[Coral-List] Ship wrecks and reefs??

[Bill Allison]

The iron wrecks in Maldives that I have seen have been well populated with
corals (e.g., Loyalty first observed by Scheer in 1958 and which I have
been surveying for 20 years). An exception seems to be an iron wreck
carrying low quality coal.
Bill


On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 8:36 PM, Mark Tupper
<mtupper at coastal-resources.org>wrote:

> I would have to agree with Alina. I cannot reconcile the quote in the ISME
> article with the wreck dives I have done in Micronesia (Chuuk or Peleliu,
> for
> example). Also, people have been sinking metal structures (ships, planes,
> cars, oil rigs)for decades to make artificial reefs. Many of these are in
> oligotrophic environments that should also be iron-limited, at least to
> some extent.
>
> I note that Enric Sala's blog on National Geographic stated that "The
> science team found similar black reefs in other coral atolls and islands in
> the
> central Pacific". So the question is, why has this black reef phenomenon
> not been found earlier in other remote areas that are more regularly dived
> (like
> the Caroline Islands)? Is it because iron is less limiting in those areas,
> or is there a specific suite of taxa in the central Pacific that exhibit a
> much
> greater response to iron input?
>
> Dr. Mark Tupper, Board of Directors
> Coastal Resources Association
> 16880 87 Ave., Surrey, BC, Canada V4N 5J4
> www.coastal-resources.org
> Email: mtupper at coastal-resources.org
> Tel. 1-604-576-1674; Mobile: 1-604-961-2022
>
> Philippines Office: c/o Ricky Mijares
> Poblacion, Sagay, Camiguin, Philippines 9103
> Tel. 63-927-921-9915
>
>
> On Wed Nov 28 13:54 , John Ware  sent:
>
> >A quote from: Black reefs: iron-induced  phase shifts on coral reefs.
> >Linda Wegley Kelly et al., ISME, Mar 2012
> >
> >"Here we use a combination of benthic surveys, chemistry, metagenomics
> >and microcosms to investigate if and how shipwrecks initiate and
> >maintain black reefs. ...   Together these results demonstrate that
> >shipwrecks and their associated iron pose significant threats to coral
> >reefs in iron-limited regions."
> >
> >Contrasted with this from Alina Szmant's e-mail of 26Nov:
> >
> >"FYI, every place I dive where there is metal structure (old ship hulls,
> navigation pilings etc) they are covered with nice looking corals of all
> species."
> >
> >Am I the only one that sees some sort of disconnect here??
> >John
> >
> >
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"... the earth is, always has been, and always will be more beautiful than
it is useful."
William Ophuls, 1977. The Politics of Scarcity