Measuring growth of shape in stony corals

[Robert Bourke]

Les;
	I don't know of anyone who has used this approach, but it would seem
that the application of fractal dimensional analyses would be quite
appropriate; looking at changes in absolute size and dimensional state as
the coral grows.  Rugosity has often been a measure of complexity on a reef,
but it is typically measured with 19th century technology - draping a chain
of known link size over the substrate & then taking the ratio of (straight
line distance between the ends of the chain : absolute length of chain).
I'm thinking that one could develop a laser scanner that could make this
measurement in-situ with much greater accuracy over a range of scales.  I've
got a preliminary design of such a device but haven't been able to obtain
funding (or time) to actually develop it.  

Good luck!

Bob Bourke
Oceanit, Hawaii

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Les Kaufman [SMTP:lesk at bu.edu]
> Sent:	Sunday, May 27, 2001 5:00 AM
> Cc:	coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> Subject:	Measuring growth of shape in stony corals
> 
> Many of us face the problem of quantifying changes in both size and
> shape of corals as they grow.  What computational approaches are folks
> currently using for the latter, the measuring of changes in colony form,
> for ramose/branching species like finger and staghorn corals?
> 
> -- 
> Les Kaufman
> Biology Department
> Boston University
> 5 Cummington St.
> Boston, MA 02215
> lesk at bu.edu
> 617-353-5560 office
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> 617-353-6340 fax
> 
> and
> 
> BUMP
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> 
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