[Coral-List] White-spined Diadema antillarum (Esther Peters)
Brian Keller
brian.keller at noaa.gov
Wed May 21 17:29:49 EDT 2008
Robert and all,
N.B. Millott investigated this in the 60s and found that Diadema changed
its color (black/white) in response to its light environment. See also
the photo of Diadema in the Hendler et al. book about echinoderms.
Regards,
Brian
Robert Miller wrote:
> Hi Alina and all,
> It seems to me that the white spines are associated with shaded urchins, and
> Diadema have a preference for living in cracks and caves during the day.
> Sparse populations of Diadema are easily able to find such shelter as well
> as enough food. Dense populations have many more urchins out in the open,
> where their spines turn black. Just a hypothesis, but it could be tested.
> best,
> Bob
>
> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 4:11 PM, Szmant, Alina <szmanta at uncw.edu> wrote:
>
>
>> Hi All:
>>
>> I responded privately to the first white Diadema email, and thought
>> maybe Haris Lessios might chime in to the general discussion. Since he
>> hasn't here it goes.
>>
>> White spined Diadema have been around as long as I can recall (1960s) in
>> small numbers at least in the Puerto Rican populations. After the
>> die-off they have become a much larger proportion of the population both
>> in PR and FL and elsewhere. I asked Haris at least a decade ago whether
>> he had any indication about a genetic difference between the white and
>> black individuals, and I recall he hadn't found any. But he also
>> recognized the shift in abundance of the two color morphs.
>>
>> So, it appears that for some reason more of the white spined variety
>> survived the epidemic and contributed more offspring to the recovering
>> population. They now occur together in varying proportions. Juveniles
>> come in both all black and mottled colors, so it's not just an age
>> issue. One possibility is that when they were sick, the black ones were
>> more prone to predation than the lighter colored ones. Another would be
>> that there is some disease resistance genetically-linked to the color
>> genes.
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Alina Szmant
>>
>>
>>
>> *******************************************************************
>> Dr. Alina M. Szmant
>> Coral Reef Research Group
>> UNCW-Center for Marine Science
>> 5600 Marvin K. Moss Ln
>> Wilmington NC 28409
>> Tel: (910)962-2362 & Fax: (910)962-2410
>> Cell: (910)200-3913
>> email: szmanta at uncw.edu
>> Web Page: http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
>> ******************************************************************
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Rex Chip
>> Baumberger
>> Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 1:50 PM
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] White-spined Diadema antillarum (Esther
>> Peters)
>>
>> I recall seeing the occasional white-spined D. antillarum during the
>> past 4 years of reef monitoring off of south Florida. With that in mind
>> from recent posts here, I was diving off of Jupiter, Fl 5-15-08 at
>> 65-70' on Jupiter Ledge, and I saw a white spined Diadema. However, as
>> I got closer I noticed it was about 60% white spined and the rest normal
>> black spines. I wonder if anyone has noticed this in with the
>> white-spined variety. I have the GPS for it if anyone is interested,
>> the site is locally known as "Scarface".
>>
>> Rex "Chip" Baumberger
>> Biological Scientist, FAU
>> Marine Nutrient Dynamics Dept.
>> Marine Science Division
>> Harbor Branch Oceanographic Inst.
>> 5600 US1 North
>> Fort Pierce, FL 34946
>> 772-465-2400 x398
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> [mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of
>> coral-list-request at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 12:00 PM
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Subject: Coral-List Digest, Vol 59, Issue 18
>>
>>
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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>> 1. Re: White-spined Diadema antillarum (Esther Peters)
>> 2. Reef Restoration (Lee Goldman)
>> 3. Re: Coral Reef Restoration (David Fisk)
>> 4. photoshop trick for sat imagery (Dean Jacobson)
>> 5. Re: Coral restoration (Medio, David)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 12:28:58 -0400
>> From: Esther Peters <esther.peters at verizon.net>
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] White-spined Diadema antillarum
>> To: Gordon Hendler <hendler at nhm.org>
>> Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Message-ID: <4830594A.4010304 at verizon.net>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>
>> I recall seeing large white-spined /Diadema antillarum/ in shallow water
>>
>> at The Indians, rock outcroppings in the British Virgin Islands. I was
>> pregnant then, so could only snorkel, in 1988. I remember thinking they
>>
>> must not have been affected by the mass motality because they were so
>> large. They might have been able to stay in the shade of the
>> outcroppings.
