The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system in the world. It consists of 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands, stretching for about 2.5 thousand km over an area of ​​about 345 thousand square meters. km.

Its area is approximately equal to the area of ​​Germany. The reef is located in the Coral Sea, near the northeastern border of the mainland.

It is so huge that it can be seen even from space - this is the largest formation in the world created by living organisms.

Most of the reefs are hidden under water and are only visible at low tide. Some reefs eventually turned into coral islands, which amaze with their unique landscape and richness of fauna.

In 1979, UNESCO included the Great Barrier Reef, with an area of ​​almost 5 million hectares, in the list world heritage.

How did the Great Barrier Reef form?

8,000 years ago, there was a significant rise in the level of the World Ocean and all conditions were created so that the growth of the Great Barrier Reef began near the coast of Australia. But there is no officially confirmed age of the reef.

The Great Barrier Reef is a skeleton of hard corals: antlers, brain corals and mushroom corals. They can only grow in warm water. The water temperature at which corals can grow should not fall below + 18 degrees. The optimum water temperature for coral breeding is +25 degrees.
Affects coral life and water salinity. It ends at the Tropic of Capricorn, beyond which the water becomes colder; it did not spread further than the coast of New Guinea due to the fact that the salinity of the water near New Guinea is lower, since in that area the large Fly River and several other small rivers flow into the ocean.

Fauna of the Great Barrier Reef.

Corals make up only 10% of the underwater Great Barrier Reef National Park. There are a lot of sponges, sea anemones, crayfish, crabs, starfish, sea ​​urchins. But the main decoration of the Great Barrier Reef is, of course, fish.

There are about 1500 species of marine fish here. However, about 500 species of them can be considered true reef fish, which are massively found here, and which are most adapted to life in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef.

And the main enemy of the barrier reef corals is the starfish. In a year, one such star can completely destroy all life on 6 square meters. m.

The Great Barrier Reef is also home to the largest fish on Earth - the whale shark.

Large sea turtles come to the islands of the Great Barrier Reef at night. The islands of the South Reef serve as a breeding ground for sea turtles, of which there are six species in the waters of the reef.

August 9th, 2016

The Great Barrier Reef is home to over 1,500 species of fish, but this is just one of its many attractions in this amazing natural wonder. Known for its unrivaled natural diversity, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven wonders of the natural world and is the only living thing on Earth that can be seen from space.

The Great Barrier Reef was recently ranked by News and World Report as the best place in the world to visit. The ranking was based on a methodology that combined traveler opinions with expert analysis. These breathtaking photos will show why the Great Barrier Reef has won the top spot.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system. It is made up of over 2900 individual reefs and 900 islands and spans over 2240 kilometers.

The Great Barrier Reef runs along the coast of Queensland in northeast Australia, from the tip of the Cape York Peninsula to Bundaberg.

The Great Barrier Reef has an endless list of unique activities to offer tourists.

Of course, scuba diving is the most popular activity for tourists. Although the reef has suffered from the effects of climate change, it has unrivaled ecological diversity and much of it is hidden below the surface of the water.

For non-swimmers, these magnificent wonders can be viewed by sailing on glass bottom boats.

The Capricorn Coast and Queensland offer a variety of underwater tours.

Scenic helicopter tours offer a bird's-eye view of the reef - the best way to fully appreciate just how vast the Great Barrier Reef really is.

Hot air balloon rides offer the same aerial views, but at a slower pace.

Day trips to the islands in the Great Barrier Reef combine the best of both worlds: visitors can swim and snorkel among underwater wildlife and see the beauty of rainforests and sandy beaches.

For lovers sailing species holidays here are ideal conditions. Catamarans and other small boats can be rented. Large boats with their own crews can be rented for overnight or multi-day cruises.

Rafting on the Tully River in North Queensland requires no experience and offers the chance to see a world heritage listed rainforest.

No trip to Australia is complete without seeing some big creatures. At Hartley Crocodile Farm, guests can see crocodiles from close range, meet koalas.

