Coral reefs are ecosystems, the backbone of this specific ecosystem is the hard coral. Without it many animals and organisms lives’ would be endangered. These include fish, clams, sharks, starfish, and sea turtles. These coral reefs are the most diverse ecosystems in the world; however, today coral reefs are rapidly dying off in many parts of the world. This is mostly due to the effects of climate change, over fishing, pollution and other issues caused by our carelessness. “The impact of our changing climate on coral reefs was manifested by the third global bleaching event in 2015/16 ” (“Why Coral Reefs Need Our Help”). This bleaching is due to continuous high temperatures, causing coral to die. This is an important topic many people should be more educated about, and not only due to this hurting the diverse oceanic ecosystems, it will also negatively impact many people economically. This will hurt small fishing industries and many people around the world. A way one could help is to donate to relief organizations and increase your knowledge of this topic.

Sources:

http://www.secore.org/site/corals/detail/coral-reefs-are-dying.23.html

https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/