Marine

Coral Reef Brian Gonzalez, Wilton Medina, Edvin Castaneda **Coral Reefs** are found in tropical areas of the Oceans. Coral reefs form in 150 feet deep from the surface, because they need sunlight to live. Coral reefs are sometimes refered to as the "Rain forest of the Sea," because there is so many different types of organisms. The Belize barrier reef is one of the biggest coral reef of the world. The Belize barrier reef is part of the Mesoamerican Barrier reef.



Some abiotic factors that are in the marine biome are water, salt, sand, rocks, and oxygen they are related to biotic factors because without the salt water the fish would die, sand helps some animals to hide from predators, rocks help the small fish to protect them from bigger animals, the oxygen that goes down in a certain small amount, it helps the corals leaving in the ocean.

Belize Blue Hole
Belize Blue Hole is a large submarine sinkhole off the coast of Belize. The hole is in circular shape, it is over 984 ft across, and 407 ft deep.



** Ecosystem Disruption **

 * Coral Reef Bleaching.**

Due to global warming, coral bleaching has occurred in the coral reefs of Belize, the process of coral being stressed and expelling their algae.
Coral bleaching is the loss of color that results when zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral polyps or when chlorophyll within the algae are degraded. The temperature rises and the algae


 * Citations and References **

"http://www.hawaiianatolls.org/research/NWHIRAMP2004/features/coral-bleaching-maro.php" __http://www.hawaiianatolls.org/research/NWHIRAMP2004/features/coral-bleaching-maro.php__

"http://www.reefcheckhawaii.org/eyesofthereefBleach.htm" __http://www.reefcheckhawaii.org/eyesofthereefBleach.htm__