[Coral-List] More old literature whining

[Risk, Michael]

   Good day all.

   There has recently been discussion of the sad state of affairs now, re
   the citing of "older" research. It seems we no longer stand on the
   shoulders of giants, but on the toes of lesser beings.

   I have a nomination for "Old paper that should be cited more often", of
   relevance to-day: Tomascik, van Woesik and Mah, 1996, "Rapid coral
   colonization..." Coral Reefs 15: 169-175.

   In 1988, there was an andesitic eruption of Gunung Api ("Fire
   Mountain") in the Banda Islands, Indonesia. The lava flowed out into a
   bay, promptly called Air Panas ("Hot water"). This produced a sterile,
   hot, substrate-as close as you can get to tabula rasa succession in the
   oceans. Five years later, the flow was covered with corals: >60% cover.
   I have dived that site-it really is a lovely little reef.

   Tom had an awful time getting that published. It kept getting knocked
   back by biologists who "knew" that development of coral reefs took
   centuries. It has been cited, but not nearly enough.

   The take-home lesson here is that, IF the water is clean, reefs will
   thrive. (This water is beautifully clean, no people for miles, and lots
   of local reef areas for propagules.) In short, any reef rehab studies
   that don't begin by cleaning up the water are doomed; and in places
   where reefs are not flourishing, look first for WQ problems.

   Mike