...The Marine Environmental Impacts of Artificial Island Construction Dubai, UAE By Bayyinah Salahuddin Date: _______________ Approved: _________________________ Dr. Michael Orbach, Advisor Masters project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Environmental Management degree in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences of Duke University 2006 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ﻷﺟﻞ أهﻠﻲ First, I thank Allah for making my research successful and rewarding. Next, I would like to thank my dear family for their generous, unwavering support and encouragement. Finally, I would like to thank the Student International Discussion Group and the Environmental Internship Fund at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University for funding my research. -2- ABSTRACT In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is building three colossal artificial islands— each in the shape of a palm tree—in the Arabian Gulf. This has prompted several other Gulf countries to construct artificial islands. To determine the impacts of the first of these Palm Islands, The Palm Jumeirah, I traveled to Dubai and interviewed governmental agencies, environmental groups, and the developer’s environmental scientists. I analyzed the island’s impacts on marine wildlife as well as the developer’s mitigation efforts and the developer’s compliance with the relevant environmental laws. The Palm Jumeirah has buried and asphyxiated wildlife, increased turbidity, and changed...
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...Coral reefs occupy only 0.2% of the ocean floor, yet they are the most biologically diverse marine ecosystems known today, and support over 25% of all marine organisms (Yip). Due to the massive amount of marine species that populate coral reef habitats, maintaining healthy reefs is crucial for the continuation of marine biodiversity. In past years, the increase of mortality rates in coral has been caused by a number of factors, including wide-spread stress and disease. In the Indo-Pacific, coral reefs have been declining at a rate of approximately 2% per year for the last 20 years (Yip). Coral reef fish biodiversity is crucial for the sustainability of the coral reef ecosystem, as well as for the ability of the coral reefs to provide services...
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...The Artificial Reef Program consists of petroleum platforms, as well as unusable freighters to offer aquatic life with a different habitat. Before the freighters are announced permanently inactive, the ships are put through a multiple-step prepping and cleaning process so that the ship is environmentally safe (“Ships-to-Reefs.”). The Gulf of Mexico currently has eleven reefing areas. These reefing sites include oil and gas infrastructures, vessels, and sunken ships (“Decommissioning and Rigs to Reefs…”). On September 26, 2014 in Port Aransas, Texas, the 155-foot Kinta Ship sank to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, off the Shore of Mustang Island. This 40-year-old freighter will thrive with marine life for years to come. As a part of Texas...
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...201-140-3A-06 Coral Reefs are located in tropical oceans near the equator. The largest coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia The second largest coral reef can be found off the coast of Belize. In Central America. Other reefs are found in other areas in tropical oceans. Corals can exist as individuals polpys, or in colonies and communities that contain hundreds to hundreds of thousands of polyps. For example, brain corals are some of the most recognizable coral species. These corals are colonies of many individual polyps, the individual polyps average 1-3mm in diameter. The physical structure of a coral reef is built by reef building polyps. When they secrete calcium carbonate skeletons, they create a complex three dimensional framework upon which an abundance of coral species and other marine plants and animals may live. About 25 % of all marine life is found in coral reefs, including around two million species of fish, crustaceans, sponges and seaweeds. Together these plants and animals form the coral reef ecosystem. As well as supporting marine biodiversity, reef ecosystems provide a number of ecological services and goods to human populations on a local, regional, and national level as they play an important role in coastline and habitat protection, nitrogen fixing, sand supply, climate records, fisheries, medicine, recreation and tourism. Coral reef frameworks can serve as physical buffers for ocean waves and currents. As waves pass over a reef structure, their...
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...Carl Campbell Environmental Science with Lab January 18, 2014 iLab 2 – Week 2 – Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Species Introduction This Lab covers ecosystems, food webs, and the transfer of energy between species. In includes a review of biomes and ecosystems along with the operation of food chains and food webs, looking specifically at how energy is transmitted through the food web as part of the biomass pyramid. 1. Discuss the producer, consumer and decomposer relationships in the Mount St. Helens ecosystem post eruption. a. Producer Relationships – the producer relationships suffered immediate damage in the immediate vicinity of the blast although for about 5 more years the effects spread to a much larger area due to the ash blanked deposited via prevailing winds. In year 9 there began to be notable recovery, in areas furthest from the blast, of producers (vegetation) which peaked in 2010. Even recently additional recovery is being shown in the most damaged areas as well through natural seeding and interaction with consumers. b. Consumer Relationships – Insects, as expected were some of the first to return. Interestingly enough small mammals actually were able to stay in the vicinity in many cases even in the harsh conditions. The large animals were wiped out however and have had to return slowly over time from the surrounding areas. It is important to not this was not a linier return to pre eruption populations rather the species went through...
