[Coral-List] FW: Pacific Elkhorn coral

John McManus jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu
Wed Aug 4 16:07:08 EDT 2010


That "crossed-swords" appearance is one of several colonial morphologies of
A. palmata. It is suspected to be due to a particular combination of light,
depth, and currents, and probably develops in a feed-back manner as a set of
colonies grow progressively. Several of the more than 100 other species of
Acropora are also highly morphologically plastic and can look a bit like
this from a distance (thumb through the pictures in "Corals of the World"
and you will see some that come close, but not quite there). Isopora
colonies can look a lot like A palmata in its other, more club-like forms,
especially when the Bolbometapon muricatus humphead parrotfish has been
fished down and so do not prevent the apparently very tasty Isopora from
growing very high.

We have tried to investigate this environmentally-driven plasticity.
However, there seem to be one or two reductionist physiologists who block
any NSF proposals from funding that do not focus on explaining coral
morphologies entirely based on crystal shapes. Maybe when they retire...

Cheers!  


John

John W. McManus, PhD
Director, National Center for Coral Reef Research (NCORE)
Professor, Marine Biology and Fisheries
Coral Reef Ecology and Management Lab (CREM Lab)
Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS)
University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, 33149
jmcmanus at rsmas.miami.edu      http://ncore.rsmas.miami.edu
 Phone: 305-421-4814   

  "If I cannot build it, I do not understand it."
              --Richard Feynman, Nobel Laureate



-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Szmant, Alina
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 6:03 PM
To: Paul Sammarco; 'Coral Listserver Listserver'
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] FW: Pacific Elkhorn coral

Hi Paul:

According to the abstract on Systematics and Biodiversity, they have
genetics on the samples that show it is not A palmate and closest related to
another Pacific species.

Alina

*************************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Professor of Marine Biology
Center for Marine Science and Dept of Biology and Marine Biology
University of North Carolina Wilmington
5600 Marvin Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
tel:  910-962-2362  fax: 910-962-2410  cell: 910-200-3913
http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
*******************************************************


-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Sammarco [mailto:psammarco at lumcon.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 6:00 PM
To: Szmant, Alina; 'Coral Listserver Listserver'
Subject: RE: [Coral-List] FW: Pacific Elkhorn coral

Dear folks,

I hate to say it, but perhaps - just perhaps - it's introduced.  Food for
thought.  


Best Wishes,

Paul


Paul W. Sammarco, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean (AMLC)

and

Professor
Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON)
8124 Hwy. 56
Chauvin, LA  70344
USA

Tel:                1-985-851-2876
FAX:              1-985-851-2874
Email:           psammarco at lumcon.edu
Website:     www.lumcon.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
[mailto:coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] On Behalf Of Szmant, Alina
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2010 10:55 AM
To: Coral Listserver Listserver
Subject: [Coral-List] FW: Pacific Elkhorn coral

Hello All:

A friend emailed me the below link which many Caribbean coral biologists may
not have seen.  Very interesting...


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100729091501.htm

Alina Szmant

*************************************************************************
Dr. Alina M. Szmant
Professor of Marine Biology
Center for Marine Science and Dept of Biology and Marine Biology
University of North Carolina Wilmington
5600 Marvin Moss Ln
Wilmington NC 28409 USA
tel:  910-962-2362  fax: 910-962-2410  cell: 910-200-3913
http://people.uncw.edu/szmanta
*******************************************************
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