This is my final Oceanography power point which I needed to turn in by the end of my school year elective to determine my final grade!I received an "A"on my presentation.

2. Great Barrier reef Location
and cLimate
 The Great Barrier Reef is part of
the Pacific ocean and is located
off the North-Eastern coast of
Queensland, Australia. The
climate experienced in Great
Barrier reef is warm tropical
weather.
 It is sunny there year round
because the Great Barrier reefs
ecosystem is very sensitive to
sudden climatic changes. During
the winter months, humidity
levels are lower and the air is
much drier but it is still very
sunny at the Great Barrier reef.

3. aBiotic factors of the Great
Barrier reef
• All living organisms rely on abiotic
factors for a place to live in and to
thrive. The Great Barrier reef is an
example on how abiotic factors play a
role in sustaining communities of living
organisms.
• currents; The Great Barrier reef
has one main current that runs towards
the reef and is known as the Eastern
Australian current or EAC. Currents are
caused by the friction released by the
Coriolis affect, gravitational pulls, and
the earths wind patterns. The EAC
brings in tropical warm waters to the
Great Barrier reef, keeping the reef
waters warm.

4. more aBiotic factors
 LiGht; The Great Barrier reef is mostly shallow in depth allowing sunlight
to enter and feed the reef’s plants and coral . The deeper you dive into the
water the more blue everything appears to be because blue light waves
travel at the highest frequency and can penetrate the deepest into the water.
More living organisms are found where the most sunlight is received in the
reef. This is known as the photic zone, and most producers like algae are
found in the photic zone because they need sunlight to produce glucose.

5. temperature and coraL
Temperature is an abiotic factor that
drastically affects the Great Barrier
reef’s biotic factors such as all the
coral colonies that grow on the reef
floor.
Human pollution such as emitting
excessive amounts of green house
gases into the atmosphere, traps
excessive amounts of heat in the
troposphere.
High amounts of greenhouse gases
can prevent heat from escaping the Above there is a picture of a bleached
atmosphere and is one of the causes
of global warming. Global warming Acoral colony. Coral bleaching happens
causes climate temperatures to raise. s when the corals protective algae layers
die off and exposes the coral’s
The abnormally raising temperatures exoskeleton. The suspected cause for a
of the Great Barrier reef climate puts coral bleaching is one of the effects from
stress on the delicate coral colonies global warming. Coral colonies are very
that make the Great Barrier reef their
home. sensitive to sudden temperature
increases and stress out to point that the
colony loses its algae layers and dies off.

6. Biotic factors
 Biotic factors are all the populations of living breathing organisms you can find
interacting with each other as an aquatic community.
 coraL; See all that coral bellow you? Coral are in fact cnidarians and are related
to jellyfish. They are actually individual polyps (little invertebrates) that join
together into colonies. Certain coral colonies rely on there symbiotic relationship
with zooxanthellae (a type of algae) for food and protection and in return
zooxanthellae settles on the coral for a home . Zooxanthellae are single celled
organisms that use sunlight to produce nutrients, in other words, they are producers.
Zooxenthellae also gives the coral all the beautiful coloration you see.
zooxanthellae
Coral colonies

7. more Biotic factors
 All biotic factors are categorized in White tip shark
trophic levels. In other words, living
organisms have a role in the food chain
and in controlling populations to
maintain a balanced ecosystem.
 The white tip reef shark; is a carnivorous
fish and is considered a tertiary consumer in the
food chain. They control the population of
secondary consumers (like parrot fishes) that
can easily reproduce and overpopulate the
ecosystem. *White tip sharks are also
viviparous and their pups grow in the uteri and sea cucumBer
receive nourishment from a placenta. The
gestation period for a litter of pups is up to 5
months.*
 Sea cucumbers; is that sausage shaped,
leathery skinned creature you see on your right.
*They are known as the “vacuum cleaners” of
the sea because they are detritivores, meaning
that they feed on dead plant/animal matter and
Without sea cucumbers in the ecosystem the Great
debris that pollutes the ocean. In the food chain
Barrier reef would be polluted with excessive buildup
sea cucumbers are classified as scavengers.*
of dead matter. They clean the sand by eating detritus.

