[Coral-List] eDNA can be used to measure coral cover
Risk, Michael
riskmj at mcmaster.ca
Tue Jun 8 21:22:27 UTC 2021
Phil:
This is funny-not funny. You are right on the money-a lot of reef
research these days is resume-padding which will in no way help the
reefs.
I think maybe 20 years ago, on this site, I said that the world's reefs
would have a rosier future of all the "reef scientists" quit and taught
elementary school.
I disagree strongly with your overpopulation angle, and draw your
attention to "A September 2020 [1]report by Oxfam found that from 1990
to 2015 -- a critical 25-year period during which humans doubled the
amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere -- the wealthiest 1 percent
of the world's population accounted for more than twice as much carbon
pollution as the 3.1 billion people who made up the poorest half of
humanity."
It's not the little brown people who are the problem, it's the big rich
white ones.
Mike
__________________________________________________________________
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of
Phillip Dustan via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, June 8, 2021 8:29 AM
To: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] eDNA can be used to measure coral cover
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
>
> [2]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.
>
>
[3]https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/climate-deadlines-super-pollu
tants-hfcs-methane/2021/04/15/acb8c612-9d7d-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_stor
y.html
>
> Humans have destroyed 97% of earth's ecosystems
> (well, more like only 3% are fully intact)
> [4]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)
> [5]https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/uoa-soo021220.php
> [6]https://www.pnas.org/content/117/8/4211
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> [7]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*
[8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCPJE7UE6sA
*Raja Ampat Sustainability Project video*
[9]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR2SazW_VY&fbclid=IwAR09oZkEk8wQkK6
LN3XzVGPgAWSujACyUfe2Ist__nYxRRSkDE_jAYqkJ7A
*Bali Coral Bleaching 2016 video*
*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo
<[10]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo>*
TEDx Charleston on saving coral reefs
[11]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4
Google Scholar Citations:
[12]https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ
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References
1. https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516588&xs=1&url=https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/carbon-emissions-richest-1-percent-more-double-emissions-poorest-half-humanity&referrer=vox.com&sref=https://www.vox.com/22456663/arizona-environment-immigration-climate-change-right-wing&xcust=___vx__p_22220704__m_climate.ad.20210608__s_email_
2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/edn3.8
3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/climate-deadlines-super-pollutants-hfcs-methane/2021/04/15/acb8c612-9d7d-11eb-b7a8-014b14aeb9e4_story.html
4. https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB1fH7DT?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare
5. https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-02/uoa-soo021220.php
6. https://www.pnas.org/content/117/8/4211
7. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCPJE7UE6sA
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR2SazW_VY&fbclid=IwAR09oZkEk8wQkK6LN3XzVGPgAWSujACyUfe2Ist__nYxRRSkDE_jAYqkJ7A
10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOfLTnPSUo
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwENBNrfKj4
12. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HCwfXZ0AAAAJ
13. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
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