[Coral-List] Proliferation of Acropora prolifera

[Dennis Hubbard]

At the risk of displaying my ignorance as a geologist, am I correct that A.
prolifera cannot reproduce sexually (nature's version of an army mule)? I'd
be interested in an informed discussion of the reproductive pathways that
might produce this result. If, in fact, there must be other acroporids
involved, then there must be enough of them to increase the numbers of this
hybrid species. In this scenario, is the fact that hybridization seems to
be trumping within-species sexual reproduction significant and, if so, what
might it be telling us. Or, is it it just fragmentation gone wild.

Inquiring minds want to know,

Dennis


On Mon, Sep 2, 2013 at 8:24 AM, vassil zlatarski <vzlatarski at yahoo.com>wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> It is surprising that in this period of degradation of the coral reefs the
> Caribbean hybrid Acropora prolifera is proliferating during last four
> decades. This counter-intuitive trend is evident due to the facts that the
> hybrid was found lately in more places, in larger quantity of colonies and
> in various growth forms.I would greatly appreciate anyinformation and
> advise on this matter.
>
> Also, any data aboutfossilA. prolifera?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Vassil
>
> Vassil Zlatarski
> D.Sc. (Biology), Ph.D. (Geology)
>
> 131 Fales Rd., Bristol, RI 02809, USA;  tel.:
>  +1-401-254-5121
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>



-- 
Dennis Hubbard
Chair, Dept of Geology-Oberlin College Oberlin OH 44074
(440) 775-8346

* "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*
 Benjamin Stein: "*Ludes, A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream*"