment, we can hardly change the global temperature that is increasing every day. But we can still help prevent it from getting worse.
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