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...Coral Reef Mitigation Plan XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX SCI/275 October 9, 2011 XXXXXXXXXXXXX Coral Reef Mitigation Plan A recent report estimates that 27% of the world's reefs are already gone and severely damaged and that another 58% are degraded and threatened. Here in the United States, in faraway places, and in the planet’s most secluded areas are experiencing coral reef crisis. Coral reefs survival are endangered from a controlling mixture of stresses which include global warming, bleaching, carbon dioxide, water pollution, sedimentation, coastal development, damaging fishing practices, coral mining, tourism, and ozone depletion. Threatening behavior from human activities, either direct or indirect, create considerable hazards to coral reef ecosystems, and the human populations that rely on them. Ocean warming caused from global warming and ozone depletion is severely hazardous to coral reefs. Coral organisms are extremely receptive to temperature changes. Water temperature increase may cause mass bleaching among coral reefs which causes coral polyps to expel zooxanthellae from the stress caused by ultraviolet radiation or heat. Zooxanthellae supplies reef corals with up to 80% of its energy, making zooxanthellae necessary for coral survival (Coral Reef Alliance, 2010). Zooxanthellae provide color for corals so when released corals become white or bleached. Coral have a chance to recover from bleaching effect only if normal conditions return promptly enough, but in most...
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... Mactan Island stands in sharp contrast to the coast to the coast destination in other Southeast Asian countries. Mactan’s costal tourism has essentially developed on a low rock coast two lagoons facing a deep sea fringed by viable coral reefs. The Mactan shoreline is characterized by short sandy beaches between pronounced coral rock outcrops serving as “headlines” along the southeast coast facing Olango Island. Since the 1970s, this coast has experienced significant change due to poorly planned resort development. Three types of modification to Mactan’s southeast coast can be identified. The early stage involved the least amount of change to the rock coast. The existing limited sandy beaches were used and sea walls were built where necessary. The middle stage of modification witnessed a variety of coastal structures built to retain the beaches, together with the use of imported sand for beach nourishment. Groins and breakwaters were deployed in various ways to create different resort layouts. The final stage of modification was the excavation of the rock coast and the creation of new and artificial beaches. Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort was the first to carry out the bold move of excavating the rock and building an entire artificial beach. The process of creating a new beach started with the initial removal of the rock along a 350m stretch by jackhammers to form a large bay. Two large outcrops were left behind to remain as island and to help retain sand. Two large groins...
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...The tourism industry has developed into one of the most powerful industries in the world. The impacts of tourism development growth can produce both benefits and costs to the host nation. In order to eliminate the negativities caused by tourism, and provide a more sustainable future for the ever-expanding industry, Government’s need to be actively involved throughout. However, the extent of their involvement is disputed. The Government’s of such nations must try to develop initiatives that will not only carry on boosting their economy through the maturity of tourism, but sufficiently limit the damage to the environment, all whilst protecting their own nation’s cultures, and in doing so; creating a more sustainable future. The WTO (1993) defines sustainable tourism as ‘meeting the needs of the present tourists and host regions whilst protecting and enhancing opportunity for the future.’ It also illustrates that sustainable development strategies must stress the need for due regard to be given to the ‘long-term appropriate use of natural and human resources’. Essentially, in order to achieve sustainability in tourism, the long term effects and impacts need to be assessed over the mass market. By developing sustainable forms of tourism in some areas, other areas that may be affected as a result of this are simply ignored. As Klemm (1992) suggests, ‘the real challenge for the future it to provide sustainable tourism for the mass market’. As the mass market is not given enough consideration...
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...Marine conservation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Coral reefs have a great amount of biodiversity. Marine conservation, also known as marine resources conservation, is the protection and preservation of ecosystems in oceans and seas. Marine conservation focuses on limiting human-caused damage to marine ecosystems, and on restoring damaged marine ecosystems. Marine conservation also focuses on preserving vulnerable marine species. Contents 1 Overview 2 Coral reefs 3 Human impact 4 Techniques 5 Technology and halfway technology 6 Laws and treaties 7 Organizations and education 8 References 8.1 Notes 8.2 Bibliography 9 External links Overview Marine conservation is the study of conserving physical and biological marine resources and ecosystem functions. This is a relatively new discipline. Marine conservationists rely on a combination of scientific principles derived from marine biology, oceanography, and fisheries science, as well as on human factors such as demand for marine resources and marine law, economics and policy in order to determine how to best protect and conserve marine species and ecosystems. Marine conservation can be seen as subdiscipline of conservation biology. Coral reefs Coral reefs are the epicenter for immense amounts of biodiversity, and are a key player in the survival of an entire ecosystem. They provide various marine animals with food, protection, and shelter which...
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...Geography Research Response Paper What will be the environmental, sociopolitical, and economic impacts of 21st century climate change? * Environmental * A springtime “ozone hole” has developed in the last 30 years over Antarctica (Mann 30) * Without an ozone layer, unhealthy levels of UV radiation would reach Earth’s surface, making the planet largely uninhabitable (Mann 30) * Basic theoretical considerations as well as detailed climate-model simulations indicate a likely increase in the average intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes in all major formation basins (Mann 56) * We know that mountain glaciers over the world are disappearing, and that this disappearance is generally related to increased melting due to warmer atmospheric temperatures (Mann 58) * The combination of decreased summer precipitation and increased evaporation due to warming surface temperatures is predicted to lead to a greater tendency for drought in many regions (Mann 90) * Other likely impacts of climate change over the next century include increases in extreme weather phenomena, and rising sea levels due to melting ice and warming of the oceans (Mann 90) * Sea level is predicted to rise because water expands as it warms, and melting ice is also likely to have a major impact on the sea level (Mann 98) * Coastal regions will be subject to increased exposure to flood and storm damage, more intense coastal surges, and altered patterns...
