Muleskinner

Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: News

Media Credit: www.sitemaker.edu This coral reef is infected with White Plague Type II, a form of coral bleaching. [Click to enlarge]

Spring break is quickly approaching and some college students will be headed to tropical locations for sun, sand and the ocean. For many, a travel must-have is sunscreen. However, not many people stop to think about how that sunscreen may be affecting the environment.

Jacquelyn Williams, junior public relations major, who is traveling to South Padre Island for spring break, said she probably wouldn't think of how she was affecting the environment when she put on sunscreen.

Last week the Telegraph, an online news source in the United Kingdom, released an article about the affect sunscreen has on coral reefs, especially the large amount released into the water from tourists. Jennifer Mittelhauser, instructor of biology, said she is not particularly surprised that sunscreen has a negative affect on coral.

"Coral are very vulnerable and delicate," Mittelhauser said. "It takes years for them to grow back if something happens to them."

What is coral bleaching? Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia lists coral bleaching as coral losing its color due to the loss of the unicellular algae that live within the tissues of the coral. These algae are called zooxanthellae. One of the many causes of bleaching is changes in water chemistry.

Aaron Bossert, senior functional ecology major, said coral systems are easily irritated and become vulnerable to changes in water chemistry.

"Changes in water temperature and ocean level can stress the coral," Bossert said. "Then they are more vulnerable to other things."

The chemicals in the sunscreen can stimulate viruses in the algae and cause the viruses to replicate until the algae explode. This spreads the virus into the surrounding waters and to other coral.

Without the algae, the coral not only lose color but also die because they are not receiving the nutrients from the photosynthesis of the algae. Without the coral many animal habitats would be lost.

"They are the foundation of a very delicate, vulnerable and complex ecosystem," Mittelhauser said. "They are a physical foundation, like concrete."

Continued...

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