Abbey--Great+Barrier+Reef

= **THE GREAT BARRIER REEF ** = **The Great Barrier Reef is a beautiful place to visit. It’s an important place for animals and plants. The coral Reef is also a wonderful place for snorkeling and to visit. The Great Barrier Reef is a living structure with tons of animals. ** **The Great Barrier Reefs is important because it has tons of living things and wonderful scenes! ** **It is the biggest Reef in the world so it gets many of recommendations (saypre). Tourists and scientists study the reefs and explore it. **

**history **

**The great barrier reefs have been in Australia for many years. The reefs form from millions of polyps. Polyps are skeletons that form corals. They grow a lot when these skeletons build up. In the 1960’s and in the 1980’s a large section of the reef was eaten. They were eaten by crown-of-throns starfish (cox). **

**Present **

**Science ** **Scientists study this area of living organisms. They study the animals and plants. They try and find ways for the animals and structure to live long and have a healthy life. They also find ways to protect the reefs. They dive down and observe the wonderful world under the water (saypre). **

**Tourism ** **Tourists come and look at the beautiful scene. They can snorkel and dive down to visit the coral reefs. There are a lot of trips to go to the reefs. Also there are a lot of glass bottom boat rides (cox). They can enjoy the corals reefs and learn about them. **

**Endangerment ** **The endangerments of the corals are that fish and other animals eat and kill the coral reefs. Also people and ships can endanger the coral reefs too. So they try to fix this problem by putting out buoys to help boats know where not to go and to tell people to not hit, break, or touch the coral reefs (cox). We also hope that the animal population does not get to big and that might help with the breaking of the reefs. The reefs need to prosper so that animals have shelter, food, and etc. The Great Barrier Reef is a wonderful place to visit. It has tons for you to do and enjoy! The Great Barrier Reef has history and nature that you want to see and know and want to protect! **

**1 ** **Work cited ** **Cox ****<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">, Reg, and Neil Morris. “Great Barrier Reefs.” //seven wonders of the natural world// (1995) **

**<span style="background: fuchsia; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Saypre ****<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">pulley, April. //Coral Reefs.// Brookfield: twenty-first century books, 1996 **