The Effect of Pollution on Coral Reefs

Rationale/Objectives/Purpose:
To determine the effects of water pollution and ozone depletion on coral reefs.
Time Required:
  • One or two weeks for students to do research on their own time.
  • Several days for students to present their projects orally to the class.

Safety Issues:
None


Materials:
None


Procedures:
  1. Divide the class into groups of three. Each group will be researching a different coral reef (given in teacher background).
  2. One person in each group will research the effects that water pollution, air pollution, and ozone depletion have on the coral reef. What problems does each cause? Are they reversible problems? What kind of reef do you have?
  3. Another person in each group can research the types of coral that are in the reef. Draw pictures and obtain photographs of the different coral. Also, describe how coral grows, how long it takes, and why coral reefs are important.
  4. The third person can research the kind of life that is dependent on the coral reef. How would it effect the ecosystem if the reef dies and how is the damage that has already been done affecting the life on and around the coral reef? How can we keep the coral reefs healthy?
Assessment:
Grade their presentations.
Extensions:
Get online to one of the sites listed below and follow what scientists are doing.
Internet Links:
Check out our links page.
Background:
Tell the students to have fun with their presentations and try to be creative in how they present their information.

Several large reefs are:
  • Florida Keys
  • Bahamas
  • Caribbean
  • Belize
  • Hawaii
  • Great Barrier Reef in Austrailia
  • Palau, Micronesia
  • Papau New Guinea
  • Okinawa, Japan

Several Types of coral reefs are:
  • Fringing
  • Barrier
  • Atolls
  • Bank
  • Patch

The four groups of coral are:
  • Fire corals
  • Gorgonians
  • Stony corals
  • Black corals

Two good reference books on coral reefs are:
  • The Greenpeace Book of Coral Reefs by Sue Wells and Nick Hanna
  • Reef Coral Identification by Paul Humann

Key Words:
coral, reefs