UPSC Prelims 2007 Q90: Environment & Ecology – Ecosystems & Ecology Concepts

UPSC Prelims 2007, General Studies Paper I · Environment & Ecology

The largest coral reef in the world is found near the coast of which one of the following countries?

Answer: (a) Australia

Explanation

Great Barrier Reef — Australia

Detail	Fact
Location	Off the coast of Queensland, north-east Australia, in the Coral Sea
Length	About 2,300 km
Size	Over 2,900 reefs and 900 islands
Status	UNESCO World Heritage Site (1981)
Threat	Coral bleaching from warm seas (mass events in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2024)

Second-largest barrier reef: the Mesoamerican Reef off Belize.

Indian coral areas: Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kachchh, Lakshadweep, Andaman & Nicobar.

Answer: (a) Australia.

(a) CORRECT. The Great Barrier Reef off Queensland, Australia, is the world's largest coral reef system.
(b) Incorrect. Cuba has large reefs, but they are far smaller.
(c) Incorrect. Ghana (West Africa) has cold upwelling waters — no major coral reef.
(d) Incorrect. The Philippines is in the Coral Triangle (richest diversity), but not the largest reef.

Great Barrier Reef = Queensland, Australia, ~2,300 km — the world's largest coral reef system.

The world's largest coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Confusing largest reef (Great Barrier Reef) with richest coral diversity (Coral Triangle — Indonesia, Philippines).
Thinking corals grow in cold waters — reef corals need warm, clear, shallow water (20-29 °C).
Forgetting the Mesoamerican Reef (Belize) as the second largest.

Coral needs: warm (>20 °C), clear, shallow, salty water — mostly between 30° N and 30° S.