The Rainforest Cable Car helps visitors discover Australia's rainforests.

Area with rich history and heritage, North Queensland also offers one-of-a-kind restaurants, shops.

Guests can enjoy the finest Australian food and wine under ancient rainforest trees.

Off the coast of North Queensland, the village of Kuranda is a great place to learn about the life of the region's indigenous community.

Kuranda is also world famous for its markets. The shops are open every day of the year and offer a wide range of Aboriginal artifacts, handmade leather goods, jewelry and art.

The GBR is the world's largest coral reef, located in pacific ocean, off the coast of Australia. One of Earth's most impressive ecosystems is in a terrible state. Here are the main issues threatening this magnificent natural wonder.

Great aerial view of Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

As you probably already know, the Great Barrier Reef is in big trouble. About 50 percent of the reef's coral cover has already been lost, and the remaining 50 percent is projected to disappear by 2050 unless serious action is taken.

The clock is ticking, and the unprecedented coral bleaching events of 2016 and 2017 have only demonstrated how fragile and urgent the situation is today.

The Australian National Government and the Government of Queensland spend about $200 million annually to protect the reef. Although many say that this is not enough.

Why the reef is so important

The Great Barrier Reef is not called “big” for nothing. The size of the reef is really huge: it can be seen from space, it stretches over 2,575 kilometers (that's the distance from Moscow to Paris), and covers 344,000 square kilometers.

But this massive area is not just an ocean of corals. The Great Barrier Reef consists of 3,000 individual reef systems, 600 tropical islands, and about 300 coral reefs. This complex labyrinth of habitats is home to an astonishing variety of marine plants and animals, from ancient sea turtles, reef fish and 134 species of sharks and rays, to 400 different hard and soft corals and an abundance of seaweed.

The reef acts as a farm for the fishing industry that feeds hundreds of thousands of people. In addition, tourists flock to the reef to experience its incredible beauty and spend about $6 billion a year on it.

What are the threats to the reef?

Measures are being taken to protect the reef on a number of fronts. Dealing with coral dieback is costly and complex as there are several major threats to reef health, all of which need to be addressed.

What is coral bleaching?

IN last years Large-scale coral bleaching events have occurred on the Great Barrier Reef due to high ocean temperatures.

Coral bleaching events are coral responses to environmental stress. Discoloration is a visible signal that something is going very wrong.

Bleaching does not directly kill corals, but it greatly weakens them, often leading to death later as they become more vulnerable to disease. Corals, as you remember from biology, are animals that live in symbiosis with some photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae.

However, these relationships can be destroyed due to environmental stress, namely, high temperatures of sea water, the risk of which is growing due to anthropogenic climate change. This thermal stress can cause the coral to shed its zooxanthellae, as they produce corrosive substances when warm. Corals without zooxanthellae become colorless (hence the term bleaching).

Changing of the climate

1. Ocean acidification:
Since the 1700s, about 30% of the extra carbon dioxide that humans have pumped into the atmosphere has been absorbed by the oceans. This has changed the chemistry of the oceans, making them more acidic (a process known as ocean acidification), making it difficult for corals (and many other marine animals) to form their calcium-based skeletons.

2. Cyclones:
Climate change is also driving the development of more powerful tropical cyclones that can cause significant damage to shallow coral reefs. In addition, during cyclones or other severe storm events, more fresh water and sediments that essentially suffocate the corals.

3. Rise in sea level and temperature:
rapid change coastline, caused by climate warming, means that plants and animals do not have time to adapt to changes in sea level and temperature.

Overfishing

Protected areas around the Great Barrier Reef tend to be richer in biodiversity.

When more fish are caught than the ecosystem can handle over time, it is overfishing. On the Great Barrier Reef, this is due to the sport and commercial fishing of some large, predatory fish such as coral trout and snapper. Less diverse reef is a less stable reef and this affects coral health. Predatory fish are essential to maintaining a balanced ecosystem on the reef, but predators such as coral trout, snapper and emperor fish remain prime targets for both recreational and commercial fishing. In areas where commercial and sport fishing is allowed, the number of predatory fish was lower, as was biodiversity. Protected, closed areas can have at least twice as many fish or more, and therefore become attractive to poachers. Illegal fishing in restricted areas is on the rise.

