[Coral-List] Dendrogyra

Sat May 29 17:12:20 UTC 2021

To be blunt - my point was while we are bickering about whether
*Dendrogyra* was
or not it was an important reef builder and the importance of losing
individual species even if they were always rare - we are missing the
bigger picture.  In the last four decades we have watched reef after reef
go up in flames.  Some due to local causes but most to to
overarching regional and global issues associated with global climate
change.  *Dendrogyra cylindrus* is nothing more than a bellwether species
that is giving us a glimpse of the future. .Dendrogyra is a
beautiful iconic species and seeing a giant colony on a dive is awe
inspiring. I remember making a dive in the Florida Keys to a site known as
the "Pillar Forest." There were over 200 columns at this one site!  They
are now ALL gone - dead from a variety of causes - but the main and final
blow was from SCTLD.

People have been talking about reefs as being like "canaries in a coal
mine" - well that canary has a very bad case of COPD and it's getting worse
day by day.  This week the average CO2 concentration at the Mauna Loa
Observatory was 419.02 ppm.  In 2009 Veron et al. wrote a manuscript of the
need to maintain CO2 concentrations below 350 ppm for the future survival
of coral reef ecosystems.  That number came from a quote by Dr.
James Hansen during testimony to the US Congress where he stated  “If
humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization
developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and
ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced … to at
most 350 ppm.”   The math is pretty simple - we are going in the wrong
direction.  We all know what we must do - the question is do we have the
political will to make the changes necessary.  My note was a call to the
10,000 people that are as passionate as coral reefs as I am that exchange
ideas on this Coral-List serve. It's time to speak with one voice. We need
to be heard.  We can make a difference. The alternative - failing (which we
are doing quite admirably) - is not an option.

WFP

Veron, J.E., Hoegh-Guldberg, O., Lenton, T.M., Lough, J.M., Obura, D.O.,
Pearce-Kelly, P.A.U.L., Sheppard, C.R., Spalding, M., Stafford-Smith, M.G.
and Rogers, A.D., 2009. The coral reef crisis: The critical importance of<
350 ppm CO2. *Marine pollution bulletin*, *58*(10), pp.1428-1436.

On Sat, May 29, 2021 at 9:38 AM Dennis Hubbard <dennis.hubbard at oberlin.edu>
wrote:

> Bill makes excellent points, but we always return to the same issue.... is
> the loss of "species  X "the problem to be addressed or just the symptom.
> Yes, this is a unique species, and saving it is a worthwhile endeavor for
> this and many other reasons. Having agreed, I remain concerned that success
> on this front will lead some to be satisfied.
>
> Denny
>
> On Fri, May 28, 2021 at 12:36 PM William Precht via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>> The manuscript that started this thread on the coral- list was an
>> excellent, open-access manuscript by Neely et al.   Rapid Population
>> Decline of the Pillar Coral Dendrogyra cylindrus Along the Florida Reef
>> Tract <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.656515>
>>
>> Front. Mar. Sci. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.656515
>>
>> It should be read by all   There are two main punch lines.  The first is
>> that this species has been rendered functionally  extinct (extirpated)
>> throughout Florida.  The second is that the main cause was stony coral
>> tissue loss disease (SCTLD). This species is highly susceptible to this
>> emergent disease as are the three other genera in its family - the
>> Meandrinidae. All species in this family and are highly susceptible to
>> SCTLD.  On many reefs where the disease has run it course you can’t find a
>> single member of this family.  No Meandrina, no Dendrogyra, no
>> Dichocoenia,
>> no Eusmilia.  So the story goes much further than just pillar coral.  We
>> may be looking at the loss of an entire coral family in a short window -
>> and this coral family is only extant in the Caribbean.
>>
>> If this doesn’t serve as a wake-up call I don’t know what will.
>>
>> Clearly losing more than 50% of the corals on the GBR due to mass
>> bleaching
>> events in 2015-2016 did not cause a sea change in policy - not in
>> Australia
>> - not globally. For most it’s been business as usual.
>>
>> I’m getting sick and tired of writing and reading coral obituaries.  In my
>> 40+ years of studying coral reefs I have watched my three favorite reefs
>> burn before my very eyes and the reefs that lie at the door step of where
>> I
>> live are suffering the same fate.
>>
>> The coral-list has a voice of 10,000 people that love coral reefs - let’s
>> use that voice to make a difference.  Time really is running out.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 9:38 PM Peter Sale via Coral-List <
>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi listers,
>> > I've been following the comments re the essential extirpation of
>> > Dendrogyra  in Florida waters.  The fact that this is not a major reef
>> > builder (Gene is correct) is beside the point from my perspective.
>> Here is
>> > a monotypic species that looks like it may be on the way out throughout
>> its
>> > range, and certainly in a large portion of it.  (I'm being pessimistic
>> but
>> > perhaps realistic in predicting total extinction.)  The biodiversity
>> loss
>> > is great.  This is a coral (and I am definitely NOT a coral expert)
>> that is
>> > phenotypically quite distinctive.  It has one of, if not the most
>> > well-connected nerve nets leading to a conspicuous flash when all the
>> > polyps retract in unison following a disturbance.  God only knows what
>> > other special skills it has tucked amongst its tentacles.  From an
>> > evolutionary point of view, its loss is a greater loss than the loss of
>> > many other coral species.  My fear is that we are going to have to
>> become
>> > used to such losses.  Let's a) strive not to let the losses becom
>> >  e un-noticed and routine, and b) use such losses to highlight, and make
>> > 'personal', what it means for a reef to gradually lose its species and
>> > cease to be a reef.  Getting people to relate to what is happening, to
>> > actually feel what is happening, may be the only way to rescue humanity
>> > from turning the planet into a wasteland, starting with the reefs.
>> >
>> > Peter Sale
>> > www.petersalebooks.com<http://www.petersalebooks.com>
>> > @PeterSale3
>> >
>> > See my latest book at
>> >
>> https://www.amazon.com/Coral-Reefs-Majestic-Realms-under/dp/0300253834/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=coral+reefs+peter+sale&qid=1622149307&sr=8-1
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Coral-List mailing list
>> > Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> > https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>> >
>> --
>> William F. Precht
>>
>>  “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
>> you have”
>>
>> Bob Marley
>>
>>
>> "Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you
>> don't
>> have the strength."
>>
>> Theodore Roosevelt
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>
>
>
> --
> Dennis Hubbard - Emeritus Professor: Dept of Geology-Oberlin College
> Oberlin OH 44074
> (440) 935-4014
>
> * "When you get on the wrong train.... every stop is the wrong stop"*
>  Benjamin Stein: "*Ludes, A Ballad of the Drug and the Dream*"
>

-- 
William F. Precht

 “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice
you have”

Bob Marley

"Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don't
have the strength."

Theodore Roosevelt