Coral:
Well, all good things must come to an end, so this is it for Coral Week. I wanted to finish things on a high note with the "naked coral" hypothesis. Does it sound like something out of an Austin Powers...
Posted on May 3, 2008 6:39 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There remains a cause for optimism. Shallow-water corals have weathered a host of insults over the last 18,000 years. The Atomic Age is just one in a long list. Since the Pleistocene Era, sea levels rose ~100m to the current...
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Posted on May 3, 2008 2:59 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is the fifth of five articles about the shared characteristics of shallow and deep-water corals. It's far from complete, I'm afraid. Deep corals are out of sight, but not out of reach. The commercial fishermen working above just trawled...
Posted on May 3, 2008 10:57 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Seawater chemistry is changing with the addition of fossil fuel CO2 to the atmosphere. This influx of CO2 is causing the world's oceans to become more acidic, which is bad news for corals and other marine organisms that use calcium carbonate to build their skeletons and protective shells.
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Posted on May 3, 2008 10:36 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The biodiversity of
Lophelia pertusa bioherms in the North Atlantic rivals the diversity of a shallow water tropical reef. More than 800 associated species have been documented in association.
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Posted on May 2, 2008 9:36 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Coral reefs are in decline around the world, and species are disappearing every day. But new species are being discovered, too. So, can society mitigate species loss by investing in species discovery?
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Posted on May 2, 2008 9:07 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Marine aquarists have a photographic edge on field photographers. Their work is fixed, dry, and well-lit, while field photogs slosh back and forth with one finger on the camera and one on the reef while trying to avoid fire...
Posted on May 2, 2008 9:01 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Coral spawning occurs when multiple corals release their gametes at the same moment. The underwater love fests are triggered by the moon, temperature, and mood music (Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe). All this sexual activity underwater can trigger...
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Posted on May 2, 2008 5:36 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Coral Week is happening in the Pacific Northwest and New England, but its huge in Brazil!
Posted on May 1, 2008 10:55 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Speaking of explosives, the nematocyst, or stinging cell, is one character that binds all cnidarians together. The nematocyst is "high tech cellular weaponry", the unparalleled apex of organelle specialization (Boero et al 2007), and the fastest known biological structure...
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Posted on May 1, 2008 10:21 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
