Selected Habitats: Deep Water Coral Reefs Flashcards
What type of water is deep water coral found in?
Can be found in shallow water and deep water but the main thing is the lack of sunlight to support photosynthetic algae
Do deep water coral polyps have symbiotic photosynthetic algae?
No
Why is not the best that deep water corals don’t have photosynthetic algae
It means they have much less food energy available
What does the lack of food energy mean for deep water corals?
They grow much more slowly than shallow-water coral reefs
It also means that they recover much more slowly from damage
When were deep water coral reefs discovered?
1970’s
How understood are deep water corals?
Not much as corals are still found today so there has been very little time to research them all
What role do deep water corals play in marine habitat?
They support a large biomass of fish but they are often slow growing and slow to reproduce
What is the problem with fish that slowly reproduce?
Makes it easy to overexploit the populations
What are some examples of deep water fish that are commercially fished?
Roundnose grenadier
Blue whiting
Orange roughy
What has occurred to allow populations of deep water fish to recover?
Bans on catching deep water fish
How does trawling affect deep water coral reefs?
Over-exploits fish population and causes physical damage to the reef which the coral will take hindered of years to recover from
How does oil and gas exploration pose a threat to deep water corals?
As less deposits are available on land the ocean is the next viable option
How is carbon dioxide affecting deep water corals?
Gradually causing ocean acidification
How are deep water corals being conserved?
Protected areas are established to stop damaging activities
What is an example of an area of deep water coral reefs that is protected?
Darwin mounds off NW coast of Scotland