Shipping

In April 2010, the Shen Neng 1, a China-registered dry-cargo coal carrier, ran aground in shallow waters in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

Capital ships filled with Australian-mined fossils (often shipped to China) also threaten physical damage to the reef if they are in distress, as the 2010 disaster proved. A Chinese ship called Shen Neng 1 landed on a reef and dumped tons of toxic fuel oil on fragile corals.

Coastal pollution

Probably much of the reef protection work has been done in the area of ​​reducing the runoff of toxic chemicals from agricultural areas off the coast of Queensland into the ocean.

Crown of Thorns (starfish)

The starfish (crown of thorns) has become a serious threat to the ecosystem of the great barrier reef.

Over the past three decades, 40 percent of coral losses have been due to the breeding of starfish, native coral species that are part of a balanced reef ecosystem. Unfortunately, starfish populations have increased dramatically in recent decades. This may be due to excess nitrogen from agricultural runoff, which can increase the amount of plankton, the starfish's main food. Nitrogen runoff from farms in North Queensland leads to algae blooms in reef waters. This algae is the main food source for starfish larvae, producing population explosions that destroy corals.

To combat these starfish, a program has been implemented that will reward people for catching and destroying excess starfish.

The future of the Great Barrier Reef

A coral reef surrounding a green island near Cairns, North Queensland, Australia.

The future of the Great Barrier Reef remains unknown. Many organizations are working hard to minimize the wide range of hazards threatening the reef and the good news is that at least some of these efforts appear to be working, but we must act quickly to prevent this natural wonder from disappearing. .

The second point of my trip to Australia was the Great Barrier Reef. About four hours from national park Uluru-Kata Tjuta and we are in the capital of the Great Barrier Reef, Cairns.

Cairns is located on the coast of the Coral Sea in the tropical zone of northeast Australia. The climate in this part of Australia is warm and humid, and therefore the city of Cairns is surrounded by greenery. The rainforest surrounds the city on all sides, and the inhabitants of Cairns from time to time have to fight the "green invaders" by clearing the streets of vines and thickets.

In Cairns, we had planned dinner at one of the restaurants, which was located 20 minutes from the hotel. The road to the restaurant was like a tour of the zoo. From time to time, our path was blocked by geckos and lizards, various beetles and insects, spiders and Australian ibises, which, by the way, are like pigeons in Australia. The evening air was filled with the scent of flowering bushes and trees, as well as the various sounds of birds, bats, flying foxes, and the noise of insects.

Early in the morning a guide came for us and we went to Port Douglas where a catamaran was waiting for us. On a catamaran we got deep into the Great Barrier Reef, 60 kilometers from the coast, and throughout the day we enjoyed the beauty of the coral "forests" and their inhabitants.

The Great Barrier Reef is a ridge of coral reefs and islands in the Coral Sea, stretching along the northeast coast of Australia for 2300 km. In the northern part, the width is about 2 km, in the southern part - 150 km. Most of the reefs are under water (they are exposed during low tides). Nautical national park(area over 5 million hectares, founded in 1979, included in the World Heritage List); protection of flora and fauna of coasts and shallow waters.

It is not by chance that the Great Barrier Reef Islands are called the eighth wonder of the world. The world knows a huge number of beautiful islands with magnificent beaches, landscapes and crystal clear waters. But the Great Barrier Reef is the largest reef system in the world and the largest structure "created" by living organisms on the planet. Of the 350 species of coral known in the world, 340 are found on the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. The necklace of islands stretches for 2000 km from Papua New Guinea to the Southern Tropic in the south.

