THE WONDERS OF NATURE
I’d like to start by saying that nature is without a doubt one of the greatest beauties that the whole world has, since we can find a great diversity of landscapes such as forests, meadows, fields, jungles but we also find huge rivers, lakes,oceans, reefs and many others that can be mention; each of these are unique and different because they have too many beauties that are even unknown to humans.
Today, I will focus on the reefs. A reef is a ridge of material at or near the surface of the ocean. Reefs can occur naturally. Natural reefs are made of rocks or the skeletons of small animals called corals. Reefs can also be artificial, it means created by humans. Coral reefs provide shelter for thousands of kinds of sea animals.
These coral reefs grow slowly, usually at the rate of only a few centimeters each year. Some have formed over millions of years and measure hundreds of meters thick. The largest is the Great Barrier Reef of the northeast coast of Australia.
Great Barrier Reef, complex of coral reefs, shoals, and islets in the Pacific Ocean off the northeastern coast of Australia that is the longest and largest reef complex in the world. It has been characterized as the largest structure ever built by living creatures.
Related to this I have been observing images and I can say thay this reef is really impressive and I do not speak only for the size but for the color that it has, the alive beings that they live in there, is extremely amazing! I think that one of the most awesome things are the species of animals that we can find. Forms of life include at least 300 species of hard coral as well as anemones, sponges, worms, gastropods, lobsters, crayfish, prawns, crabs, and a great variety of fishes.
In addition to this, the reef has become important as a tourist attraction, but the reef’s health, has been damaged because of the coral bleaching, invasive species such as the crown of thorns starfish and tropical cyclones. While I was searching about it I found WWF which is a foundation that focus on stopping and reverse the decline of species and the health of the reef ecosystems in the Great Barrier Reef.
WWF’s mission is to halt the decline of threatened plants and animals and to support their recovery. We do this by addressing the threats that affect them using the best available science while working in partnership with communities, Indigenous groups, government and business.
The Reef is highly vulnerable. In the past three decades, it has lost half its coral cover, pollution has caused deadly starfish outbreaks, and also the global warming has been affecting the reef. That’s why WWF need to act quickly and fight for the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef.
Finally, I would like to mention that while I was researching this extraordinary place I was able to get data that was unknown to me, because with this I confirmed that the nature around us is one of the most valuable things that we have and that sometimes we do not realize how important this is to the planet and also to us so let us take care and conserve these places, because they are precisely the beauties that nature gives us.
LIST OF REFERENCES
Rutledge, K., Ramroop, T., Boudreau, D., McDaniel, M., Teng, S., Sprout, E., Costa H., Hall, H., & Hunt, J. (2011). Reef. In https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/reef/ [retrieved February 21, 2021]
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (no date). Great Barrier Reef. In https://www.britannica.com/animal/coral [retrieved February 21, 2021]
UNESCO (2021). Great Barrier Reef. In https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/154/ [retrieved February 21, 2021]
WWF (2018) Great Barrier Reef. In https://www.wwf.org.au/what-we-do/oceans/great-barrier-reef#gs.tm9c03 [retrieved February 21, 2021]
