In
the beginning of January, Australia had been hit with an inland tsunami and
caused a very large area in the northeastern state of Queensland to flood. Not
only did the tsunami cause much damage on land and killed many people it is
also beginning to affect the Great Barrier Reef. 1,430 miles of coral reefs is
being affected by the sediment that contains top soil, pesticides and fertilizers,
and an unhealthy amount of fresh water that enters this area. The coral reefs
that are being impacted the most are the areas that are closest to the mouth of
the river, but with more fresh water entering, areas that are 930 miles away
could be affected as well. The sediment that is entering this ecosystem could change
the coral’s diversity and increase seaweed cover. With more seaweed growth will
allowed grass eating animals to move up the food chain and affect the entire ecosystem.
The fresh water will also affect the fish, large fish will be able to swim away
but smaller fish will not and they will not be able to get the right amount of nutrients
to survive. This event will shift the food web as well as how the reefs work.
The
tsunami that affected this area in Australia is not only affecting the land
where the people live and work. It is also affecting the area that people are
most dependants on, the coral reef. Many people in this area live off of the
coral reef for means of food and life style. Many people every year come to
Australia to see the coral reefs and the country makes a lot of their profit
off of tourists. With the coral reefs to
be destroyed many tourists will not want to come. Coral reefs do not fix
themselves over night they will take a long time to get back to normal.
Hopefully the citizens of Australia will be able to clean up the mess quickly
and stop the run off of sediments and fresh water from entering.
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