Coral+Reef+Home

__**Coral Reef Home**__

Welcome to Hannah C.'s, Cameron W.'s, and Abby P.'s Coral Reef Home page! I hope you enjoy learning about this biome.

__Location__: Coral reefs are found in warm, tropical waters, with enough light to provide life to many different species. There are three major types of coral reefs: barrier reefs, fringing reefs, and atolls. Barrier reefs are located in shallow water, with a deep lagoon separating it from the shoreline. Fringing reefs are found in shallow water also, either with or without a shallow lagoon separating it from the shore. Both are found on island shorelines and shallow continental shelves. Atolls are circular reefs that form around deep lagoons. They are mostly located near islands and volcanic seamounts in deeper parts of the ocean. Overall, coral reefs are located from about 30 o N to 30 o S.

__Climate__: The average temperature of the water coral reefs can be found in is 22 o Celsius or warmer. Coral Reefs can survive in waters 0 to 100 meters deep.The back reef is the section of the reef closest to shore, parts of it may be exposed during low tide. This zone is typically warmer than the other parts of the coral reef because the water is so shallow. The next zone, the reef crest, is located between the back reef and the reef face. It is the highest point in a coral reef and has the most wave action. Mostly, there are short branching corals because they are able to withstand the wave action on the reef crest. Furthest away from the shore is the reef face (or the fore-reef). This zone slopes downwards sometimes very deep. It is home to the largest and most diverse community of corals. The most variation in corals is on the slope between 5 and 20 meters deep. There are three main areas where coral reefs can be found: the Indo-Pacific Region (in the Indian and Pacific oceans), the Great Caribbean Region (around the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Islands), and the Red Sea. Each of these areas is different from one another. For example, the Indo-Pacific region consists of mostly hard coral, while the Great Caribbean region has lots of sponges and octocorals which the Indo-Pacific region does not have much of.The Red Sea coral reefs also have more hard coral than the Great Caribbean region, in fact, it has about four times more biodiversity of hard coral than the Great Caribbean region. Biomes Home Coral Reef Organisms Coral Reef Interactions Coral Reef Food Web Coral Reef Conservation Coral Reef Bibliography