>>
>> If one does a Google Scholar search on these key words "sea urchin
>> melanin epidermis" one finds all kinds of interesting papers on and
>> references to melanin production in the epidermis and effects of light
>> and diet on pigmentation in these animals. But more studies are needed!
>>
>> Esther Peters, Ph.D.
>> George Mason University
>>
>> Gordon Hendler wrote:
>>
>>> According to Moore (1966:81) large Diadema antillarum with some or
>>> many
>>> white or gray spines "...are found in darker and more turbid
>>>
>> conditions and
>>
>>> frequently in caves. In my experience, they seem to be more common in
>>>
>> deep
>>
>>> water around Caribbean reefs than at shallow depths. The spines of
>>> juveniles are always banded with black and white. Individuals change
>>>
>> color
>>
>>> in response to the intensity of illumination. Animals that are black
>>>
>> during
>>
>>> the day pale at night.
>>> Hendler et al. 1995. Sea Stars, Sea Urchins, and Allies. Echinoderms
>>>
>> of
>>
>>> Florida and the Caribbean. Smithsonian Institution Press. 390 pp.
>>> Moore, H.B. Ecology of echinoids. In: Physiology of Echinodermata, ed.
>>>
>> R.A.
>>
>>> Boolootian, 73-85. John-Wiley Interscience. N.Y.
>>>
>>>
>>> ********************************************
>>> Gordon Hendler, Ph.D.
>>> Curator of Echinoderms
>>>
>
>
>>> Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
>>> 900 Exposition Boulevard
>>> Los Angeles, California 90007 U.S.A.
>>> Voice: 213 763 3526
>>> Fax: 213 746 2999
>>> ********************************************
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>> http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 2
>> Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 10:43:14 -0700 (PDT)
>> From: Lee Goldman <coralfarmguam at yahoo.com>
>> Subject: [Coral-List] Reef Restoration
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Message-ID: <86461.29273.qm at web33206.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>>
>> Hi List,
>>
>> The discussion on reef restoration is another example of a great topic
>> of interest for this list. My concern, however, is that it is reaching
>> an audience that is not necessarily the right audience. Todd, your
>> website (and your CNN interview) is filled with success stories in which
>> you talk about positive reef restoration. In your postings here, you
>> seem to understand that reefs cannot be restored to their original
>> glory. I agree that something must be done, even if we can't make them
>> what they were. BUT to the developers and polluters who ultimately cause
>> need for this work, the message may be that we are successful in
>> restoring reefs. Thus mitigating 'restoration' in exchange for
>> development appears to be a commonplace and accepted. So the dilema, to
>> me, is that as we get better (or think we get better) at 'restoration'
>> developers use that as a means to mitigate potential damage...and all
>> along we agree, at least here in this like-minded and for lack of a
>> better term, 'in-crowd' list-serve, that it really isn't as successful
>> as we promote it to be to the general public (the audience that really
>> needs to be a part of this discussion). If this is the theme of Don's
>> postings, then I have to agree with him as well. Solutions to this
>> issue? Not that I can find. We can't do nothing yet anything that is
>> done is seen as a mitigating factor which falls well short of the
>> ultimate goal.
>>
>> Lee Goldman
>> Coral Farm Guam
>> PO Box 6682
>> Tamuning, Guam 96931
>> 671-646-6744
>> Coralfarmguam at yahoo.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 3
>> Date: Sun, 18 May 2008 23:09:12 +0200
>> From: "David Fisk" <davefisk at gmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral Reef Restoration
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Cc: MedioD at halcrow.com
>> Message-ID:
>> <1dd51780805181409p2a8c963fx65cd87f283c93351 at mail.gmail.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252
>>
>> The pertinent point I think from David Medio's comments is that it is
>> wrong to think that reef restoration can be used as an excuse to allow
>> some developments to proceed - at all, or in a certain proposed manner.
