Why Coral Polyps and Zooxanthellae Matter! Part 2

Let's continue with the next two categories!

2a. Environmentally, reefs provide coastal protection. It is calculated that coral reefs protect approximately 150,000 km of shoreline across 100 countries (Burke et al., 2011). Their ability to provide this service is dependent on the size of the reef and their surface roughness coefficient. The reef acts to buffer wave energy and prevents waves attenuating directly on shore thereby limiting coastal erosion and the morphology of the beach (Lugo-Fernandez et al., 1998a; Sheppard et al., 2005). This benefit is particularly apparent in low-lying atolls such as the Maldives, which would not exist without their fringing reefs. Importantly, this role is becoming ever more important due to the increased frequency in storm events.

2b. Coral reefs provide a water filtration service. Most species are filter feeders and in doing so, consume suspended particulates in the water column. This ability is determined by the presence of flagellated collar-cells or if you want to be fancy, choanocytes. As a result, the near shore waters are better in terms of quality and clarity (reefrelief.org, 2012). I think that this is a pretty interesting role but at present, I can’t find any more literature. Come on Metalib, find something relevant!

3. Coral reefs are used for medicinal purposes. The NOAA (2006) states that they are the ‘medicine cabinets’ of the 21^st century. Medical researchers, to develop pharmaceuticals have harnessed the complex chemical compounds developed by many reef species, such as venoms. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (2004) provides some examples of reef related compounds used to treat cancer and HIV amongst others. More specifically, Glaser and Mayer (2009) provide a more specific, yet equally interesting example for cancer that highlights the importance of reefs. They illustrate how scientists managed to synthesize an anti-cancer agent from the Caribbean sea squirt species for the treatment of ovarian cancer. This role that coral reefs play cannot be understated. Since only 5% of the world’s oceans have been explored and a small proportion of reef life sampled, there is the potential for a whole load of new pharmaceutically valuable discoveries (Nature.org, 2011). Further, it is important that change for the better starts now. We do not want to lose pharmaceutically significant species that we haven’t even discovered yet! To see more coral related pharmaceutical treatments, click here. 

It seems that sea squirt, whilst being pharmaceutically beneficial, looks as bad as it tastes. Though the tuna eyeballs look tasty... nom nom nom. 

I hope that you can now appreciate the importance of coral reefs and why they are so interesting. 

Until next time, 

Seb