The Great Barrier Reef (Earth's Incredible Places) - Softcover

Scales, Helen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1838748709 ISBN 13: 9781838748708

Publisher: Nobrow Press, 2023

Synopsis

A vibrant guide to the Great Barrier Reef full of surprising factoids and retro illustrations, perfect for children curious about life under the sea. Now in paperback!

"A very good book for beefing up the coral reef section, or for niche projects on climate change."
--School Library Journal

Did you know that giant clams can weigh as much as two baby elephants? Or that the shockwave of a pistol shrimp can heat up the surrounding waters to a temperature nearly as hot as the surface of the sun? With nearly 400,000 square kilometers of dazzling color, intricate ecosystems and unique creatures large and small, The Great Barrier Reef is one of the great natural wonders of our world.

Vibrant, dynamic illustrations illuminate this enchanting place, its animal inhabitants, and the peoples who have embraced it as a centerpiece of their cultures. Learn all about how the reef came to be, its place in the world, and perhaps most importantly, what we can all do to help ensure that The Great Barrier Reef will be around for countless future generations to discover!

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Helen Scales is a marine biologist, diver, broadcaster and author. She has studied many parts of the oceans, from coral reefs in Borneo to the mangroves of Madagascar. She got to know the Great Barrier Reef working as a divemaster. Among her books about ocean life is the bestseller Spirals in Time. Helen presents the Earth Unscrewed podcast and appears regularly on BBC radio as an oceans expert. She advises the charity Sea Changers and teaches at Cambridge University. For part of the year she lives in Cambridge, England and the rest on the Atlantic coast of France.

Lisk Feng is an award-winning illustrator from China, who now lives and works in New York. She graduated from the MFA Illustration Practice from Maryland Institute College of Art, and has received awards from the Society of Illustrators and Communication Arts, among others. She is also the illustrator of Everest.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

EXCERPT...

MEET THE REEF

The Great Barrier Reef is also a World Heritage Site. These precious sites around the world are chosen because they are amazing places that need to be treasured and protected. 




HOW THE REEF BEGAN

A long time ago, Australia was not the sort of place where a reef could grow. Stuck to Antarctica, it was surrounded by a freezing sea – far too cold for corals!Then, 85 million years ago (when dinosaurs were still alive), Australia split off and began to drift away towards the equator, nearer to where it is today. At this time in history the Earth was very cold. Enormous ice sheets locked up masses of the ocean’s water, so sea levels were more than a hundred metres lower than they are now. Then, as the last ice age ended around 10,000 years ago, the world warmed up and the ice sheets melted, causing an enormous flood. As sea levels rose higher and higher, great cliffs disappeared beneath the waves, and hills were turned into islands. Tiny, young corals called larvae drifted in from other reefs and settled on this land that was suddenly underwater. The sea became warm enough for corals to thrive, and so the Great Barrier Reef began to grow. As the seas rose higher, some of the islands drowned completely, but the corals kept growing upwards and outwards until they built wide, flat reefs.



BUILT BY CORAL

More than 600 species of corals live on the Great Barrier Reef. If you were to look closely at a piece of coral, you’ll see that it’s covered in spots. These are polyps: each one is a tiny coral animal with a mouth, a stomach and tentacles. Coral polyps don’t have brains, much like their closest relatives, jellyfish and anemones. Each big coral, known as a colony, is made up of hundreds and thousands of polyps joined together. Their bodies are soft but usually they live inside a tough exoskeleton made of calcium carbonate, the same stuff as chalk and chickens’ eggshells.

TINY SECRETS

With the help of a microscope you can discover one of the polyps’ hidden secrets – inside their bodies are spherical cells, called zooxanthellae or zoox for short. Zoox use the sun’s energy to make sugar, just like plants do on land. During the day, corals eat this sugar. At night they transform into deadly hunters, using their tentacles to catch tiny animals and plant-like organisms called plankton. Some plankton grow into bigger animals, like fish and crabs, and some never get any bigger.Branching coralBrain coralMushroom coralSea whipElephant ear leather coralThere are two different types of coral – soft and hard. Corals with a tough exoskeleton are known as hard corals. Corals without a hard skeleton are called soft corals.



TROPICAL SNOWSTORMS

Once a year, the Great Barrier Reef turns into a giant underwater snow globe . . . except the little snowflakes twirling about are actually millions of colourful coral eggs. The corals release them at exactly the same time. This is one way that corals can multiply and spread to new places in the ocean.

TRAVELLING LARVAE

Fertilised coral eggs hatch into larvae that look like tiny, squashed grains of rice. They are brilliant travellers, drifting for weeks on long, dangerous journeys. Many get eaten by fish along the way, but the lucky survivors will eventually settle down on rocks or pieces of dead coral and form a brand new coral colony.

Edition details

• Publisher: Nobrow Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1838748709
• ISBN 13: 9781838748708
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Feng Lisk
• Number of pages: 88