>> The argument that doing something (restoration) is better than doing
>> nothing, usually does not stack up when it is used as an argument to
>> accept a proposed development strategy. With the required sensitivity
>> and developmental controls, some developments may result in minimal
>> impacts, but the cost will usually be too prohibitive to be really
>> effective for most developments.
>>
>> The true 'point of practicality' here is that restoration should not be
>> be used as that offset, nor should any 'smart' engineering per se, as
>> it's too easy to let serious impacts to go ahead when the current
>> knowledge base clearly shows such 'offsets' will not deliver what it is
>> promised. In previous posts I have said sufficient re the use of the
>> same technologies to reverse larger scale disturbances including
>> predicted climate change effects, but I still hear of proposals claiming
>> to do just that. For example, a publicly available UN document dated
>> April 2008 demonstrates how serious this situation has progressed, and
>> that I am not making idle arguments. Here is a recent UN link to a
>> UNDESA document called "Partnerships for Sustainable Develoment" which
>> may very well lead to substantial funding for certain restoration
>> projects:
>> http://webapps01.un.org/dsd/partnerships/public/partnerships/1894.html
>>
>> In this web page the following statement is included (and note some of
>> the extreme statements) : "SIDS (Small Island Developing States)
>> fisheries, tourism industries, and protection from rising sea levels,
>> increased tropical storm frequency and intensity are heavily dependent
>> on healthy coral reefs?and these are the most climatically threatened of
>> all ecosystems, due to global warming. SIDS have already lost most of
>> their corals, and the rest are imminently endangered by rising global
>> temperatures, and most daunting of all, low-lying island nations are
>> threatened with extinction by submergence from global sea level rise."
>>
>> Further on under the heading: Additional Relevant Information - New
>> Sustainable Development for SIDS - CORAL REEF AND FISHERIES HABITAT
>> RESTORATION "New technology increases the growth rates of corals several
>> times faster than normal, greatly increases survival of corals under
>> conditions of extreme high temperature stress, and greatly increases the
>> buildup of fish and shellfish populations. This allows reefs to be kept
>> alive where they would die, and new reefs and fisheries habitat to be
>> grown in a few years in places where they cannot recover naturally.
>> Because reef fisheries are collapsing due to habitat destruction,
>> control of fishing activities cannot restore fisheries without
>> large-scale habitat restoration. This restoration process is powered
>> using tidal, solar, and wind energy. "
>>
>> As this information is in the public domain it is imperative that the
>> coral reef community is adequately informed of this as a means of
>> placing this discussion in a contemporary framework. Again, I apologize
>> if any individual is compromised by pointing out this trend - I am just
>> the messenger, and am not targeting anyone in particular. But I think it
>> is time that the wider coral reef community step up and insist on proper
>> scientific review and do not let commercial interests within the
>> scientific community drive this assessment of the allocation of critical
>> development funding for SIDS in particular.
>>
>> David Fisk
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 4
>> Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 00:27:51 -0700 (PDT)
>> From: Dean Jacobson <atolldino at yahoo.com>
>> Subject: [Coral-List] photoshop trick for sat imagery
>> To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Cc: Don Hess <cmihess at gmail.com>
>> Message-ID: <287849.35766.qm at web31803.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>
>> Hi listers:
>>
>> Today I "discovered" a useful way to filter satellite images using
>> Photoshop to reveals relatively deep reefs (below 15 meters). (I am
>> fortunate to have access to 0.6 m Majuro atoll data for ArcMap). I am
>> using Photoshop 6.
>>
>> Under "images", choose selective color, choose blue, then minimize the
>> black slider. Then choose black, and maximize black slider. Another
>> iteration may be needed. Then, increase contrast and brightness. To
>> avoid blowing out the shallows and land, first save an extra image
>> layer, make your adjustments, and then selectively erase the upper
>> adjustment layer so the original pixels show through.
>>
>> The results were pretty remarkable; it was like having "X-ray vision"...
>> well-defined deep reefs magically appeared out of the monotonous dark
>> blue lagoon water. This will work only if the stat image was taken an a
>> calm day; a wave chop seems to obscure the deep features.
