Coral Reef Assignment

Use clip art and paint to create images of the main types of reefs (fringe reefs, barrier reefs, atolls)

1. How is each reef structure formed?
Fringe-A fringe reef is a type of coral reef that extends outward from the shore of an island or mainland, with no body of water separating land and reef.
Barrier-A long, narrow ridge of coral or rock parallel to and relatively near a coastline, separated from the coastline by a lagoon too deep for coral growth.
Atolls- A ringlike coral island and reef that nearly or entirely encloses a lagoon.
2. Where is each reef structure found?
Fringing reefs are found on rocky shorelines close to land.
Barrier reefs, like fringing reefs, are found along the coast but farther out and separated by a lagoon.
Atolls are found on top of sunken volcanic islands which lie underneath a layer of calcium carbonate.
3. What is the trophic structure of a reef?
-The trophic structure of reefs usually revolve around nutrient recycling. The zooanthellae take the coral nitrogen and phosphorus waste products and use the sun to create organic compounds which the corals need to survive. Without this process, corals would not be able to grow to their vast sizes since the water is usually poor in nutrients.

4. How does the location and type of reef influence the trophic structure?
Fringing reefs are close to shore so the water in which they live in gets run off and a mixture of nutrients and pollution from the land. Barrier reefs, however, are farther out so they have access to water from the lagoon and the deeper ocean. Additionally, the fish and other organisms that live in the reefs add and subtract from the nutrients in that community.
5. Give examples of the types of corals found on reefs.
Fast-growing corals, soft corals, hard corals, branching corals, TONS of corals!
6. Give examples of competition, predation, and grazing
Competition is an overgrowth or direct attack of one coral to another in their fight for growing space. A Crown-of-Thorns starfish is an example of predation since it eats and completely kills coral. Many types of fish eat coral polyps, but they don't eat enough to kill the whole organism. Grazing keeps coral populations in check.

Answer the 3 critical thinking question

part 2

Use a map of the Saipan and import it into Paint. Identify and label the types of reefs found on Saipan. List 5 differences and similarities between the different reef types. Include a list of different organisms or habitat design, trophic structures that exist in the different reefs on the island.