Date: January 18, 2011
The article is about the flood in Queensland, Australia, and the polluted water that is reaching the Great Barrier Reef. The fresh water impacts the coral that form the Barrier in two ways. First, the fresh water damages the coral and makes it vulnerable so it can get sick and even die. Second, the polluted water stops sunlight from entering in the ocean water and so some organisms can't do photosynthesis but some algae can grow without sun. The problem with these algae growing is that the crown-of-thorns starfish larvae feed on these algae. the crown-of-thorns starfish is a coral predator. In one year a female crown-of-thorns starfish can produce 60 million eggs so if they reproduce a lot they can kill big part of the Great Barrier Reef.
The article interested me because before I didn't know that fresh water can cause the coral's death. Another thing that I didn't know is that the crown-of-thorns starfish exist, that they can eat the coral, and produce millions the eggs.
The article has connection with my life because these floods are caused by the climatic change, there was a lot of rain which affects the rivers and these over flooded. We also polluted the river with minerals from mining and pesticides, so when there is a flood all the polluted water goes to ocean and causes damage to the marine environment.