8. interestinG facts!
Crown of thorns
 The Crown of thorns starfish is Starfish
an invasive species of starfish
found in the Great Barrier reef.
The species is not native to the
Great Barrier and destroys coral
colonies. This star fish was
believed to be introduced by
humans to the Great Barrier
reef’s ecosystem around the
1960s.
 Not only does the Eastern
Australian current circulates
warm water to the Great Barrier
reef but also serves as a
migratory route for Leather
back sea turtles.
 Did you know that the Great
Barrier reef is the worlds largest
reef and covers an area larger
than Italy!
pacific BLue tanG

9. save the Great Barrier

reef!
Think about all the beautiful coral and sea life that
inhabit the Great Barrier reef. They all play a very
important role in their ecosystem. If you start
removing one of the species that inhabits the reef,
What do you think will happen? Perhaps that species
will go extinct and all the other species that rely on
that species will go extinct too. Sadly, all humans that
inhabit this planet interfere with the Great Barrier
reef’s ecosystem in everyday activities. Such as
burning fossil fuels each time we take a ride in our
car or dump waste into the ocean. The burning of
fossil fuels adds more greenhouse gases than needed
into the atmosphere. This is one of the causes of
global warming and affects all the living things living
on Earth.
 Scientists have been alarmed at the rate the global
temperatures have been raising in the past ten years.
The increasing climate temperatures of the Great
Barrier reef has been taking a toll on the living
organisms. The coral colonies that live in the Great
Barrier reef are dyeing off quickly from coral
bleaching. Without healthy coral colonies, the Great
Barrier reefs ecosystem can collapse and results in
the extinction of all these beautiful life forms.

10. save the Great Barrier
reef!
Without the Great the Barrier reef our ocean waters would be polluted
and lifeless. It is up to us to change our ways of using energy if we want to
save our Great Barrier reef. We could start by finding ways to lessen the
burning of fossil fuels. For example, instead of car dealers selling cars that
need gas for energy, they can sell rechargeable electric cars that create
almost zero pollution. Most people don’t go for electric cars because they
are too expensive to pay off. Once you think about it, you'll find out that
you’ll be spending more money on gas for car in a life time than spending a
good amount of money on a decent electric car once in your life time.
Another threat to the Great Barrier reef is waste being dumped into rain
water drains. Many people don’t realize that when they throw one piece of
litter in a water drain it will lead directly to the ocean and kill a sea creature
that gets trapped into the piece of litter. We can take action by simply
picking up our litter and picking up after irresponsible people who leave
their litter lying around. Although we can’t fully prevent trash from reaching
the ocean waters we can still contribute to protecting our Great Barrier reef
by simply picking up after ourselves. Before you think about doing
something that can possibly hurt our reef, think about how the Great Barrier
reef would look like with waste killing off all the beautiful life forms. By
taking action right now we can save the Great Barrier from major extinction
and our future generations will be able to enjoy the natural beauty of the
Great barrier reef.

11. Citation pa ge
Cathleen, Bester. "White tip reef
shark."
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gall
ery/descript/wtreefshark/wtreefsh
ark.html. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May
2012.
. "Human Impact on the Great Barrier
reef."
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/gc2sec7la
bgroup3/pollution. N.p., n.d. Web. 18
May 2012.
. "The Great Barrier reef."
www.australia.gov.au/. N.p., n.d. Web.
. "Sea Cucumbers."
18 May 2012. <www.australia.gov.au/>.
http://www.reef.edu.au/asp_pages/secb.as
p?FormNo=46. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May
2012.

12. Mor e citations
 Jason, Buchheim. "Coral Reef Bleaching." http://www.marinebiology.org/coralbleaching.htm. Copyright 1998,
http://www.marinebiology.org/coralbleaching.htm.
Odyssey Expeditions- Marine Biology Learning Center Publications, n.d. Web. 18 May 2012.
 . "Kelp forests." http://www.mesa.edu.au/habitat/kelp05.asp. Copyright 1998, Odyssey
Expeditions- Marine Biology Learning Center Publications, © MESA 1999 - 2011. Web. 18 May
2012.

13. T he End
My GBR mural on my room wall
By Jasmine Hernandez