What does barrier reef mean?
Definitions for barrier reef
bar·ri·er reef
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word barrier reef.
Princeton's WordNet
barrier reefnoun
a long coral reef near and parallel to the shore
Wiktionary
barrier reefnoun
A name given to reefs separated from the adjacent coast by a channel or lagoon.
Wikipedia
barrier reef
A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Coral belongs to the class Anthozoa in the animal phylum Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones and jellyfish. Unlike sea anemones, corals secrete hard carbonate exoskeletons that support and protect the coral. Most reefs grow best in warm, shallow, clear, sunny and agitated water. Coral reefs first appeared 485 million years ago, at the dawn of the Early Ordovician, displacing the microbial and sponge reefs of the Cambrian.Sometimes called rainforests of the sea, shallow coral reefs form some of Earth's most diverse ecosystems. They occupy less than 0.1% of the world's ocean area, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for at least 25% of all marine species, including fish, mollusks, worms, crustaceans, echinoderms, sponges, tunicates and other cnidarians. Coral reefs flourish in ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, but deep water and cold water coral reefs exist on smaller scales in other areas. Coral reefs have declined by 50% since 1950, partly because they are sensitive to water conditions. They are under threat from excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus), rising ocean heat content and acidification, overfishing (e.g., from blast fishing, cyanide fishing, spearfishing on scuba), sunscreen use, and harmful land-use practices, including runoff and seeps (e.g., from injection wells and cesspools).Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services for tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection. The annual global economic value of coral reefs has been estimated at anywhere from US$30–375 billion (1997 and 2003 estimates) to US$2.7 trillion (a 2020 estimate) to US$9.9 trillion (a 2014 estimate).
ChatGPT
barrier reef
A barrier reef is a type of coral reef that is separated from the shoreline by a lagoon or other body of water. It is characterized by its ridged, linear shape and forms a barrier that protects the shore from the open sea, mitigating the impact of waves and storms. It is a diverse marine ecosystem with abundant sea life. The most famous example of this is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
Wikidata
Barrier Reef
Barrier Reef was an Australian television series that was first screened in 1971. Barrier Reef centred around a group of marine biologists on board a ship called the New Endeavour, researching around the Great Barrier Reef, off Queensland, Australia. "It was the first series in the world to feature extensive colour underwater filming on location". It was also a unique location for a TV show. The Great Barrier Reef is "The only living organic collective visible from Earth's orbit."
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Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of barrier reef in Chaldean Numerology is: 8
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of barrier reef in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6
Examples of barrier reef in a Sentence
It's a natural laboratory for studying how coral reefs might respond to climate change, these corals exist in hotter conditions than are projected for at least another century in places like Australias Great Barrier Reef and the Caribbean.
Mr Katter hit out at both the Liberal National and Labor parties. You destroyed the timber industry, the tobacco industry, the fishing industry, the dairy industry and half the sugar mills,he said. We can't farm here because of the Great Barrier Reef. Out west we can't shoot pigs because guns are bad. You can't remove trees, can't use the water out west, can't use the land or improve it. We're not standing still. We're not going forward, so we must be going backwards.
I was disappointed that the final product ultimately omitted case studies on the Australian sites—the Great Barrier Reef, Tasmanian wilderness and Kakadu National Park.
We saw record-breaking temperatures all along the length of the Great Barrier Reef, there wasn't a cool portion in the north, or a cool portion in the south this time around, the whole Barrier Reef was hot so the bleaching we have seen this year is the most extensive so far.
It's another way to immerse our students in reef ecology, the kids don't actually have to visit Great Barrier Reef. They can do their part by breeding clownfish in captivity and donate them to the fish shops.
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"barrier reef." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 18 Mar. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/barrier+reef>.
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