T.

James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 1

Name:
Coral Reefs (5 pts)
Section:

Coral Biology
Coral is a type of marine animal that lives in large colonies
(groups of the same kind of animal). Each animal in the
colony is a polyp that resembles a small sea anemone the size
of an ant. Each polyp has tentacles with stinging cells, which
they use to suspension feed or filter feed (catch small
plankton as they drift by).
The coral animals live in a symbiotic relationship (a
partnership) with tiny algae called zooxanthellae. The algae
live inside the polyps’ tentacles, and provide oxygen, food,
and a beneficial pH to the coral polyp, while the coral polyp
provides protection, carbon dioxide, and nutrients to the
zooxanthellae. In this manner, the two organisms can help each other survive in the nutrient-poor
tropical oceans.
Note: The corals obtain nutrients by eating plankton. Instead of excreting nutrients in their
wastes like most animals, the corals give the nutrients to their zooxanthellae instead. This allows
the zooxanthellae to carry out more photosynthesis which is important for the corals, because the
corals get most of their food from the zooxanthellae, not by eating plankton.
Corals belong to the phylum Cnidaria, the same phylum as jellyfish. In a very real sense, corals
and sea anemone are upside-down jellyfish stuck on the bottom of the ocean.

1. Which is the animal, coral polyps or zooxanthellae? ________________________

Which is the algae, coral polyps or zooxanthellae? ________________________

2. What do zooxanthellae give to their coral polyp?

3. What do coral polyps give their zooxanthellae?

4. Do corals get most of their food? by filter feeding plankton?

by eating their zooxanthellae? given it by their zooxanthellae?

5. How do coral polyps get nutrients?

T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 2

Coral Reefs

The polyps build coral reefs by secreting

a calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) skeleton
when their drifting larva comes to rest on
a promising spot. Generation after
generation of coral grow on each spot,
slowly building up the reef (about ½ inch
(12 mm) per year). If you cut into a piece
of coral, you can see the growth bands
(they look like tree rings).
Corals grow the reef below them to get
closer to the surface for the ocean where there is more sunlight. After all, the more sunlight their
zooxanthellae get, the more photosynthesis they can do and the more food they will have to share
with the corals.
Corals remove carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from the ocean when they create their calcium carbonate
skeletons:
Ca2+ + H 2 O + CO 2 → CaCO 3 + 2H+
Since this reduces the amount of CO 2 in the ocean, the ocean has more “room” to take in more
CO 2 from the atmosphere. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (it warms the atmosphere),
removing it cools the Earth. In effect, corals “permanently” remove CO 2 from the atmosphere by
building their reefs. Even when waves erode the reef, the carbon stays locked in the resulting
sediments. The sediments often bury the coral polyps and other organisms (such as foraminifera)
that live on the reef before they can decompose. If the entire reef sinks down and is buried inside
the Earth, this organic debris may be transformed into oil over millions of years.

Corals are not they only organisms in on coral reefs who have symbiotic algae, make calcium
carbonate shells, and help build the reef.

Not all corals build calcium carbonate structures. Non-reef-building corals are often called soft
corals.

6. What substance are coral reefs made out of?

7. When corals create calcium carbonate do they add or remove carbon dioxide from the
environment? Does this warm or cool the Earth?
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 3

8. Which of the following statements are true? (Circle the true statements.)
a. “Corals are not the only animals with symbiotic algae inside them.”
b. “A variety of reefs animals have calcium carbonate shells.”
c. “All corals build reefs made out of calcium carbonate.”

Corals, Water Temperature, Salinity, and Sunlight

The primary factor controlling where coral grow is water temperature. Reef-building coral grow
best in warm, tropical oceans with temperatures between 23oC and 25oC. Among other things, it
is easier for corals to grow their calcium-carbonate exoskeleton in warm water, because
calcium carbonate dissolves in cold, carbon-dioxide-rich water. Dissolved calcium carbonate
will actually precipitate (“solidify”) in very warm water! As noted on the previous page, corals
put layers of calcium carbonate below them so that they can get closer to the surface of the
ocean.

