Pollution Prevention
Queensland
The Problem
The Great Barrier Reef is facing a large decline in all species within its ecosystems, but particularly in the coral population. How is this caused? In the state of Queensland, farmers utilise a large amount of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides to promote the growth of their crops. When it rains, these fertilisers are then washed away with other sediments into nearby rivers. These rivers then carry these sediments and pollutants through the river mouth into the ocean. Once in the ocean, these pollutants then disperse and diffuse in the water, and have long lasting effects on the water quality along with the health of the corals and other species.
The pollutants and sediments have lead to an overall decrease in the population of coral, being indirectly responsible for the decrease of 25% of the coral population over 40 years. These pollutants also have heavily impacted the populations of other species such as algae and the Crown of Thorn Starfish. Although both are not necessarily negatively impacted, this still has other repercussions on the rest of the ecosystem. The pollutants are also largely detrimental to the nutrient cycle and the energy flow of the Great Barrier Reef, which you can read about in the next two sections.
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17 "Biodiversity Theme Report." Department of the Environment. Web. 22 Feb. 2015. <http://www.environment.gov.au/node/21594>.