Chapter 7 Abudul Gaku

Chapter 7 opens up far from Castello Aragonese at an island - a tree island. It sits at the southernmost tip of the Great Barrier Reef near Australia. The whole island consisted of pieces of coral rubble in varying forms. Most of the island is deserted except for a small research station. Scientists from all parts of the world visit there to study the chemical composition of the reefs. Coral reefs are not just a structure. In the book, Kolbert says,"They are part animal, part vegetable, and part mineral, at once teeming with life and, at the same time, mostly dead" (130). This was something that I had not known. I always assumed that coral reefs were just plants underwater but they are living plant material. Charles Darwin concluded that the reason coral reefs are underwater are because they were submerged due to rising sea levels. The carbon dioxide in the sea is harmful to coral reefs. This was realized during the Biosphere Project that took place in Arizona. The carbon dioxide eroded the composition of the coral in the biosphere. The increasing concentration of carbon dioxide is harming the population of coral reefs by a large margin. The theme of this chapter is that humans alter natural systems. Due to humans burning fossil fuels, carbon emissions have increased, which is leading to the reduction of coral reefs.