Coral like clear, shallow water because their zooxanthellae (symbiotic algae) must have enough
sunlight to undergo photosynthesis. This is important to the corals, because the algae provide the
corals with a large proportion of their food, over 90% in some cases! The ideal depths are
between 5 and 10 meters (16 to 33 feet), although coral can be found from the low tide level to a
depth of about 100 meters (328 feet). Growing some calcium carbonate beneath them each year
helps corals get closer to the Sun, a little bit at a time.

Salinity can also affect coral growth; they need water with a salinity between 27 to 40‰.

Like all animals, corals need food and oxygen, which are not abundant in calm, tropical waters.
As a result, corals grow best on the reef crest – the edge of the reef – where breaking waves
coming in from the open sea can bring in food and oxygen.

Corals need a solid bottom (solid rock, not mud or sand) to hold onto firmly, so they do not get
ripped off the bottom and carried away or turned upside down by strong waves and tidal
currents. Waves also erode the reef, breaking down the calcium carbonate reef into sand, some of
which is pushed up onto the reef or nearby islands, creating beautiful white sandy beaches.
Corals constantly need to regrow the reef to balance out the damage done by waves. In addition,
sand and mud can be stirred up by waves and currents, making the water murky and blocking
sunlight.
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 4

9. Do corals like warm water or cold water? Why?

10. Why do corals want to get sunlight?

How do they get sunlight?

11. Do corals like fresh water or salty water?

12. Do corals grow best on a rocky bottom or a sandy bottom?

13. Do corals like clear water or turbid (murky), dark water? Why?

14. In what ways is calm water good for corals?

15. In what ways are waves (and the associated water motion) good for corals?

16. Where does the beautiful white sand on the beaches along or near coral reefs come from?
What is it made out of?
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 5

Spatial Distribution of Corals

Examine the map below showing the where coral reefs are found (the little squares). Corals are
more common on one side of the ocean than the other because of the difference in water
temperature. The black arrows show the directions of the major ocean currents.

17. Where are there more coral reefs, on the western sides of oceans or on the eastern sides of
oceans? (Examine the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean where the difference is clearer.)

18. Do corals like warm water or cold water? Why?

19. Which side of the ocean has warmer water, the western side of the ocean or the eastern
side of the ocean? Why is the water warmer on this side of the ocean?
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 6

Coral Bleaching

Water can become too warm for corals. Under these circumstances, the coral polyps kick out
their zooxanthellae. Corals themselves are typically transparent which helps the zooxanthellae in
their bodies to get sunlight. It is their zooxanthellae that give them the brilliant colors that we
associate with coral reefs. So, we say that corals which have lost their zooxanthellae are
bleached: they appear white, because all that is left are the transparent polyps and the white,
calcium-carbonate reef. In the long term, coral polyps that have thrown away their zooxanthellae
are in trouble, because they have lost their main source of food. Other environment factors and
diseases can also cause corals to bleach.

I’m not entirely sure why corals kick out their zooxanthellae if the water becomes too warm. The
best explanation that I’ve heard is that since warm water cannot hold much oxygen, excess
oxygen produced by the zooxanthellae can no longer go into the water. It is retained instead and
begins to damage tissues. Anything – even things that we normally think of as “good” like
oxygen – can be harmful in large enough quantities. For example, you should drink lots of water
each day, but if you inhale too much, you’ll drown.

20. What is a “bleached” coral reef?

In other words, what has happened to the coral on the reef?

21. Why does bleached coral look white?

22. What can cause corals to “bleach”?

23. Why do bleached corals often die?

T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 7

Deep-Water Corals

Corals are found throughout the world in deep, cold water. They do not have zooxanthellae, and
some build small reefs. Like most deep-sea animals, they eat dead, decaying material sinking
down from above (detritus, “marine snow”). Due to the lack of food, their growth rate is about
10× slower than warm-water corals, making it hard for them to recover when fishermen drag
heavy nets over them, a fishing practice called trawling.

