Environmental Science, 10th Edition (Cunningham)

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To continue:
- Make sure you have the Google Earth software installed and running.
- Copy the following latitude and longitude and paste into the "Fly to" field under the Search tab.
- Hit "Enter" for Google Earth to take you to the specified coordinates, then come back here and read the following overview.

Latitude/Longitude: -20.4903, 150.966

Overview: Great Barrier Reef, p. 271

The Great Barrier Reef is the longest coral reef complex in the world. Coral reefs are renowned for the diversity, beauty, and economic importance of the fish and other organisms that shelter or reproduce in the complex niches and crevices of a reef. Because of the region's biological and economic importance, the Great Barrier Reef is a protected reserve. In fact, the reef and portions of the surrounding ocean make up the largest marine protected area in the world.

This huge reef system is built by living coral. Corals live in a cooperative arrangement, in which a coral polyp (an animal) and an alga (which photosynthesizes) live together and benefit each other. Countless fish, shrimp, and other organisms find shelter and reproduce in the reef's crevices.

1			Note that the reef is composed of many smaller shallow areas and islands. Approximately how wide is the reef complex near the place marker?
			A)	About 25 km
			B)	30-40 km
			C)	40-60 km
			D)	60-80 km
			E)	About 100 km
2			If you turn on the "populated places" layer, you can see the names of the Australian states and cities near the reef. Which state has the reef along its coastline?
			A)	New South Wales
			B)	Queensland
			C)	Brisbane
			D)	Canberra
			E)	Northern Territory
3			Note that you can see the approximate shape of the ocean floor when you are zoomed out. South of about Brisbane, the reef complex disappears. Why is this?
			A)	South of Brisbane, the shallow continental shelf disappears, so that the ocean floor is too deep to support coral growth, and is exposed to colder sea currents.
			B)	The massive oil spill of 1987 off the Australian coast destroyed a big chunk of the coral in the Great Barrier Reef.
			C)	A poorly understood sea-borne micro-organism emerged in this area five years ago (possibly as a result of dumped plutonium from Vietnam-era submarines), and it appears to be eating away the coral.
			D)	The outer edge of the Barrier Reef was "trimmed" accidentally by poorly navigated boats prior to the establishment of the protected marine reserve.
			E)	There appears to be an underlying genetic reason that explains why the coral quit growing, once its aggregate mass reached an estimated 2.4 billion metric tons.