No subject

[John McManus]

TO        :    Coral List 
FROM      :    ReefBase Project 
DATE      :    November 6, 1995 

We are pleased to see increasing exchange of information on bleaching.  It  
would help us a great deal to know something of the extent of bleaching, as  
in number of bleached vs. unbleached corals, aerial extent and average  
bottom cover of living corals before and after an event.  Coordinates are  
very important as well. 
We hope everyone is aware that a low level of bleaching is a normal  
phenomenon on most reefs, such that up to one percent of colonies being  
affected is not generally a cause for concern.  The same applies for  
crown-of-thorns damage, white band and black band disease.  We assume that  
all reports thus far are of local epidemics, i.e. more than a few percent of  
corals are afflicted.  Please correct us if this is not the case with some  
of the email reports. 
Please send copies of any reports involving coral reefs, including trip  
reports.  We will clearly designate the type of source material in ReefBase  
so that queries can be made at various levels of confidence, e.g. only  
reviewed papers, all formal papers, all reports, etc.  Authorship will be  
clearly indicated as well, of course. 

John W. McManus 
ReefBase Project Leader 
ICLARM, 205 Salcedo Street, Legaspi Village, 
Makati, Metro Manila, 1229 Philippines