[Coral-List] eDNA can be used to measure coral cover

Phillip Dustan phil.dustan at gmail.com
Tue Jun 8 12:29:35 UTC 2021


Once again, Western Science has figured out another way to apply advanced
technological tools to measure the loss of coral reefs. I will bet anyone a
case of beer that most people who rely on reefs in their daily lives could
not tell you what 50% of the nouns in this paper are, let alone why they
might be relevant. Leslie Watkins, the longtime gardener at Discovery Bay
Marine Lab once told me," Phil, you don't even have to visit the reef to
see it is dying. From here (the DBML breezway) you can see it is dark
brown, no longer golden and alive."
 Every new paper about reefs now begins with "..... the most threatened
ecosystems in the sea or on the planet....." and then goes about saying how
this offering will make a difference. When are we going to realise that our
behavior is enabling the continued destruction of reefs? None of the normal
reasons add up anymore. Rees do not need us to invent new techniques to
monitor their demise. Reefs don't NEED funds to keep our laboratories chock
full of  new state-of-the-art PCR machines, 50mb cameras, or
supercomputers.  I think the coral reef science community is stuck chasing
its tail in an ever decreasing circle.
My last post asked if we were ready to really do something meaningful. That
begins at home, the lab, the institution, and society.
Alina is spot on correct. Overpopulation is the driver of our demise. Maybe
we should begin to recognize it, popularize it, work towards solutions, and
stop trying to hide behind technology............
 There are over 10,000 people who monitor the Coral_List. Steve Gitting
suggests the list is "only for discussion" and we all know it is overseen
by an agency embedded in the US Commerce Department. So why can't it be a
priority for us all to work towards a day when natural infrastructure is
valued over economic growth. Nations can always print more money but, as we
discuss on this platform, we really can't make more reefs, or other
ecosystems, or even a planet without the appropriate natural
infrastructure. Watching it die with an ever finer resolving "microscope"
might be intellectually satisfying but sadly ineffective...............
 So please, do at least one thing every day to help the oceans heal and
remember that THE OCEAN BEGINS AT YOUR FRONT DOOR. Take your knowledge
outside of your laboratory and the pages of scientific publications. Get
political because science in a vacuum is useless.
  Happy Ocean Week,
   Phil


On Tue, Jun 8, 2021 at 7:38 AM Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Rapid assessment of coral cover from environmental DNA in Hawaii
>
> https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/edn3.8
>
> open-access
>
> To quote from the abstract: "Given its broad applicability and ease of
> use..."   Yes, everyone on every tiny island nation with coral reefs can do
> PCR on their coffee break, it is as easy as using a pencil and paper to
> write.  No equipment or prior knowledge needed.  Obviously the authors have
> no idea what the real world is like in other island nations outside their
> lab in the giant and well funded first-world University of Hawaii.
>
>     I note that they had to develop primers specific to the corals in
> Hawaii.  So looks like for other places that would have to be done over,
> for much higher diversity, Hawaii has a relatively low coral diversity.
>
> Please excuse the sarcasm, but really.   Cheers, Doug
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> Pacific Islands Regional Office
> Honolulu
> and:
> Coral Reef Consulting
> PO Box 997390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA
>
> Slashing emissions by 2050 isn't enough.  We can bring down temperature
> now.
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/climate-deadlines-super-pollutants-hfcs-methane/2021/04/15/acb8c612-9d7d-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html
>
> Humans have destroyed 97% of earth's ecosystems
> (well, more like only 3% are fully intact)
> https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB1fH7DT?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
>
> Study: One-third of plant and animal species could be gone in 50 years.
> (but 2-4 times worse in tropics)
> https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/uoa-soo021220.php
> https://www.pnas.org/content/117/8/4211
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>


-- 



Phillip Dustan PhD
Charleston SC  29424
843-953-8086 office
843-224-3321 (mobile)

"When we try to pick out anything by itself
we find that it is bound fast by a thousand invisible cords
that cannot be broken, to everything in the universe. "
*                                         John Muir 1869*

*A Swim Through TIme on Carysfort Reef*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCPJE7UE6sA
*Raja Ampat Sustainability Project video*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR2SazW_VY&fbclid=IwAR09oZkEk8wQkK6LN3XzVGPgAWSujACyUfe2Ist__nYxRRSkDE_jAYqkJ7A
*Bali Coral Bleaching 2016 video*

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo>*
TEDx Charleston on saving coral reefs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4
Google Scholar Citations:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ


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