Tourist magnets
Reefs, blue green lagoons and sandy beaches are attractions for tourist and provide a source of income, which is important especially to the non-developed countries. Locals find an occupation within the tourist industry.
Wave protection
Reefs are a natural protection against large ocean waves, which can cause devastations in villages. Furthermore, islands and beaches erode without reefs.
Reefs as resources for pharmaceutical ingredients
Organisms such as algae, soft corals, sea cucumbers or sea squirts are resources of pharmaceuticals. Prostaglandin, for example, stimulates smooth muscles and can be used in the treatment of cardiac diseases, asthma, intestinal tumors or aids in birthing. However, so far it could only be extracted in small amounts form the leaves of a certain plant and the bladder of sheep. Now it is possible to obtain in larger amounts from the sea fans.
Coral skeletons can be used as artificial bones as the immunoreactions is smaller compared to artificial implants.
Furthermore, there is hope that reef organisms produce substances that can be used in the fight against Aids and cancer.
Reefs as early-warning-systems
Dying reefs within certain areas are early indicators of environmental pollution such as over fertilization, pesticides. This enables possible early steps to prevent worse.
Reefs tell changes of historic environmental and climatic changes. Pollutions such as heavy metal enrichment can be shown in the "annual rings" of stone corals. Even temperature shifts can be see. Reefs are used for climate predictions as O16 and O18 isotopes are added temperature dependently. Fossil reefs are the larges fossil fuel resources of the world
Organic matter is accumulated, thus mother stone is build in the fore reef or in the lagoon. These areas are covered by thick sediment layers. When pressure and temperature increase oil and natural gas develops, which can enter the porous, fossil reefs.
Reefs as climate stabilizer
Reefs are involve in the carbon cycle as they bind carbon from atmospheric CO2. Bicarbonation is in balance with the excretion of calcium carbonate from the reef. Bicarbonate, together with other ions in the sea, aids as buffer which prevents large pH fluctuations in the ocean which in turn would harm many organisms. In addition, the solubility of CO2 would change and the CO2 balance disturbed, leading to a climatic change.
The CO2 which is provided by the calcium carbonate production is used for photosynthesis by the zooxanthellae, the symbionts of the corals. Thus it is not added to the green house gases in the atmosphere. Possibly these symbionts are even able to used atmospheric CO2, which would aid in the reduction of CO2. The zooanthellae are more or less a pump that sucks up CO2, which shifts the balance and enhances the calcium carbonate production.
Fossil reefs also remove CO2 from the atmosphere through processes of weathering. In this process bicarbonates ere produced, which are removed for the calcium carbonate production, thus stabilizing the CO2-balance and the climate.
Content with the friendly support of the Sinai Exkursion 2001, University Stuttgart, Biological Institute, Department of zoology. |
