Coral Reefs within Australian Coasts: Impact of Climate Change and Environmental Threats

Abstract

During the last 50 years, coral reefs throughout the world have exposed to a continual deterioration. The natural stresses like sea level changing, tectonic plate movement, storms and volcanic activity are considered as the key reason for coral reef deterioration. On the other hand, the growth of anthropogenic stresses in recent years increased the declines and losses within coral reefs cover and their resources. The key risks obtained from anthropogenic stresses are: ocean acidification, habitat destruction, destructive fishing, climate change, sedimentation, overfishing, predation, pollution and diseases. This paper aims to discuss the impact of climate change and environmental threats on the coral reefs within Australian coasts. The paper based on the literature to address and solve this problem. The status of coral reefs within Australia has been discussed by showing the key risks that face the reefs cover within different locations in Australia and the impact of these risks. Also, the paper controls these risks by discussing the main actions and plans that established to preserve the reefs within GBR and various locations in Australia. The solution of this problem has been summarized by many recommendations at the end of the paper.

 Keywords: Coral reef, Natural stresses, Anthropogenic stresses, Deterioration, Climate change