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...Salt-water intrusion can lead to plant death and fleeing of animals from their former habitats (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/surge/). The animals that nest on these beaches and foredunes are also negatively impacted. Nests can either be washed away or covered with large amounts of sediment, dramatically lessening the breeding success of these populations for that year. A potential benefit of these storms on barrier islands is that they deter humans from developing the land in these areas, which allows the biodiversity to grow and flourish. Another benefit is that storms hitting these islands lessen the impact on the mainland, which helps reduce the loss of developed land in these...
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...hij Teacher Resource Bank Environmental Studies Unit 1 ENVS1 The Living Environment Teachers Notes Copyright © 2008 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number 3644723) and a registered charity (registered charity number 1073334). Registered address: AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX. Dr Michael Cresswell, Director General. Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Environmental Studies / Teachers’ Notes Unit 1 / Version 1.0 Unit 1 ENVS1 The Living Environment Introduction These Teachers’ Notes are intended to expand upon Unit 1: The Living Environment by providing greater detail of the topics to be covered and how these should be developed. Examples included in the specification must be covered. Where specific examples are not given, suitable examples should be chosen to illustrate the principles and issues that are included in the specification. This guide includes suitable examples that may be used (in italics) but others may be used if preferred eg if the candidates or teachers have particular experience or knowledge. It is anticipated that the use of carefully selected examples may reduce total teaching effort by enabling a number of issues to be covered in a single situation. This will also help candidates to appreciate the holistic, inter-connected nature of the subject and prepare them for the study of broader issues such as sustainability...
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...Mangroves are ever green forests between land and sea, found essentially in the intertidal zone and occupying large tracts along the shallow coasts, estuaries and in the deltas where they are influenced by tides, widely differing conditions of saline and rainfall regimes. The coastline of Pakistan is 1,050 km long and 40-50 km wide shared by the provinces of Sindh (350 km) and Balochistan (700 km). In the Sindh province, mangroves are found in the Indus Delta which occupies approximately 600,000 ha extending from Korangi Creek in the north to Sir Creek in the South. Indus Delta comprises 17 major creeks, numerous minor creeks and extensive mudflats and constitutes 97% of total mangrove forests found in Pakistan. Mangroves of Indus delta are unique in being the largest arid climate mangroves in the world. The survival of these forests is largely associated with perennial freshwater supplies from the River Indus, which flows through the delta before reaching the Arabian Sea. An area of 344,845 ha of the Indus delta has been declared as protected forests and is under the control of Sindh Forest Department. The Indus Delta is believed to have had as many as eight mangrove species in the past. However at present, only four species have been left. Nearly 95% of the mangroves located in the Indus Delta comprise the species Avicennia marina. Very small patches of Ceriops tagal and Aegiceras corniculatum are found near the mouth of the Indus at Keti Bunder. Rizophora mucronata has...
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...An ecosystem is a community of living organisms (plants, animals and microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (things like air, water and mineral soil), interacting as a system.[2] These components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows.[3] As ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment,[4] they can come in any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces[5] (although some scientists say that the entire planet is an ecosystem).[6] History and development Arthur Tansley, a British ecologist, was the first person to use the term "ecosystem" in a published work.[fn 1][10] Tansley devised the concept to draw attention to the importance of transfers of materials between organisms and their environment.[11] He later refined the term, describing it as "The whole system, ... including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment".[12] Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates.[12] Tansley later[13] defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope. G. Evelyn Hutchinson, a pioneering limnologist who was a contemporary of Tansley's, combined Charles Elton's ideas about trophic ecology with those of Russian geochemist Vladimir Vernadsky to suggest that mineral nutrient availability in a lake limited algal production...
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...Save Our Beaches! The Study Behind Coastal Pollution Plastic Pollution is a significant contributor to the non-point source pollution found in the Monterey Bay and around the world. While terms such as Marine Debris and Ocean Trash have been used to describe the garbage that enters the ocean, a growing number of scientists, researchers and marine-based organizations have adopted the term Plastic Pollution not only because 90% of floating ocean trash is plastic, but because the term pollution highlights that we are dealing with a pervasive substance that contaminates water, the cells of organisms, and knows no boundaries. (Plastic Pollution, n.d.) 80% of plastic pollution that enters the ocean originates from land. Common sources include: recreational beach users, people who drop litter on sidewalks and streets, plastics manufacturers and transporters, illegal dumping, and areas with inadequate trash receptacles. All land-based plastic pollution has the potential to become ocean pollution. Plastics easily blow into the ocean or washed down storm drains that flow directly to the Bay, and oceans around the world. (Marine Problems: Pollution, n.d.) Marine animals often mistake plastic pieces for food. For example, bird species such as pelicans or albatross will mistake pieces of plastic for small fish. Once the animal ingests the plastic, their body cannot digest it. The plastic item will remain in the animals’ stomach causing the animal to feel full. Thus the animal will eventually...
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