大堡礁英文介绍翻译

大堡礁英文介绍翻译

The Great Barrier Reef, one of Australia's first World Heritage Areas, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in recognition of its outstanding natural universal values:
as an outstanding example representing the major stages in the earth's evolutionary history;
as an outstanding example representing significant ongoing ecological and biological processes;
as an example of superlative natural phenomena; and
containing important and significant habitats for in situ conservation of biological diversity.
It is the world's largest World Heritage Area extending 2 000 kilometres and covering an area of 35 million hectares on the north-east continental shelf of Australia. Bigger than the entire area of Italy, it is probably the best known marine protected area in the world. The Great Barrier Reef's great diversity reflects the maturity of the ecosystem, which has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. It is the world's most extensive coral reef system and is one of the world's richest areas in terms of faunal diversity.
The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area contains more than just coral reefs. It also contains extensive areas of seagrass, mangrove, soft bottom communities and island communities. Contrary to popular belief, the reef is not a continuous barrier, but a broken maze of coral reefs and coral cays. It includes some 2 800 individual reefs, of which 760 are fringing reefs. These reefs range in size from less than one hectare to more than 100 000 hectares, and in shape from flat platform reefs to elongated ribbon reefs.
The Great Barrier Reef provides habitats for many diverse forms of marine life. There are an estimated 1 500 species of fish and more than 300 species of hard, reef-building corals. More than 4 000 mollusc species and over 400 species of sponges have been identified.
Other well-represented animal groups include anemones, marine worms, crustaceans (prawns, crabs etc.) and echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins etc.).
The extensive seagrass beds are an important feeding ground for the dugong, a mammal species internationally listed as endangered.
The reef also supports a wide variety of fleshy algae that are heavily grazed by turtles, fish, sea urchins and molluscs.
The reef contains nesting grounds of world significance for the endangered green and loggerhead turtles. It is also a breeding area for humpback whales, which come from the Antarctic to give birth to their young in the warm waters.
The islands and cays support several hundred bird species, many of which have breeding colonies there. Reef herons, osprey, pelicans, frigate birds, sea eagles and shearwaters are among the numerous sea birds that have been recorded.
The World Heritage property is also of cultural importance, containing many middens and other archaeological sites of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander origin. Some notable examples occur on Lizard and Hinchinbrook Islands, and on Stanley, Cliff and Clack Islands where there are spectacular galleries of rock paintings.
There are over 30 historic shipwrecks in the area, and on the islands are ruins and operating lighthouses that are of cultural and historical significance.
About 98 per cent of the World Heritage Property is within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, the remainder being Queensland waters and islands. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park was declared in 1975 with the purpose of preserving the area's outstanding biodiversity whilst providing for reasonable use. This has been achieved using a spectrum of zones ranging from General Use Zones to Preservation Zones. In very broad terms, these zones allow ecologically sustainable activities, but all have an overriding conservation objective. Most reasonable activities such as tourism, fishing, boating, diving and research are permitted to occur but are controlled through zoning and management planning to minimise impacts and conf
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