Rain forests of the sea??

[John Ware]

Dear Coral List,

        One of Jim Hendee's recent messages reminded me that one of the
legitimate items for the coral list is "controversial topics in coral
reef ecology".  

        I am not sure that this is a 'controversial topic', but the
coral list has been pretty quiet lately.  Are coral reefs really
analogous to rain forests or is the coral reef community just taking
advantage of a catchy 'sound bite' to gain status in the eyes of the
ecologically minded public?

        There are certainly some similarities, but I have often thought
that the differences are large also.  Anybody care to share their
thoughts on this topic with the list??

John

-- 
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     *                       John R. Ware, PhD                   *
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