Corals and Ocean Acidification

The ocean is becoming more and more acidic due to our carbon dioxide pollution. We are
burning fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas to generate electricity and power our cars. The
resulting carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere. Much of the carbon dioxide is then
absorbed by the ocean, perhaps half of it each year. Recall that additional carbon dioxide makes
ocean water acidic, and that the acid dissolves calcium carbonate. Thus, it is getting harder and
harder for corals to grow and maintain their reefs, to stay close to the Sun and re-grow if
damages by waves or predators. Fortunately for other ocean animals, the dissolving of the
calcium carbonate reef neutralizes the acid (the carbonate absorbs it). The corals are said to
“buffer” the ocean. I like to say that the corals are “taking one for the team.”

24. True or false? “Some corals live in deep water, away from the sunlit waters near the
surface.”

25. What do deep-water corals eat?

26. Why do we burn fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas?

27. True or false? “Only a small amount carbon dioxide that humans add to the atmosphere
by burning fossil fuels is absorbed by the ocean.”

28. Is the additional carbon dioxide in ocean water due to human activities good or bad for
coral reefs? Why?
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 8

Corals, Nutrients, and Algae in Coral Reefs

Coral reefs die if nutrients become too abundant.

Nutrient-rich water encourages the growth of algae like
phytoplankton who cloud the water, blocking sunlight, and
seaweeds who grow over the surface of the reef, keeping
the corals from feeding or getting sunlight. Thus,
zooxanthellae cannot make enough food for the corals
they live inside.

Most fish and other reef animals eat algae; very few kinds
of animals eat coral. Most fish and other organisms of the
reef help protect the corals by keeping the algae level down. (I figure that it is much easier to eat
soft algae than crunchy coral.) Thus, most fish and other reef animals protect the corals by
prevent algae from blocking the sunlight that they need.

Algae are always present in coral reefs, and you should not think that algae are necessarily bad
for the reef. For example, in addition to being a source of food, many algae that grow on the
surface of the reef help hold (“cement”) the reef together.

More algae in the water can also increase the populations of animals that eat both corals and
phytoplankton like some sea urchins and sponges. These animals eat phytoplankton when they
start out life as zooplankton and then eat corals as adults. If more of them survive to adulthood
because there is plenty of food (abundant phytoplankton) in the water, then there may be so
many eating corals as adults that the population of corals drops by a lot: in other words, they can
eat most or all of the coral on the reef.

29. Do corals like nutrient-rich water or nutrient-poor water? Why?

30. What do most animals who live in a coral reef eat,

(i) coral polyps or (ii) algae like phytoplankton and seaweed?

31. Does overfishing (removing lots of fish) help or harm the coral polyps of a coral reef?
Why or why not? Explain.

32. Few animals who live in coral reefs eat coral polyps.
How or why can nutrient-rich water help these animals eat up a coral reef?
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 9

