[Coral-List] "About Coral-List" Rewrite

[Esther Peters]

Hi Jim,

I'm going to take issue with three of these bullets because they can be 
improved by simple rewording.  John McManus noted that "'coral reef 
health' is appropriately a bit more inclusive than 'coral health." What 
we are really trying to capture here is the proper functioning of an 
ecosystem, which depends on having healthy organisms.  The definition of 
"health" is the "state of an _organism_ when it functions optimally 
(physically, mentally, socially), or the absence of disease."  It is 
trickier to define "optimal functioning" of an ecosystem and an 
ecosystem can exist in multiple stable, optimally functioning, states, 
although the collection of organisms that is now present is not what was 
there previously.  So I suggest changing:

"outbreaks of coral reef ecosystem diseases" TO "outbreaks of diseases 
affecting coral reef organisms"

"incidences of coral reef-related reproduction" TO "incidences of 
reproduction by coral reef organisms" [if an entire coral reef were to 
reproduce itself or be reproduced by humans, well that would be 
something to talk about also, but I think you meant the spawning and 
recruitment of reef organisms?]

"announcements of college courses and field trips in coral reef ecology" 
TO "announcements of courses and field trips pertaining to coral reef 
geology, biology, or ecology"  [The course I have been teaching, 
"Diseases of Corals and Other Reef Organisms," is not offered through a 
college and only a few have taken it for college credit, but we have had 
many students ranging from advanced high schoolers, undergraduate and 
graduate students, to interested adults and professional reef managers 
and scientists.  I daresay other tropical marine ecosystem courses 
(remember, reefs are intimately linked to seagrass and mangrove 
ecosystems, too), even those offered by colleges, have had diverse 
students as well.]

Other than that, the revisions look great and we continue to be thankful 
for your service to keep the Coral-List listserver up and running for 
the education, argumentation, and delight of all subscribers!

Esther Peters, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Science & Policy
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

Jim Hendee wrote:
> Okay, Team...
>
>     I've taken some of your suggestions and re-written the "About
> Coral-List" page, and also put at the very top of the bulleted list the
> NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program's top three threat-based focus areas. 
>
>     http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>
>     Please let me know if you have any other suggestions or comments.
>
>     Thanks!
>
>     Sincerely yours,
>     Jim
>  ----------------------------------------------------
>  James C. Hendee, Ph.D.
>  Coral Health and Monitoring Program
>  Ocean Chemistry Division
>  Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
>  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
>  U.S. Department of Commerce
>  4301 Rickenbacker Causeway
>  Miami, FL  33149-1026
>
>  Voice:  (305) 361-4396
>  Fax:    (305) 361-4447
>  Email:  jim.hendee at noaa.gov
>  Web:    http://www.coral.noaa.gov
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