[Coral-List] Fwd: Has the death of the Great Barrier Reef been greatly, exaggerated??

[Douglas Fenner]

I'm just trying to distinguish between the geological formation, that is
the calcium carbonate buildup of coral reefs, and the biological/ecological
community of living organisms that we call a coral reef ecosystem, and
point out they are two different things, which aren't distinguished when we
say "coral reef."  I'm suggesting we distinguish them in our writings and
speech.
Cheers,  Doug

On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 2:39 PM, Vassil Zlatarski <vzlatarski at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Doug,
>
> I find myself still wondering what is the geological meaning of your
> "geological coral reef" and why such worded term has to be used for all
> coral reefs (living, dead and fossil).  Actually you referrer to frame and
> carcass as geomorphological characteristic.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Vassil
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 9:02 PM
> Subject: Fwd: [Coral-List] Has the death of the Great Barrier Reef been
> greatly, exaggerated??
> To: Vassil Zlatarski <vzlatarski at gmail.com>, coral list <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>
>
> Vassil,
>     Good point.  I was referring to a (more or less) solid carbonate
> structure, built by coral reef organisms, independent of whether it has
> living corals on it or not, or whether it was under water or not, or
> whether it was old enough to be called a fossil reef or not.  I was trying
> to make the point that the carbonate structure and the living ecosystem on
> it are two very different (though interrelated) things, and we (myself
> included) often use terms like "coral reef" which don't distinguish which
> we are talking about, and I think we would do well to make that clear which
> one we are talking about each time we refer to them.  In some places one
> exists without the other, the processes involved in producing or destroying
> them are very different, and the time scales involved are very different,
> much shorter for the ecosystem than for the geological structure.
>  Cheers, Doug
>
> On Sun, Oct 30, 2016 at 8:58 AM, Vassil Zlatarski <vzlatarski at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi Doug,
> >
> > Frequently used terms are: "reef", "coral reef/ecosystem", "living coral
> > reef/ecosystem", "dead coral reef/ecosystem", "fossil coral
> > reef/ecosystem".  What is the geological meaning of "geological coral
> > reefs" used in your posting.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Vassil
> >
> > Vassil Zlatarski
> > D.Sc. (Biology), Ph.D. (Geology)
> >
> >
> >
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-- 
Douglas Fenner
Contractor for NOAA NMFS, and consultant
"have regulator, will travel"
PO Box 7390
Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA

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