[Coral-List] Objective Science
Esther Peters
estherpeters at verizon.net
Sat Feb 11 12:49:01 EST 2012
Rudy, I have to quibble with your admonition "Lets not put these threats
under a microscope, we have to focus on the big picture." I understand
why you said this as a figure of speech, but I did want to point out
that unless we literally examine corals microscopically, we are not
going to see what is really going on that will lead us to an improved
interpretation of the big picture! This is especially true in
physiological, biochemical, microbiological, and molecular research. The
visual record provided when using histopathological techniques gives
details that we may be missing and see other factors that might have led
to the results obtained. Histopathology cannot answer all of our
questions--we'll still need those other techniques to identify the type
of bacteria, compare rates of photosynthesis and calcification, or
detect pesticides in tissues, for example--but there may be other things
going on that were not measured during field sample collection or a
laboratory experiment that microscopic study would reveal and that could
also adversely affect calcification. I know Alina appreciates that.
Esther Peters, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Science & Policy
George Mason University
On 2/10/2012 1:26 PM, Rudy Bonn wrote:
> Might as well put my two cents in,and I must agree with Dr. Fabricus that it is well known that threats to coral reef ecosytems are from a combination of threats working in synergisim to bring about the declines we are now witnessing, not only thermal stress and increased hydrogen ion concentration but many other factors are involved here as well-- OA being a recent contributor. We must not forget that pollution, water quality decline, sedimentation, overfishing, apex predator removal, among others such as diseases that have been linked to bacteria found in the human intestinal tract, are killing corals. I also believe that the rapid pace of these threats is overwhelming many coral species in terms of adaptation. Lets not put these threats under a microscope, we have to focus on the big picture. Incidentally, I spoke to a commercial fisherman the other day and he told me that he has never seen water temperatures this high ( ~ 75 to 78 F) in
> February in the Keys. Cheers, Rudy
>
> Rudy S Bonn
> Director of Marine Projects
> Reef Relief
> 631 Greene Street
> Key West, FL 33040
> 305-294-3100
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