To some, they’re the prime spot for an underwater adventure. For others, they’re the best part of documentaries that take place underwater. But for the many species of fish and local communities who depend on them, they are the fabric of life. 

Reefs are home to one quarter of the ocean’s biodiversity even though they only cover a tiny percentage of the ocean floor. Nealy 1500 species of reef-building coral alone make up their infrastructure. And contrary to popular belief, corals are actually species of animals, not plants or rocks.

In a sense, coral reefs represent a microcosm of the ocean at large. Like the ocean, reefs have immense economic value for local communities who depend directly on the reefs for ecotourism and indirectly on the reefs for the fish that swim on or around reefs. Over 300 million people depend on reefs, and over 50 million depend on reefs for food. Perhaps the greatest and most unsung value of the reefs are the medicinal benefits that we are just beginning to explore and understand. Like rainforests, reefs have an array of unknown compounds with promising medical applications.

Also like the ocean, their biodiversity has suffered at the hands of unscrupulous fisherman: the exotic tropical fish that swim on reefs are in high demand as pets, and poachers use either dynamite or cyanide to stun the fish without regard for other organisms that make their home on the reef. 

Climate change has also affected reefs. Both higher temperatures and global warming can cause coral reef to go through a process known as bleaching, wherein increased temperatures, acidity, or a number of other factors can cause the coral to turn white and die. The death of the habit means the death (or forced migration) of the species, and bleaching incidents can reverberate throughout marine ecosystems. 

To protect and rejuvenate coral reefs is both a complicated and simple task for everyday citizens to undertake. On the one hand, climate change poses problems for reefs that no one person will be able to completely mediate. At the same time, it’s easy to help stave off some of the other more direct problems. For one, avoid purchasing coral jewelry. Remember: corals are animals, and purchasing them is like purchasing the pelt of an endangered land animal. Avoiding exotic fish in pet stores is another way to reduce the demand for exotic and endangered pets caught with dynamite and cyanide. As beautiful as they are, protecting the reefs shouldn’t be a hard sell.

[Turtle in the Coral Reef Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Green_turtle_swimming_over_coral_reefs_in_Kona.jpg]

[Bottle in the Coral Reef Credit: http://www.messersmith.name/wordpress/2009/09/25/]