Science book
Storyboard Text
- Slide: 1
- But the coral I live in and eat is dead. How can you fix it?
- One week Betsy notices that the water temperature starts to feel strangely warm. Her paradise doesn't feel quite right.
- Betsy senses that the water is cooling down and that there seems to be more clouds in the sky.
- I feel so hot and my home looks ruined!
- CARING FOR BETSY'S CORAL
- It's not dead yet but it will be if we don’t act fast! The algae that gives your coral colour has been pushed out because the water has gotten too warm.
- That's why I’m here! I’m a Marine biologist and I'm taking photos and measurements to find out how I can fix your home and how I can stop this from happening to other reefs.
- By Sam Merchant
- Slide: 3
- Betsy the butterfly fish lived in the magical coral reef. She spent her time making friends and exploring nooks and crannies in the coral.
- Slide: 4
- She weaved in and out of the colourful coral waving eagerly to her pals, the green sea turtles, crabs and sea cucumbers. All the while she is alert to the danger from her predators.
- Slide: 5
- Using her tail spot to confuse lurking sharks and snappers she darts quickly into clam shells and coral caves to hide.
- This type of Butterlfy fish is called a Spotfin Butterlfy fish. They use their spot to confuse predators about which way they are swimming.
- Slide: 6
- When Betsy is hungry she nibbles carefully at the fragile coral with her sharp snout. Using her superb eyesight she snaps up small worms, shrimp, algae and anemones.
- Slide: 7
- Everyday her underwater paradise was admired by 2 legged visitors floating calmly on the water's surface. Betsy loves to see that her beautiful home brings so much joy and happiness to her visitors.
- Slide: 9
- Over the next few weeks she notices that the vibrant colours of her favourite hiding places are fading. Some of her friends have disappeared and it's getting harder for Betsy to find the food she needs.
- Slide: 10
- Betsy’s magical world now feels like a desert of skeletons. The 2 legged visitors no longer come.
- Did you know 47.5% of reefs around the world are affected by bleaching? That's nearly half of the worlds reefs!
- Slide: 11
- One day as she anxiously swims through the white corals, searching for her next meal, she meets Max.
- Slide: 12
- Max is similar to the other 2 legged visitors but he seems most interested in carefully observing the white bleached corals. Suddenly Max looks up and notices Betsy’s sad desperate face and he asks “What's wrong?”
- What's wrong?
- Slide: 15
- Max explains to Betsy how the actions of humans over the last 200 years like the burning of fossil fuels and cutting down forests have changed the climate of our planet. This means that at times the temperature of the water that she lives in is higher than what it used to be.
- Burning fossil fuels makes up about 90% of the worlds climate change. We need to do better.
- Slide: 16
- So what will you do?
- I will continue to monitor this reef so we can predict when this is going to happen again to your reef and others. I will also talk to my scientist friends and see what technology they have to protect reefs.
- Slide: 17
- Feeling more optimistic, Betsy swam to tell her remaining friends of Max’s promise.
- Slide: 18
- A FEW WEEKS LATER
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- As the months go by Betsy begins to see the colour return to the coral. Some of her old fish friends are returning and the reef starts to have its magical feel again.
- Slide: 20
- One day she spots Max!
- How did you do it?!
- I asked my scientist friends what technology they had to solve your problem and they suggested cloud brightening. This is when humans send out boats that spray water into the air to create more clouds. This protects the water from the sunlight and slowly cools down the water!
- Slide: 21
- However this is only a short term solution. If we want to fix this problem forever we must stop climate change. Humans need to stop burning fossil fuels and start using more sustainable forms of energy.
- Slide: 22
- Betsy darted away, excited that her coral paradise was beginning to return to normal and confident that the humans were doing their very best to fix her bleached reef.
- Slide: 24
- Bibliography
- Commerce, U. D. O. et al. "What is Coral Bleaching?." n.d., https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html. Accessed 04 Aug. 2024.2024, https://theconversation.com/could-marine-cloud-brightening-reduce-coral-bleaching-on-the-great-barrier-reef-214308. Accessed 04 Aug. 2024. The Conversation,Harrison, D. P. "Could 'Marine Cloud Brightening' Reduce Coral Bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef?."n.d., https://www.barrierreef.org/news/explainers/predicting-coral-bleaching-great-barrier-reef. Accessed 04 Aug. 2024. Great Barrier Reef Foundation,"How We Predict Reef Threats Like Coral Bleaching.""Reef Resilience |." n.d., https://reefresilience.org/. Accessed 04 Aug. 2024.n.d., https://www.barrierreef.org/the-reef/threats/coral-bleaching. Accessed 04 Aug. 2024. Great Barrier Reef Foundation,"Understanding Coral Bleaching: Causes, Effects, and Solutions."Youtube. n.d., https://www.youtube.com/watch. Accessed 04 Aug. 2024.
- Slide: 0
- Hi, I'm Scientist Sam! I'm going to give you some facts about fish and coral bleaching throughout the book. Did you know there are 129 different types of Butterlfy fish? Crazy right?
- Roughly 2.2 million people visit the great barrier reef every year. Now thats a lot of people!
- It only takes 4 weeks for coral to bleach after the temprature has changed. Even if its only 1 degree!
- A full recovery for a coral reef can take 10-15 years! That long for only a couple of degrees.
- A cloud with many small droplets is brighter than a cloud with fewer larger droplets. By spraying more water into the air we can brighten the clouds! This can reduce bleaching by up to 50%
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