Where are corals found in the world and what are their limiting growth factors ?
Discuss the threats that corals face. Corals require a narrow temperature range in order to thrive so most corals grow between the 20 degree Celsius isotherms. In the broadest sense corals are found in a broad band throughout the tropics with extensions where there are warm water currents e.g. west and east coasts of Australia. Again in a broad sense coral reefs are found in three main areas e.g. Caribbean, including Bahamas and Florida Keys, Red Sea and Indian Ocean Islands and the Indo West Pacific. However, there are many variants in this pattern …for example on the west coast of Africa the cold Benguela Current prevents much coral formation. There are six main limiting growth factors 1) Temperature as discussed above. Most coral prefer temperatures of 23 -25 degrees Celsius. Cold currents deter coral growth. 2) Depth. Corals do not really grow below 50 to 100 meters below the surface and this is mainly linked to the next point 3) Light is needed for zooxanthelle production. These a
