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A
City That Never Sleeps
In many ways A Coral reef is like a city: busy, crowded and colorful.
The reef supplies food, protection and social life for the creatures
that live there. Like in Cities, reef residents live at every possible
level. Once an animal sets up housekeeping in one area, it rarely
moves unless it is evicted by a new tenant. New housing is hard to
find, coral reefs are more densely populated than the largest cities
above the water.
Why are reefs so crowded? Tropical waters are crystal clear. They
are clear because they contain so few plankton, minerals, decaying
plants and other nutrients that plants and animals need to survive.
A coral reef is like an oasis in the desert. It contains the only
food and shelter for miles around. The fish, crabs, and other inhabitants
contend for a limited supply of food. This supply consists of microscopic
plants and animals carried into the reef by waves, mats of seaweed
and other reef residents. Competition is fierce on the reef. Each
reef resident has its own specialized habits, diet and coloring enabling
it to carve out its own very special niche or position in the reef
community.
One way reef dwellers have been able to share the limited resources
of the reef is by maintaining different schedules. There are the day
shift dwellers, the twilight shift dwellers, and the night shift dwellers.
Research
Paragraph: The Great Barrier Reef.
Write what
you remember about the Great Barrier Reef. Describe where it is and
what sort of marine life lives there. Illustrate your paragraph. |