[Coral-List] Bioturbulence Proven as a Factor in Ocean Mixing and it's Implications

Sun May 29 06:32:14 UTC 2022

Hi Mel and all,

I was just using simple logical deduction: since the study proves that fish
cause significant ocean mixing, if those same fish are then overfished to
extinction or reduced by half, it only follows that the fish-induced mixing
caused by that species will stop completely, or be reduced by half
accordingly.  If these fish cause bioturbulence, then imagine how much
better tuna, mackerel, sardines, whales, etc. might be, but especially
those species that cross boundary layers.

Thanks for sharing the 1860 quote from La Mer "the combined motion of the
little fish tails"...  of course!  Brilliant!
Sadly, the day of descriptive science and assumptions based on logic and
keen observation are presently out of fashion, but I think that they need
to come back, because hypothesis testing and other forms of science that
are in vogue are limited, as they often exclude close visual observations
and detailed descriptions, which is of course due to the fact that few
scientists live on the reef and go out daily or weekly year after year.
Science seems to be moving far too slowly for a system in grave danger of
collapsing.

Being "on the spectrum", much of what I know is based on reading other
works as well as my own close observation of the systems in both the
Pacific and Caribbean over decades.  Much of what I operate on has never
been published, due to my personal circumstances and limitations, and not
being attached to any academic research institution, having to fight the
wolf at the door on an ongoing basis year after year.  I have developed a
long list of observations and preliminary conclusions that you won't find
in any journal, but as they are based on simple logic, and based on
multiple observations, I am teaching these speculations and observations to
indigenous marine graduates and others in our course "Coral restoration for
climate change adaptation", making it clear that they are my own
assumptions and might in time be proven or disguarded.  We welcome
researchers and graduate students to attend one of these workshops, and to
come to our field sites as interns or researchers, and to work with us, as
we need verification of many observations and working hypotheses, and time
is far too short to not share "intellectual property" more openly before it
is published. Saving the coral reefs should certainly be enough of a
reward- and just imagine how much unpublished knowledge goes to the grave
every year?!

One example of what I am talking about, and directly related to the topic
of this email thread, is that I have long assumed that fish are vital to
branching corals for oxygenation, nutrient uptake, waste removal, and
sediment removal, not only because it is completely logical, but because we
see evidence that it is happening.  It is clear from observations of
tabulate Acropora corals versus digitate or staghorn Acropora, that Chromis
and Dascyllus, both planktivorous fish, make a difference to survival in
challenging lower flow habitats in the IndoPacific:  We observe that
tabulate corals do NOT provide habitat for planktivorous fishes, and so
they generally do poorly in these silty and low-flow situations, while
the digitate and staghorn growth forms do just fine in such low flow
conditions, especially if they are able to attract Chromis and Dascyllus.
On a less definite and more speculative aside, I hypothesize that the
corals might be competing for these little fish, which has in turn resulted
in diverse and  flamboyant coloration and possibly even fluorescence of
various coral colonies within a species, done in an attempt to attract the
little fishes!?  Not only do the corals benefit from the presence of the
fish, but the fish in turn require a clearly defined home site, hovering
over the colonies as they feed on zooplankton, and having the absolute
requirement to not stray far from their home colony.  A strong visual
signal coming from the home colony would help them stay close to the safety
of its branches.

The sad thing is that sharing like this is not often done- everyone holds
back on important findings and hypotheses that might help others and thus
collectively help save coral reefs. What seems to be missing from science
is an easy place to publish unverified speculations and observations like
these, and without complications, so that the information can be accessed
and used by researchers and graduate students who then go on to verify or
disprove the ideas as they develop research topics of relevance to the
present crisis.  Idea-people and those with years of field observations at
the end of career would then have a greater impact.  These speculation or
observations can then be referenced and the first to post them would get at
least some of the credit!  This might be a way to encourage a vast and more
open sharing of information? A rush to post new observations, ideas, and
findings.

In the present era, as the very survival of humanity is in question due to
strains being made on the earth, just about every institution needs to be
reinvented or transformed if we are going to avoid collapse of the planet,
and academia is not exempt from this reinvention.

Thanks and regards,

Austin

Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
Corals for Conservation
P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
https://www.corals4conservation.org
https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
<https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>

On Sun, May 29, 2022 at 11:22 AM Melbourne Briscoe <mel at briscoe.com> wrote:

> " The article, which proves bioturbulence for the first time is
> likely relevant to overfishing of the oceans in general."
> I don't understand how you conclude anything about overfishing from the
> article you link, which does not mention overfishing. Can you explain?
>
> I used to have an 1860's French textbook on "La Mer" that not only had
> drawings of the Kraken dragging down a schooner, but described the things
> that mixed the ocean, i.e. the sun, the moon, the rotation of the earth,
> and "the combined motion of all the little fish tails." Walter Munk's
> joking a century later was not a new idea.
>
> - Mel
>
> On Fri, May 27, 2022 at 5:06 PM Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>>
>> https://eos.org/articles/tiny-creatures-may-play-a-difficult-to-detect-role-in-ocean-mixing?utm_source=EosBuzz&mkt_tok=OTg3LUlHVC01NzIAAAGEo_OQQIW0rqNZgyI-5z4UkTpsHp10Uek4dHjh4bgXqzxC0SqtKmfPEA6BYterhbNRI5v4ND60Wn_3l4twA-r0yDS-9ZstGMrMhYqIHcA
>>
>> The article, which proves bioturbulence for the first time is likely
>> relevant to overfishing of the oceans in general.  Also I am wondering
>> about corals and hiw highly branched species can get properly oxygenated
>> and fed in calm waters, and as branching corals in general do poorly when
>> fish numbers are too low.  I believe that the fish are the circulatory
>> system of the corals, dissipating wastes and bringing in oxygenated waters
>> to the corals at microscale, as well as "dusting off" settling silt and
>> even sand from corals.  Has anyone studied the topic of bioturbulence in
>> corals?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Austin
>>
>>
>> Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
>> Corals for Conservation
>> P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
>>
>>
>> https://www.corals4conservation.org
>>
>> https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
>> <
>> https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
>> >
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>