Human impact on coral reefs

Abstract

Coral reefs provide important ecosystem goods and services, such as fisheries and tourism, and have great aesthetic and cultural value. Until recently, the direct and indirect effects of overfishing and pollution from agriculture and land development have been the most significant causes of the accelerating degradation of coral reefs in many places, particularly the Caribbean. These human impacts have caused ecological shifts away from the original dominance by corals to a preponderance of fleshy seaweed or other weedy non-coral species. Importantly, these changes to reefs are compounded by the more recently superimposed impacts of global climate change, including coral bleaching and the emergence of disease. Even otherwise lightly impacted reefs, such as the northern and outer Great Barrier Reef, are increasingly vulnerable to climate change. Coral reefs are in serious decline globally; an estimated 30% are already severely damaged, and close to 60% may be lost by 2030.