In this Where Is? title, kids can explore the Great Barrier Reef—big enough to be seen from space but made up of billions of tiny living organisms. The Great Barrier Reef, off the coast of Australia, is the world's largest coral reef system. Stretching more than 1,400 miles, it provides a home to a wide diversity of creatures. Designated a World Heritage Site, the reef is suffering from the effects of climate change but this fascinating book shows this spectacular part of our planet.
Like many coral specialists fifteen years ago, Veron thought Australia's Great Barrier Reef was impervious to climate change. Then he saw for himself the devastation that elevated sea temperatures can inflict on corals.
A valuable reference for academic researchers and graduate students in geomorphology and oceanography, this 2007 book reviews the history of geomorphological studies of the Great Barrier Reef and assesses the influences of sea-level change and oceanographic processes on the development of reefs over the last 10,000 years.
The Great Barrier Reef is located along the coast of Queensland in north-east Australia and is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. Designated a World Heritage Area, it has been subject to increasing pressures from tourism, fishing, pollution and climate change, and is now protected as a marine park. This book provides an original account of the environmental history of the Great Barrier Reef, based on extensive archival and oral history research. It documents and explains the main human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef since European settlement in the region, focusing particularly on the century from 1860 to 1960 which has not previously been fully documented, yet which was a period of unprecedented exploitation of the ecosystem and its resources. The book describes the main changes in coral reefs, islands and marine wildlife that resulted from those impacts. In more recent decades, human impacts on the Great Barrier Reef have spread, accelerated and intensified, with implications for current management and conservation practices. There is now better scientific understanding of the threats faced by the ecosystem. Yet these modern challenges occur against a background of historical levels of exploitation that is little-known, and that has reduced the ecosystem's resilience. The author provides a compelling narrative of how one of the world's most iconic and vulnerable ecosystems has been exploited and degraded, but also how some early conservation practices emerged.
As the largest coral reef system on the globe and home to 1,500 species of fish and other diverse marine life, Australia's Great Barrier reef is unquestionably one of the great wonders of the natural world. Unfortunately, it is also in grave danger of dying. Recent annual back-to-back coral bleaching events have drastically accelerated the already existing damage to the Great Barrier Reef and its rich biodiversity. The reef is under threat from numerous other pressures, both natural and man-made. These threats include over-fishing, coastal development, agriculture, mining, tourism, and the ravaging ecological impacts of climate change. How is Australia sustainably managing the reef and the land-based and sea life it supports? What conservation threats are being effectively addressed, before it is too late to save the Great Barrier Reef?
This story illustrates the impacts of climate change on our Great Barrier Reef. It is told through the eyes of a feisty fish called Anthia who starts to see the disappearing colours of the reef as a warning sign that the reef is in trouble
Explore the past, present, and future of the Great Barrier Reef. Beautiful photos, fact-filled text, and engaging infographics help readers learn all about this natural wonder and how to protect it long into the future.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is 344 400 square kilometres in size and is home to one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. This comprehensive guide describes the organisms and ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the biological, chemical and physical processes that influence them. Contemporary pressing issues such as climate change, coral bleaching, coral disease and the challenges of coral reef fisheries are also discussed. In addition,the book includes a field guide that will help people to identify the common animals and plants on the reef, then to delve into the book to learn more about the roles the biota play. Beautifully illustrated and with contributions from 33 international experts, The Great Barrier Reef is a must-read for the interested reef tourist, student, researcher and environmental manager. While it has an Australian focus, it can equally be used as a baseline text for most Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Winner of a Whitley Certificate of Commendation for 2009.
This is a long-overdue revision and expansion of what has become a classic book in marine literature. This lavishly illustrated volume provides exhaustive coverage of more than 90 percent of the region's reef fishes. Every species is thoroughly illustrated, including photographs of the juvenile, female and male in species that vary in appearance during their development. Besides the wide array of underwater and diagnostic laboratory photographs, the book also contains seven plates painted by the talented natural-history artist Roger Swainston. With an additional 32 pages and 90 photos (covering 60 new species in all), this revised and expanded edition will enable even a beginning layman to identify most of the region's reef fishes. Divers, anglers, underwater naturalists and professional biologists are equally catered to.