Coral Reefs: Oases in the Desert of the Tropical Ocean

As we learned earlier, there is less life in tropical oceans, because the warm surface makes it
difficult for waves to stir up nutrients from below. Thus, phytoplankton get fewer nutrients and
cannot carry out as much photosynthesis. In addition, phytoplankton have more difficulty
floating in warm water and tend to sink more rapidly away from the sunlit waters at the surface.
This also reduces the amount of food that phytoplankton can make. Since there are fewer
phytoplankton for zooplankton to eat, there are fewer zooplankton in the tropical ocean. Since
small fish have fewer zooplankton to eat, there are fewer small fish. And since big fish have
fewer small fish to eat, there are fewer big fish as well.
It is thought that the reason life is especially abundant in coral reefs is that the symbiotic
relationship (partnership) between the coral polyps and the zooxanthellae makes very efficient
use of the few nutrients available in the tropical ocean. The coral polyps eat the few plankton in
the water, but instead of just excreting (throwing away) the nutrients in the phytoplankton’s
bodies, they use the nutrients to fertilize their own algae, the zooxanthellae, who give food only
to them. Think of coral polyps as farmers who use their own wastes to grow their crops. (The
difference, I suppose, is that most farmers don’t farm their own bodies.) Also, note that plankton
drifting into the reef carry nutrients into the reef with them, and when the corals eat these
plankton, so the nutrients tend to stay in the reef instead of drifting out again. Thus, corals help
concentrate nutrients in the reef environment during their lifetime. When they die, their
decomposing body releases this lifetime’s worth of nutrients into the reef environment,
promoting the growth of algae, the primary food source for most reef animals.
In addition, corals help the algae in the reef get more sunlight and thus the fish and other reef
animals get more food. One of the big problems for living things in the tropical ocean is floating
in warm, low-density tropical water. Corals solve this problem by not trying to float: instead they
make the water shallower by growing calcium carbonate reefs below them. Seaweeds and
surface-growing algae can grow in sunlit waters on bare patches within the reef. Phytoplankton
who sink to the bottom can still get enough sunlight to survive until a wave stirs them back up
into the water.

33. Why is there less life in the tropical ocean than in most other parts of the ocean at the
surface?

34. How do coral polyps help nutrients build up in the coral reef environment?

35. How do corals help phytoplankton and algae like seaweeds get more nutrients?

36. How or why do fish benefit from the actions of corals?

T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 10

Types of Coral Reefs and

Coral Reef Development

Fringing Reefs are coral reefs that grow

directly next to an island, usually a
volcanic island. Visitors to this type of
reef may be able to walk out to them
from land.

Barrier Reefs are long, thin reefs that are

separated from the shoreline by a lagoon
with calm water (protected from the
waves by the reef). Openings in the reef
(channels and inlets) connect the lagoon
with the open ocean. The fastest and
actively growing part of the reef is the
outer edge by the sea. Sand made from
coral ground up by the waves may
accumulate near the reef and form sandy
islands only a few feet above sea level.
These sandy islands can have trees, plants,
and human inhabitants.

Atolls are ring-shaped coral reefs with no central island. The reef
encloses a central, calm-water lagoon with a few openings that
allow water to go in and out with the tides. The only places for
humans to live are sand islands made from coral broken down by
waves.

In 1842, Charles Darwin proposed a theory that explains the

formation of coral reefs and atolls. He proposed that after a new
volcano creates an island, corals colonize the shoreline (their
drifting larvae settle along the shoreline), and a fringing reef grows
in the shallow water around the edge of the island. The volcanic
island eventually cools and sinks, but the coral stays close to sea
level by growing upward, one on top of the other. The reef
eventually becomes a barrier reef, separated from the eroding and
sinking volcano by a lagoon. As the volcano continues to sink and
disappears beneath the waves, the coral reef grows upwards and
eventually becomes an atoll.
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 11

Plate tectonics allows us to put Darwin’s theory into the context of a volcano forming at a hot
spot, and then leaving the hot spot as the tectonic plate continues to move (read unit 11A-3).
More and more lava comes out of the ocean floor, and eventually the volcano grows high enough
to poke out of the ocean. Once the island moves off the hot spot, it is cools, causing it to shrink.
Thus, the island gets smaller and smaller until it sinks beneath the waves. Eventually all the
stages of reef formation occur in succession (fringing, then barrier, then atoll). In the last stage,
the island and reef sink beneath the waves completely, becoming a guyot (a flat-topped
seamount). This feature meets it ultimate fate at a subduction zone, where it is destroyed when its
plate dives down into a trench. This process is shown in the diagram below.

37. Kinds of Coral Reefs:

(a) What is a fringing coral reef?

(b) What is a barrier coral reef?

(c) What is a coral atoll?

