The Great Barrier Reef

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The Great Barrier Reef

• by Dawn N

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Location

• The Great Barrier Reef is on the north-east coast
  of Australia.

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Weather
Jan Feb Mar April May Jun July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
89 88 87 84 81 78 78 79 82 85 87 89
15.7 15.2 15.4 8.9 3.6 2.2 1.3 1.2 1.0 1.3 2.7 5.0
Temp
Rainfall Inches
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Landform
There are 600 islands that make up the Great
Barrier Reef.
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Animals

• Nudibranch
• Nudibranchs live on sea squirts, sponges, and
  other poisonous animals. They recycle the toxins
  for their own defense.
• They are called solar-powered because they eat
  soft corals, which generally have algae living in
  their tissues. They dont digest the algae,
  instead they keep the algae in their skin. The
  algae continue photosynthesizing, making food for
  themselves and the nudibranchs.

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Hard Coral that is no bigger than a fingernail.
They only grow about a half inch a year.
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Cone snails have a tubelike siphon called a
proboscis, for sniffing out worms and other prey
on the seafloor. The cone snail injects poison
that causes muscle spasms and death. It can also
poison a human, although deaths are rare.
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Plants

• Seagrass

• Mangrove

• Sponge

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Threats

• Human expansion is one of the biggest threats to
  coral reefs. As we change the landscape, the
  amount of freshwater runoff increases.
• Pollution also damages the reef.

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Questions Answers

• The Great Barrier Reef has a collection of over
  ______ types coral reefs.
• 400
• 1,500 different species of ______ live here.
• fish
• There are _____ kinds of mollusc.
• 4,000
• _________________ is the habitat of some
  threatened species like the dugong ('sea cow')
  and the large green turtle.
• The Great Barrier Reef

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Sources

• Great Barrier Reef _at_ www.nationalgeographic.com
• World Heritage Great Barrier Reef.htm
• http//www.crystalinks.com/greatbarriereef.html
• http//www.divethereef.com/Guides/SeasonsF.asp