[Coral-List] Proliferation of Acropora prolifera

Mon Sep 9 07:59:54 EDT 2013

Hi all,

I also have looked at my samples from the Southern Caribbean (Bonaire, Curacao) again, however A. prolifera does not show in the samples from ~500-6,500BP (dated with U/Th, ESR and 14C).

Sander

On 08/09/2013, at 11:32 AM, "Greer, Lisa" <GreerL at wlu.edu<mailto:GreerL at wlu..edu>>
 wrote:

To follow this thread...

After prompting by Vassil,
I looked through a few hundred A. cervicornis samples from the Enriquillo Valley and have yet to find any with a morphology suggestive of the A. prolifera specimens I have seen live and in photos.

Lisa Greer
Associate Professor
Geology Department
Washington and Lee University
Lexington, VA  24450
(540) 458-8870
greerl at wlu.edu<mailto:greerl at wlu.edu>
________________________________________
From: coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov [coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml...noaa.gov] on behalf of Dennis Hubbard [dennis.hubbard at oberlin.edu]
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 1:20 PM
To: vassil zlatarski
Cc: Coral -List
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Proliferation of Acropora prolifera

Vassil et al.

I have never seen anything that I'd swear was fossil *prolifera* in
outcrop, but I have seen plenty of *cervicornis* and *palmata*. However, I
must admit that I wasn't looking that close at the "*cervicornis*" to see
if there were aberrant morphologies. There are cases in the Holocene of
western DR (Lago Enriquillo) where the morphologies are highly varied,
However, I'd attribute that more to varying environmental conditions than
hybridization.

In cores it is much tougher as the stick-like morphology makes recovery
with a rotary drilling system difficult. When you do get recovery, it's a
broken stock and I'm not a good enough taxonomist to tell the difference in
just a straight 10-cm section.

Having said this, the short answer is, "I don't think so".

Dennis

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 1:08 PM, vassil zlatarski <vzlatarski at yahoo.com>wrote:

Hi Dennis,

Nothing unusual, what is bothering you?

Would you, please, tell if you found fossil A. prolifera?  Thanks in
advance!

Cheers,

Vassil

131 Fales Rd., Bristol, RI 02809, USA; tel.: +1-401-254-5121

 ------------------------------
*From:* "frahome at yahoo.com" <frahome at yahoo.com>
*To:* "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
*Sent:* Friday, September 6, 2013 10:06 AM
*Subject:* Re: [Coral-List] A World without Coral Reefs?

If somehow we could manage to keep
moving the crushing economic machine in spite of everything, we would get
probably easily used to a world without coral reefs as we did to a sea
without
big fishes, a land without forests and wildlife, rivers without clean
waters
etc.

How many do even
know there was a forest where most of our monocultures grow or cities lay
nowadays. Give it one or two generations and coral reefs could be forgotten
too. Algae ecosystems are still nicer than monocultures or shopping malls
and
car parks after all.

Bad jokes aside, the only hope lies in the fact
that the machine is choking, and it is chocking because billing time is
approaching. But until we try to cure it with the same recipe and mindset
we have used to drive it, I doubt we will make any progress.

Francesca

________________________________
From: Dennis Hubbard <dennis.hubbard at oberlin.edu>
To: Phillip Dustan <phil.dustan at gmail.com>
Cc: "coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov" <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, September 3, 2013 5:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] A World without Coral Reefs?

Phil:

Wow, what a great poster! Do you have this in a Powerpoint format or
something else where I could show the slides to a class? The resolution
would not hold up from the jpg.

