Fw: Julian Sprung's email.

William Kiene Kiene at nmnh.si.edu
Fri Sep 15 16:21:21 EDT 2000


Dear Bruce et al.
I may have a "marker" for past die-offs and "rebirths" within your corals.  In a matter of days following the death of a coral its skeletons will be invaded by a suite of microborers (chlorophytes, cyanobacteria) very different from the Ostreobium sp. that inhabit coral skeletons beneath living tissue.  Ostreobium is a low light specialist and is likely to be the only one to survive after the tissue regrowth.  I have proposed this microboring marker for a potential indicator of previous bleaching events.  Your tissue die-off/rebirth events may be an easier marker to detect (?).

Bill Kiene

William E. Kiene, Ph.D.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of Natural History
EG-13 MRC-125
Washington DC 20560-0125
Tel: (202) 357-2309
Fax: (202) 786-2832
E-mail: kiene at nmnh.si.edu



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