Any diver can tell you that coral reefs are beautiful. They are like undersea cities, filled with colorful fish, intricate formations and wondrous sea creatures. The importance of coral reefs, however, extends far beyond the pleasure it brings to those who explore it. Coral reefs play an essential role in everything from ecosystem and organism health to shore line protection and medical advances.
Biodiversity refers to the number of different species that live in an area. An area with high biodiversity has a wide range of life that inhabits it, and is typically a sign of a healthy, resilient ecosystem. As the foundation for complex food webs, coral reefs support an incredible diversity of organisms. Coral Reefs are known as ‘nursery areas’, meaning they are a great place for juvenile animals to grow up. There is typically plenty of food, shelter, and is harder for large predators to enter in all the cracks and crevices. Even if an organism doesn’t spend its whole life at the reef, it may go to the reef to reproduce, or be a safe place for their young grow up until they are large enough to move between other ecosystems. This is why reefs have such a diversity of life from corals, algae, and sponges, to fish of all sizes, invertebrates, reptiles, and mammals. They all may find food, habitat, and protection on the reef.
Reefs play an important role in protecting the shoreline from storms and surge water. Barrier reefs, such as Florida’s, were named for the way they reduce wave height by 84% and energy by 97%, protecting the shorelines. They are the first line of defense against erosion, serving as a natural breakwater to the land. Erosion prevention is particularly important in coastal areas such as the Florida Keys, where much of the shore is lined with residential homes and commercial buildings.
Fish and other marine life have been a primary source of protein for as long as people have lived along the coast. From small scale artisanal fisheries to major commercial fleets, harvesting of marine life is a major economic force in all of the world’s oceans. Local fisheries, such as lobster, stone crab, snapper and grouper, all directly rely on the reef for spawning and habitat. Other fisheries, such as tuna, dolphin and other pelagic species, rely on the reef indirectly, though the bait fish that they consume.
Many reef inhabitants including sponges and many corals are filter feeders, which means that they consume particulate matter suspended in the water column. This contributes to enhanced quality and clarity of our near shore waters.
Coral reefs often form the backbone of local coastal economies. Tourists coming for reef-based recreation like boating, fishing, snorkeling, and diving need not only boats and guides, but also restaurants, hotels, and commercial and entertainment facilities. This of course has both positive and negative consequences for both the marine environment and the communities involved. In many cases, tourism associated with reefs has expanded to transform the entire economy of a region, maintaining their way of life. On the other hand, an unmonitored number of tourists may result in environmental problems such as coral damage, pollution, and inadequate waste treatment. NOAA estimates the total economic value of reef services in the U.S. is over $3.4 billion1 each year between fisheries, tourism, and coastal protection.
Coral reef plants and animals are important sources of new medicines being developed to treat cancer, arthritis, asthma, ulcers, human bacterial infections, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, viruses, and other diseases. Compounds isolated from organisms living on reefs or interconnected to reef ecosystems hold vast medical potential. For example, horseshoe crab blood contains a special compound called Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL), which can be used to detect bacterial endotoxins in vaccines, injectable drugs, and implantable medical devices. Similarly, other organisms have been used in medical research including: sponges and HIV treatment, cnidarians and asthma, cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, and urinary disease treatment, Bryozoa in Alzheimer’s and cancers, mollusks in arthritis, liver disorder, and skin issues, arthropods in cancer, high cholesterol, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease, and cone snails and insulin.