38. How or why does one kind of coral reef become another kind of coral reef?
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 12

Humans and Coral Reefs

As with many other ecosystems, coral reefs are in decline worldwide. About 10-25% of the
world’s coral reefs have been destroyed, and it is estimated that about another 30% will be
destroyed over the next 30 years if we do not change our behavior. Threats to coral reefs include
damage from boats hitting the reefs and tourists touching the reefs. Untreated sewage and
rainwater runoff from farmers’ fields add nutrients to the coral reef environment, allowing algae
to grow over the reef and block sunlight. Dredging (removing sediments from the bottom of
estuaries and canals to make them deeper) and other construction stirs up sediments which also
block sunlight. Once a local community has significantly harmed its coral reef, they may have to
wait many years for its benefits to return, because it can take coral reefs as long as 40 years (or
as short as 7 years) to recover.

As noted before, coral reefs are also threatened by our carbon dioxide pollution from burning
fossil fuels. In the atmosphere, carbon dioxide “traps heat” and thus warms the planet, making
coral bleaching more likely. In the ocean, the carbon dioxide makes the ocean more acidic,
dissolving the calcium carbonate of the reef.

Whether nearby communities realize it or not, coral reefs provide them with significant benefits.
By far, the largest benefits are from fisheries and tourism, estimated to be worth over $400
billion worldwide. (If you snorkel or scuba dive on a coral reef, be careful not to touch the tiny,
soft-bodied corals, because you are likely to hurt them.) As noted earlier, there is far more food
in coral reefs than elsewhere in the tropical ocean, attracting fish and other animals.

In addition, reefs have many different environments (wave-pounded reef crest, calm lagoon,
deep reef slope, etc.) with lots of nooks and crannies, and thus have many different ecological
niches, encouraging organisms to specialize in a wide variety of different survival strategies.
This makes coral reefs one of the most diverse environments in the world. For example, at least
25% of all known fish species are only found in coral reefs! (High diversity means “many
different species,” not lots of animals. After all, you can have lots of animals of only one species.
Coral reefs have both large populations of animals and high diversity.) Many different species
in coral communities have developed a variety of unique chemical attacks and defenses, in part
because they live in one place on the surface of the reef and have no other way to defend
themselves. Marine biologists are studying and harvesting these organisms, hoping to find
medically useful compounds. (This is called bioprospecting. See Unit 13A for more information
on bioprospecting.) Drugs based on discoveries made in coral reefs are already in use and others
are being tested, including drugs to fight cancer and ease arthritis.
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 13

Waves grind coral reefs into sand and spread it along local beaches. The coral reefs are the
source of sand for many beaches. The reefs also protect the nearby land from wave erosion and
reflect incoming tsunami back out into the ocean, something that saved many lives during the
Asian tsunami of 2004.

Coral reefs are extremely important to scientists who research past climates. The thickness and
chemical composition of the growth bands of coral allow scientists to estimate what temperatures
were like in the past and to study how temperature has changed with time. For example, coral
growth bands are thicker during warmer years, because it is easier to create calcium carbonate
warm water (recall that calcium carbonate dissolves in cold water). Coral reef data is considered
particularly useful for studying changes during the last few tens of thousands of years, one of the
most interesting periods in the Earth’s history and extremely important for people researching
the implications of global warming.

39. If you are swimming in a coral reef, should you touch the corals? Why or why not?

40. How or why does untreated sewage and farming harm coral reefs?

41. We burn fossil fuels like oil, natural gas, and coal to create electricity and drive our
vehicles. When we do so, we release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and about half
of the carbon dioxide enters the ocean water. How does this carbon dioxide pollution
affect corals?

42. Scientists use coral reefs to learn about what the Earth’s climate was like in the past.
Do corals grow thicker layers of calcium carbonate during warmer years or cooler years?

43. How do humans benefit from coral reefs?

Why should we preserve and protect coral reefs?
T. James Noyes, El Camino College Coral Reefs Unit (10D) – page 14

This page was intentionally left blank.