The Great Barrier Reef Trivia Quiz

Answer: Coral Sea

The Coral Sea is located on the northeast coast of Queensland and is the location where the Battle of the Coral Sea was fought in World War II.

The Great Barrier Reef is not a single reef but is made up of a group of approximately 2900 reefs and 900 islands and covers more than 300,000 square kilometres.

Answer: Matthew Flinders

Captain James Cook was the first explorer to find the reef in 1770. Matthew Flinders was responsible for naming the reef as well as many other places including suggesting the name for Australia. His book "A Voyage to Terra Australis" was published on 18 July 1814 one day before he died. The book had references to the name "Australia" but the name was not officially adopted until 1824.

Answer: HMS Pandora

The British Royal Navy warship HMS Pandora was sent on a mission to bring back the mutineers from the HMAV Bounty in 1790. In August 1791, the Pandora ran aground in the Great Barrier Reef, the ship sank and claimed the life of 31 crew and 4 prisoners. The wreck of the Pandora was discovered in 1977 and lies within Pandora Entrance, approximately 140km east of Cape York.

Answer: It is one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.

The Great Barrier Reef was named as one of CNN's Seven Natural Wonders of the World in 1997. The Great Barrier Reef was selected as a World Heritage site in 1981. World Heritage sites are chosen for the protection and preservation of an area or culture so that they can be passed on to future generations.

The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living organism on Earth and can actually been seen from space.

Answer: Daintree Rainforest

The Cape Tribulation section of the Daintree Rainforest is where the rainforest meets the reef and is the only place in the world where two natural World Heritage sites meet.

Ashmore Reef is located off the northwest coast of Australia in the Indian Ocean. Lizard Island is part of a group of islands that are known as the Lizard Island National Park, situated in the waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The Barron Gorge National park is 27km northwest of Cairns on the Atherton Tableland in far northeast Queensland. It was the site for the first hydro electric power station in Australia, which was built in 1935.

Answer: It is Australia's largest island national park

Hinchinbrook Island is about 37km (23 miles) long and about 10 km (6miles) wide. There is a small resort on the island but the rest is national park. Anyone can visit but numbers are restricted to protect the island. There are twelve beaches on the island all washed by the warm waters of the Coral Sea including one beach where sea turtles regularly come to eat sea grasses. Hinchinbrook Island lies between Townsville and Cairns, just north of the town of Ingham.

Answer: Climate change

As the Earth gets warmer, sea levels and temperatures rise, which can be disastrous for coral reefs. Even just a small rise of 2 to 3 degrees in temperature can destroy the coral and the ecosystem of the reef.

Tourism and fishing play an important role in the reef and are closely managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Water quality is also a concern to the reef's health as agriculture run off and pollution are major causes of damage to the reef environment.

Answer: Coral bleaching

Coral bleaching takes place when microscopic algae called zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral, leaving a white skeleton behind that is visible through the coral's tissue. This condition causes the coral to look white or colourless. Zooxanthellae live inside the coral and nourish the coral with food for growth and normal healthy colour. Coral reefs around the world have been threatened by bleaching outbreaks because of changes to environmental conditions.

Answer: Crown-of-thorns starfish

Outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish have been common in the history of the Great Barrier Reef. The starfish will usually eat one species of coral but when large outbreaks occur, they will eat all kinds of coral and can eat between 25-40% of the reef's surface. If these outbreaks occur, it can take the reef over 10 years to recover.

The Northern Pacific seastar and the black striped mussel are introduced species that are pests to the reef. The box jellyfish is more harmful to man than to the reef, its sting can cause nausea, severe headaches, muscle pain and in very severe cases, it can be fatal.

Answer: Dugong

The dugong can be found in 37 countries but the majority of its population is found in Australia between Shark Bay, Western Australia and Moreton Bay, Queensland. The reef has 15 species of seagrass, which is the main diet of the dugong. Dugongs are a protected species in the Great Barrier Reef as their numbers have declined in other areas of the world.