>>
>> I discovered this just in time for my coral monitoring season! I can
>> send some example jpgs upon request.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Dean Jacobson, PhD
>> College of the Marshall Islands
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 5
>> Date: Mon, 19 May 2008 09:17:42 +0100
>> From: "Medio, David" <MedioD at halcrow.com>
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral restoration
>> To: "Douglas Fenner" <dfenner at blueskynet.as>
>> Cc: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> Message-ID:
>>
>> <A87990669172924FADCAABF1721CB6EC0878E991 at LOND-MX-01.halcrow.com>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>
>> Doug
>>
>> apologies! It is indeed the Arabian Gulf (Persian to some) I am
>> referring to!
>>
>> David
>>
>>
>> Dr David Medio
>> Principal Environmental Scientist
>> Halcrow Group Ltd, Arndale Centre, Otley Rd, Headingley, Leeds, LS6 2UL,
>> UK
>> tel: switchboard +44 (0)113 2208220, direct line: +44 (0)113 220 8253,
>> mobile: +44 (0)773 919 0968
>> fax: +44 (0)113 274 2924 email: mediod at halcrow.com
>> www.halcrow.com
>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> _______
>>
>> Halcrow Sustaining and improving the quality of people's lives
>> ________________________________________________________________________
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>> P Please do not print this e-mail and attachments unless absolutely
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>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Douglas Fenner [mailto:dfenner at blueskynet.as]
>> Sent: 18 May 2008 00:18
>> To: Medio, David
>> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Coral restoration
>>
>> Dave,
>> Are you speaking of the Arbian/Persian Gulf? I know its common to
>> refer to it as the Gulf in that area. The coral-list has many readers
>> that are closer to the Gulf of Mexico, some near the Gulf of California,
>> and so on.
>> Might be good to specify so no one is left wondering. Thanks! -Doug
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Medio, David" <MedioD at halcrow.com>
>> To: <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 2:13 AM
>> Subject: [Coral-List] Coral restoration
>>
>>
>>
>>> I am involved in a wide range of medium to very large coastal
>>>
>> developments
>>
>>> some of which a priori are known to damage long established reefs in
>>>
>> the
>>
>>> Gulf. Whereas some of the recent artificial reef applications may well
>>>
>> have
>>
>>> had positive results, I am as rule very sceptical on the use of and
>>> proliferaion as well as the political clout afforded artificial reef
>>> initiatives.
>>>
>>> Firstly, can we really recreate a reef (as opposed to relocating
>>>
>> existing
>>
>>> bits of a reef) in its complexity, function and extent?
>>>
>>> Secondly, using man made reefs, if pushed to the limit, as is the case
>>>
>> in
>>
>>> many coastal and offshore developments in the Gulf, will amount
>>>
>> frequently
>>
>>> to giving a green light to using such as a tool to offset large levels
>>>
>> of
>>
>>> multi-layered damage to the marine environment, i.e. more than just
>>>
>> the
>>
>>> coral habitats.
>>>
>>> Reefs in the Gulf are increasingly being described as far more
>>>
>> extensive
>>
>>> and pristine and species rich than previuosly thought whilst at the
>>>
>> same
>>
>>> coming under the greatest level of pressure ever experienced in the
>>> region.
>>>
>>> The answer for their conservation is cleverly designed engineering,
>>>
>> robust
>>
>>> and well implemented mitigation measures and environmental management
>>> plans, improved environmental educational and awareness and improved
>>> regulatory frameworks.
>>>
>>>
>>> Dr David Medio
>>> Principal Environmental Scientist
>>> Halcrow Group Ltd, Arndale Centre, Otley Rd, Headingley, Leeds, LS6
>>>
>> 2UL,
>>
>>> UK
>>> tel: switchboard +44 (0)113 2208220, direct line: +44 (0)113 220 8253,
>>>
>>> mobile: +44 (0)773 919 0968
>>> fax: +44 (0)113 274 2924 email: mediod at halcrow.com
>>> www.halcrow.com
>>>
>>>
>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> _______
>>
>>> Halcrow Sustaining and improving the quality of people's lives
>>>
>>>
>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> ____
>>
>>> __
>>>
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>
>
>
>
--
Brian D. Keller, Ph.D.
Regional Science Coordinator
Southeast, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Region
NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
c/o Florida Institute of Oceanography
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