The destruction of coral reefs by oxybenzone

Coral reefs are not only important to the oceans and the surrounding aquatic ecosystems, but also to the human population as well.  They deposit the eggs of fish that we eat and protect the coasts during storms.  They are also involved in recreation, particularly tourism considering snorkeling and scuba diving are very popular.  Unfortunately, their populations are drastically decreasing due to water pollution, particularly the pollutant oxybenzone (BP-3) originating from human activity.  In The Washington Post article, journalist Darryl Fears summarizes the Peer Reviewed Article, which identifies sunscreen as the ultimate source of oxybenzone.  The residue of the sunscreen that is found on swimmers remains in the water and eventually sinks deep down and interacts with oceanic organisms.  It particularly affects coral reefs by preventing the coral reefs from their important nutrients and turning the coral reefs from their bright, vibrant colors to white.  Eighty percent of the coral reefs in the Caribbean have been victims to oxybenzone pollution.

Figure 1: Left, picture of coral reef without presence of pollutants. Right, picture of coral reef harmed by oxybenzone.

Found in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, the peer reviewed article measured the concentration of BP-3 in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Hawaiian islands on the coral reef Stylophora pistillata.  "BP-3 is involved in molecular-level to multi-organ system pathologies."  In addition, "chronic exposure to BP-3 in fish resulted in reduced egg production, induction of vitellogenin protein in males, and a significant reduction in egg hatching."  Stylophora pistillata were collected at the Inter-University Institute of Marine Sciences (IUI) in Eilat, Israel. Once collected, they were placed in artificial seawater and exposed to BP-3. Chlorophyll fluorescence was done in order to give an estimate on the extent of bleaching from BP-3.  DNA abasic lesions were quantified in order to see the damage to the species' DNA.  In addition, transmission electron microscopy was conducted and "used for tissue and cellular pathomorphology." Among other methods conducted concerning BP-3's interaction with Stylophora pistillata i.e. statistical models and coral cell toxicity assays, data showed that as the concentration of BP-3 increased, the destruction of the coral reefs increased.



As mentioned earlier, one of the main concerns with the interactions between BP-3 and coral reefs is the corals turning white, coral bleaching.  Bleaching is defined as"the loss of symbiotic dinoflagellate zooxanthellae, photosynthetic pigments, or both."  In other words, it's the loss of pigmentation in coral reefs.  Coral bleaching not only results from water pollution, but it is also affected by greenhouse gases as well.  Despite the fact that the research study mainly focuses on pollutants, heat stress is referenced to harm coral reefs. As we have learned in class, global warming is still on the rise as well as the concentration of greenhouse gases. The oceans therefore have a higher temperature due to global warming, and this heat is harming the coral reef habitat.  Therefore, it is more difficult to stop the destruction of coral reefs as both accumulation of BP-3 and greenhouse gases are involved.

I think Fears' article could have gone into more detail discussing the methods in which the researchers determined BP-3's destruction to the coral reefs. Basically, Fears only included the objective and the conclusion of the study in his article. In my opinion, this article can be strengthened by not necessarily going into massive detail about the methods, but acknowledging the certain techniques pursued, like how DNA lesions were measured, light and darkness was an experimental variable due BP-3's photo-toxicity, etc.  In addition, when Fears writes that "the world is in the midst of a third global coral bleaching event," I think he should go on to define coral bleaching and give a past analysis of the previous two global coral bleaching events. This declaration defines a key global concern, and deserves more attention on it rather than just one sentence.  However, despite these objections, the article definitely got the point across that oxybenzone, found in sunscreen, is seriously harming coral reefs.  I also appreciate that the Washington Post article references alternative sunscreens with no oxybenzone as a step that we can start with towards stopping the concentrations of BP-3 from further increasing in oceans.  The research study itself is intriguing and straightforward with explaining the objective, the experiments, and the data and analysis gathered.  Its strength results from the explanation of why studying the destruction of coral reefs is important and it's relationship with global warming.