Causes

Causes

Coral reefs are one of the most integral components of the success of the marine ecosystem. They are large limestone structures that are located in oceans all around the world. They provide shelter, food, and protein for millions of diverse marine organisms. Additionally, medical benefits have been discovered to be linked to coral reefs, such as evidence that has been found that coral reefs remove carbon dioxide from the air. However, coral reefs are being destroyed at a very fast rate. A contributing factor to the destruction of coral reefs is from four harmful chemicals that bleach the coral; about 10% of the world’s coral reefs are threatened by sunscreen induced coral bleaching. The most disturbing part of this news is that these chemicals are being transferred to coral reefs from human activity by applying sunscreen to our bodies.

Within sunscreen, there are 4 harmful chemicals which cause bleach the coral reefs. These chemicals are paraben, cinnamate, benzophenone, and camphor. The sunscreen washes off the swimmers bodies when they enter the ocean, and makes its way towards the coral reefs. The process of bleaching starts as soon as the chemicals interact with the coral. A vast amount of sunscreen washes into the ocean annually, about 4,000-6,000 metric tons. Additionally, 25% of sunscreen applied runs into the water within 20 minutes, so even if you go into the water for a brief period of time there is a chance that it will wash off.

These chemicals damage various components of the coral reef such as algae (for example: zooexanthellae) which lives in the coral tissue and provides nutrients to the coral through photosynthesis. The chemicals cause viruses within the coral to replicate and eventually cause the algae to explode. After they explode, the viruses then spill into the ocean water and affect other coral organisms. A chain reaction of destruction is created from only a small amount of sunscreen when it comes in contact with the reefs, only about 10uL is needed. These disastrous effects develop quickly, ranging from a few hours to a few days, until the coral is destroyed forever.

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