[Coral-List] Diademia Coral-List Server
Dr. James M Cervino
cnidaria at earthlink.net
Thu Oct 5 12:01:18 EDT 2006
Hi Martin,
I know you are one of the best coral aquarium
specialists on the planet as you truly understand
the chemical interactions and mechanisms within a
closed system. However, I disagree with a few of
the comments that were posted below. I am not
saying that Diademia grazing has no impact of the
abundance of macro-algae on a reef flat, however,
we must never ignore the more important impacts
of Nitrogen and Phosphorous above the thresholds
needed in a oligotrophic system such as a coral
reef (P. Bell,1992, Eutrophication and coral
reefs: some examples in the Great Barrier Reef
lagoon, Water Research, 26: 553-568; B. Lapointe,
& M. Clark, 1992, Nutrient inputs from the
watershed and coastal eutrophication in the
Florida Keys, Estuaries, 15: 465-476; B.
Lapointe, in press, Eutrophication thresholds for
macroalgal overgrowth of coral reefs, in K.
Thacker (Ed.) Protecting Jamaica's Coral Reefs:
Water quality issues; Goreau. T., 1992c, Coral
reef protection and coastal development in
Western Jamaica, p. 39-65 in K. Thacker (ed.),
Protecting Jamaica's coral reefs: water quality
issues, Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society,
Negril, Jamaica; Goreau, T., & K. Thacker, 1994,
Coral reefs, sewage, and water quality standards,
Proceedings of the Caribbean Water & Wastewater
Conference, Kingston, Jamaica) and to think that
grazing will control the will control the
abhorrent concentrations of nutrients that are
being released into coastal reef zones is
erroneous .
When we fail to address "bottom-up" measures to
protect the habitat first and foremost, all the
Diademia antiullarun in the Ocean Realm will not
be able to control the increasing macro-algae
forests that the worlds reefs of the new
millennium have evolved into. Myself and a
research assistant went to an MPA meeting 8
months ago on ManO War Cay (10km from Guana Cay
) where a few "experts"presented a "Top-Down"
action plan that will restore the fish
populations within designated locations in the
Abacos. MPA plans, such as the one being
proposed in the Bahamas 8 months ago, tend to
favor the actions of the developers in Jamaica,
Bimini and Guana Cay instead of the protection of
the coral reefs from the bottom up in the decades
to come.
PS: Developers that want to build golf courses
will use this the nutrient debate in court as
they watch the coral list server and sort of turn
to it as a reference point. Lets not allow
developers to think that the nutrient thresholds
published by the scientists quoted above can be
ignored, as this will give them reason to say
that the only reason reefs have shifted from
productive Cnidarian reef systems to macro algae
dominated habitats is due to the grazer
disappearing.
James
>I am of course, referring to the restoration of
>the keystone herbivore of the southwestern north
>Atlantic, the sea urchin Diadema antillarum. It is
>well documented that when Diadema return to the reefs
>in large numbers, the phase shift from coral to algae
>is reversed. There is much we dont yet understand
>about this fundamental ecological balance, but
>aggressive research projects aimed at furthering this
>understanding and developing the technology and
>techniques for restoration of this keystone herbivore
>should be pursued. If we do this now, we can reduce
>the rate of coral reef decline and hopefully buy the
>time we need to fix the huge problems. OK, so Im an
>optimist.
>
--
**************************************************
Dr. James M. Cervino, MS, Ph.D.
Marine Pathology
Department of Biological & Health Sciences
Pace University New York NYC
Phone: (917) 620-5287
Web site: http://www.globalcoral.org
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