The Great Barrier Reef includes about 2900 reefs, whose sizes range from 0.01 sq. km. up to 100 sq. km., and more than 300 islands or shoals of coral fragments, of which about 100 are permanently covered with vegetation; and another 600 high islands, many of which are surrounded by their own reefs. Its total area is 348,698 sq. km., more than the area of ​​Great Britain.

The reef, which in itself is one of the largest geological formations, is essentially composed of living creatures or coral polyps, outwardly similar to the anemones found near the coast. These tiny primitive organisms live in huge colonies, each of which has developed from an individual polyp that has undergone countless divisions. The coral consists of a soft body enclosed in a limestone outer skeleton that forms the reef. The living reef is the product of a thousand-year cycle of life and death: the bulk of the coral reef consists of a mass of empty skeletons of previous generations of polyps, covered with a thin layer of living organisms.

Coral reefs can survive in waters that are consistently between 22-28C throughout the year, providing habitat for the most diverse animal community known on Earth. The Great Barrier Reef is made up of over 400 species of hard and soft corals. Hard reef-building corals are the most various forms and sizes and includes mushroom, brain and antler corals in all shades from red and yellow to black. In addition, more than 4,000 species of mollusks have been recorded here, from chitons and gastropods to giant bivalves and octopuses, as well as countless sponges, sea anemones, worms, crustaceans and echinoderms.

Coral reefs around the world are famous for the variety of fish that visit them. More than 1,500 species of fish are known to live within and near the Great Barrier Reef - a kaleidoscope of colors and patterns as they dart in one direction or the other in flocks. The reef is also important for several species of whales, including minke whales, killer whales and humpback whales. These waters are breeding grounds for the humpback whale; females with cubs are often seen here. These waters are also home to six of the world's seven species of sea turtles; they are all dying and need wild islands reef for safe breeding. The mysterious dugong has also found a safe haven in the kelp beds found in the shallow waters of many of the reef's islands.

The islands are also important for many species of aquatic and sea birds. Over 240 species nest on low sandy and coral islands; among them are petrels, phaetons, frigatebirds, six species of terns, including the pink tern, fulmars, 6-bellied eagles and ospreys.

The article used material from the Internet resource: http://www.naturelifepark.com

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef in the world. This is a huge ridge, which is located in the Pacific Ocean off the northern and eastern coasts of Australia. It consists of almost 3 thousand individual coral reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef, one of the main ones, stretches for more than 2,500 km on the world map, it is the largest natural object in the world, which is formed by living organisms. It can be easily seen from space.

Description

The Great Barrier Reef is made up of miniature coral polyps. In the course of their life activity, they form a huge colony and create calcareous structures, which subsequently become coral reefs.

Thanks to this great coral reef, a huge number of microorganisms live in it. This is a real wonder of the world, which in the 80s of the last century was included in the famous List cultural heritage UNESCO.

Today, as a result of human economic activity, which includes tourism, the Great Barrier Reef is gradually being destroyed. Over the past 30 years, he has lost more than half of his coral polyps, according to Australian scientists.

Discovery history

This incredible natural object has been known to mankind since antiquity. The Great Barrier Reef was used by the Aborigines of Australia and the inhabitants of the islands located near the continent and has firmly entered their history and culture.

According to scientists, the Barrier Reef in Australia has existed for several million years. And today there, in warm, clean and transparent sea water, new polyps appear again and again, and young reefs are located on the tops of old formations.

Formally, the GBR was discovered by the famous English navigator James Cook in 1770, whose ship ran aground at low tide at the location of the Great Barrier Reef. The rising tide soon saved his ship and the entire crew.

This huge ecosystem is home to at least 400 species of red to copper coral. Most species have a hard skeleton, which later becomes the basis of coral islands, but there are also species with soft skeletons.

Several hundred species of fish adapted to this particular ecological system also live here, incl. whale shark, and the main enemy of the corals that make up the Great Barrier Reef, a starfish called the Crown of Thorns.

In these warm and clear waters, many species of whales breed, sea turtles, incl. endangered species. The Great Barrier Reef is home to a wide variety of crabs, shrimps, clams, octopuses and squid.