Our Precious Coasts

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Top 11 Coral Reef Facts

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Number of states/ territories with corals

109

Distribution

30°N - 30°S

Coverage

284 300km2

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Number of reef building species described

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~800

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Temperature range

20-29°C

Salinity range

33-36%o

Depth range

0-100m

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Age of living reefs

6 000-9 000 years

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Nutrition

Suspended organic matter and photo- synthesis ~1 million associated animal and plant species Est >US$ 30 billion/ year

������������������������ Source: Spalding et al ., 2001.

Figure 4. Distribution of coral, mangrove and seagrass diversity. Similar to corals, the region of greatest mangrove diversity is in Southeast Asia, particularly around the Indonesian Archipelago (Burke et al ., 2001). There are three distinct areas of seagrass diversity in the Pacific region: the Indo-Pacific (areas around Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea), the seas around Japan, and southwest Australia (Spalding et al ., 2002). This graphic illustrates the distribution and biodiversity (low, medium and high diversity) of corals, mangroves and seagrass in the world’s coastal and marine areas.

Ecological impor- tance

Economic impor- tance

Sources: Spalding et al . 2001; Veron, 2000; Cesar et al ., 2003; Birkeland, 1996; Coté and Reynolds, 2006

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