[Coral-List] Coral bleaching warning in Discovery Bay

[Jim Hendee]

Yes, very clever of you back then, Tom, but these stations are not just
about coral bleaching, which should be obvious.  These stations are
installed to develop long term data sets with lots of environmental
parameters to better understand changes in coral reef ecosystems over
time.  And building ecological forecasts utilizing these data is very
difficult and it is going to take time, but you have to start
somewhere.  Coral bleaching is the best place for us to start.

Also, we have learned since your publication that bleaching isn't just
about sea temperature, it's also about light, CDOM, tides, winds,
suspended sediment, hydrographics of the area, etc., and those results
are shown in some of our publications, and those of others.   These
stations help to fill in the picture.  I like the way Dr. Michael Lesser
phrases it:  "High sea temperature sets the table for coral bleaching,"
but light and other things come in to play, too.  We want to eventually
elucidate the more complex model, especially for each of several species.

But you knew that already, right?

    Cheers,
    Jim


Thomas Goreau wrote:
> Hmm, that must progress, but we figured how to predict bleaching in  
> Discovery Bay using a cheap mercury thermometer back in 1989:
>
> T. J. Goreau, 1990, Coral bleaching in Jamaica, NATURE, 343: 417
>
> Thomas J. Goreau, PhD
> President
> Global Coral Reef Alliance
> 37 Pleasant Street, Cambridge MA 021
> 617-864-4226
> goreau at bestweb.net
> http://www.globalcoral.org
>
>