Cheers,

Dennis

On Tue, Sep 3, 2013 at 9:15 AM, Phillip Dustan <phil.dustan at gmail.com
wrote:

Dear Dennis,
Your post reminded me of a poster I assembled in 2004 based on Sir
Nicholas Nuttalls campaign to save the groupers in the Bahamas. He used
"Imagine the Bahamas without grouper" which I turned into  Imagine the
Keys
without corals?
Sad to say it's just about happened................
Here's the Dropbox url

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dbe9u1a2a6cxnsh/Imagine%20the%20Keys%20without%20corals%20poster.jpg

All the best
 Phil

*"When one tugs at a single thing in nature *
*he finds it attached to the rest of the world."*
*   John Muir*

Phillip Dustan PhD
Department of Biology
College of Charleston, SC
Charleston SC  29424
843-953-8086 office
843-224-3321 (mobile)

On Sun, Sep 1, 2013 at 12:31 PM, Dennis Hubbard <
dennis.hubbard at oberlin.edu> wrote:

Steve raises an important point that I've been wrestling with for the
past
five years or so every time I convene my *Biology, Geology and Politics
of
Coral Reefs* course; at least one student has asked me this very
question
every time I teach it.

If my understanding of the consensus is correct, even in the most
optimistic of scenarios (a 50% reduction of 1990 emissions levels by
early
to mid century), we'll be seeing CO2 levels at least in the mid-400s and
then will probably not see numbers below that in the lifetime of our
youngest contributor.

I wouldn't advocate for just "facing reality" as this makes it too easy
for
anyone to use this as an excuse to do nothing - and many of the proposed
measures will probably have at least collateral environmental benefits
even
if
corals aren't among the recipients. So, I would ask a modified version
of
Steve's question. If we do feel that reefs as we know (knew?) them are
not
likely in the future, then 1) how do we either triage what to save (I
argue
against this as it's the same hubris that got us to this point), or 2)
how
do we determine a strategy that focuses on the things that are most
likely
to be key ecological elements in the future (note, I use the word
"elements" in favor of "species" on purpose).

Just to make a wild projection.... we won't reach consensus.

Dennis

On Sat, Aug 31, 2013 at 3:13 PM, Steve Mussman <sealab at earthlink.net>
wrote:

  Dear Listers,
  I hate to put this out there, but I'm beginning to wonder if I've
been
  kidding myself.
  I've been collaborating with others in an effort to urge the diving
industry
  to openly address the issue of local and global threats to coral
reefs
  including an honest assessment of the pending impacts of climate
change. In
  doing  so  I've  found  it necessary to tread carefully in that
strong
  resistance remains intact throughout the industry at just the
mention
of the
  term climate change.
  But that's not really my focus at this point. What I want to know
is
this:
  Are efforts to forestall or mitigate the impacts of climate change
on
coral
  reef ecosystems already past the point being practical? Are efforts
like
  last  year's  consensus  statement  from  the  ICRS  just based on
the
  institutional inertia of conservationists who value hope over truth
and
  scientists who can't see the reefs for the corals? Am I (are we)
spreading
  false beliefs and misdirecting efforts by persisting that coral
reefs
have a
  future rather than urging that we begin to address the greater
fallout
from
  their inevitable collapse?
  I'm honestly beginning to wonder.
  Regards,
   Steve
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--
Dennis Hubbard
Chair, Dept of Geology-Oberlin College Oberlin OH 44074
(440) 775-8346

* "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*
Benjamin Stein: "*Ludes, A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream*"
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--
Dennis Hubbard
Chair, Dept of Geology-Oberlin College Oberlin OH 44074
(440) 775-8346

* "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*
Benjamin Stein: "*Ludes, A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream*"
_______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
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_______________________________________________
Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

--
Dennis Hubbard
Chair, Dept of Geology-Oberlin College Oberlin OH 44074
(440) 775-8346

* "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*
Benjamin Stein: "*Ludes, A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream*"
_______________________________________________
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http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
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Dr. Sander Scheffers
Senior Lecturer, School of Environment, Science & Engineering, Southern Cross University

Honorary Research Fellow, University of Queensland, QLD, Australia

Associate Researcher, Caribbean Institute for Biodiversity (CARMABI), Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

Military Rd, Lismore NSW 2477
T: 02 6620 3277 | E: sander.scheffers at scu.edu.au<mailto:louise.gordon at scu.edu.au>
CRICOS Provider: NSW 01241G, QLD 03135E, WA 02621K