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

[Austin Bowden-Kerby]

Thanks Vassal,

And your assessment Doug has pulled me back to the proper terminology
"Natural History", which puts a simple clarity to what I was trying to
express. You have found the pattern among the chaos of my words, and have
put the right descriptors to it. Vinaka!
"A person who studies nature, esp. by direct observation of animals and
plants in their natural surroundings."   That is what I am, I suppose, and
so much of traditional indigenous knowledge would likely fall into this
category of natural history as well.

I checked out the journal Natural History again, which is open access, just to
see how articles might differ from other journals, and indeed there is a
lot of good descriptive science, lots of species descriptions and some very
detailed observations with good data.

But my question remains: where do we post our less than detailed
observations over a lifetime that don't have dates, photos, or any
quantitative data attached to them, other than the fact that we saw them
repeatedly and often unexpectedly over a series of years, observations
which revealed patterns in the chaos, and with these patterns we have
derived understanding for reefs that may be unpublishable in a journal, and
that others would label as speculation, but in the end it mostly holds up
as valid knowledge. Through repeated informal observation, we tease out
interesting and logical hypotheses, that have a high probability of being
proven true, and that may have important implications for the wider field,
and that may shed light on key elements not yet fully understood, and of
important relevance to some, who might use these ideas to propel the field
forward in the faster manner that the times demands.

The reefs are dying and we can no longer afford to support a system where
knowledge is hoarded due to fear of theft of "intellectual property"!   I
have shared my speculations openly in the past like this, as a graduate
student at UPR, at meetings etc, and others though I was eccentric or
stupid or something- LOL.  Some of those who listened went on to develop
the ideas into proven knowledge, and I was not generally given any
recognition, and in all truth, the people might not even remember where
they got the idea first, but that is fine, as I would not have developed it
further myself, and a gift freely given without strings attached is not
theft.  As my grandmother would often say, quoting the Bible: "As ye give
so shall ye receive".  Others may not feel the same, so how do we encourage
sharing of important observations and the ideas and conclusions that go
along with them that otherwise might die?  Perhaps an informal
dIscussion section of a journal that comes out often that would pin down
new ideas to their original source author? Perhaps also grouped into topics?

The sorts of ideas I have shared in this email trail: small fish acting as
coral circulatory systems for densely branched corals, coral color being a
possible competitive mechanism for recruitment of fish and why, coral
growth form being obligatory habitat to specific fish- and the absence of
planktivorous fish from tabulate corals, which I believe is an important
factor in their being the first corals to go locally extinct on many
reefs.  Also has anyone else noticed how partially bleached or moderately
bleached reefs can go pure white- becoming severely bleached within a few
hours, when cyclone waves and currents pass through the reef, even the
underneath surfaces of the corals?  I have seen that twice, the last time
when Cyclone Winston's waves hit our Morutiki sites, and the corals
bleached horrifically, while just around the corner in a more sheltered
position, they were mostly fine.  Even recognition of the fact that
IndoPacific coral reef decline under thermal stress generally goes through
a succession of cascading alternate communities, from Acropora dominance to
Pocillopora dominance as the intermediate stage, and then passing into
Porites dominance.  The GCRMN measure of "coral cover" is unable to detect
these phase shifts, and I believe that it is therefore rather unusable, as
it will label a reef as "recovered" and miss the fact that the species
composition has completely changed and that the phase shift is not the same
from the standpoint of fisheries habitat or wave interception.  It is as if
plant cover were used to determine the health of the land, with trees,
bushes and grasses all being considered equal, and the focus on barren
desert being the state to avoid, rather than the focus being on the
recovery to the original diverse forest.  And lastly, as I have gone on too
long, why are coral reefs not showing signs of adaptation after 3-5 mass
bleaching events? My observations show that post-bleaching predation of the
bleaching resistant survivors is the major factor in that lack of
adaptation, and so predator removal and coral collections within gene
bank field nurseries, to ensure survival of the bleaching resistant
genotypes, must be urgently implemented as adaptation measures after mass
bleaching events.  I have observed this multiple times now, but have no
data, because I was in the water doing something unrelated.

Regards, and take care,

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/>


Teitei Livelihoods Centre
Km 20 Sigatoka Valley Road, Fiji Islands
(679) 938-6437
http:/www.
<http://permacultureglobal.com/projects/1759-sustainable-environmental-livelihoods-farm-Fiji>
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https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/happy-chickens-for-food-security-and-environment-1/






On Mon, May 30, 2022 at 1:44 PM Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
wrote:

>       What Austin describes has long been called "Natural History."  Many
> early scientists did lots of it.  I think offhand I'd say that Darwin and
> Wallace were two of the more famous biologists in that tradition.  Much of
> the anatomy of most species is essentially natural history description down
> to the light microscope level.  Most if not nearly all, descriptions of
> multicellular species is observational (I see this species has two spines,
> that species four, those sorts of things).  A good part of coral reef
> ecology is, or at least partly is, natural history.  Experiments in nature
> and the lab and more powerful techniques in the lab allow more rigorous
> testing of hypotheses.  But observation of nature produces loads of
> interesting and important information to test.  Actually, I believe it to
> be the case that ecology is not alone, much of geology and astronomy were
> long largely observational and a large part of them still is.
>        Chuck Birkeland talked about the difference between natural history
> and big, technical ecology in a paper listed below.  His fundamental
> point was that we need both.  Without natural history, it may be easy to
> make mistakes about the interpretation of lab results.  Without
> experiments, we won't know whether our ideas from natural history about
> what causes what are correct or not.  Plus, as Austin is pointing out,
> natural history is a very rich source of hypotheses for further testing.
> Much of the effort and attention these days is on the ever more
> technological part of ecology with fancy statistics, and on DNA
> sequencing.  But for field ecology, monitoring, and management, being able
> to recognize species and what you are observing in the water will continue
> to be important.  There is a journal called "Natural History."  Many
> journals publish species descriptions.  But I think Austin has a good idea,
> it would be good to have a journal that specialized in Coral Reef Natural
> History.  Maybe Atoll Research Bulletin is close to that, though it
> includes terrestrial studies as well.  He is surely right that there are
> many scientists with loads of observations of reefs which would be good to
> document and make accessible to others including future generations instead
> of being lost.
>          More specifically to Austin's post, there are papers documenting
> fish fertilizing coral growth with their feces.  On atolls, corals actually
> have less than ideal access to nutrients, as shown by the study that found
> that nutrients from bird colonies on atolls increased life on the adjacent
> reef.  References below.
>       Cheers, Doug
>
>   Birkeland, C. 2009. Important roles of natural history in ecology. *Galaxea,
> Japanese*
>
> *           Coral Reef Society* 11: 59–66.  (it refers to a paper by
> Dayton that talks about this as well)
>
>
> Liberman T, Genin A, Loya Y  (1995) Effects on growth and reproduction of
> the coral *Stylophora pistillata* by the mutualistic damselfish *Dascyllus
> marginatus*.  Marine Biology 121: 741-746.
>
> Meyer JL, Schultz ET, Helfman GS  (1983)  Fish schools: an asset to
> corals.  Science 220: 1047-1049.
>
>  Meyer JL, Schultz ET  (1985)  Migrating haemulid fishes as a source of
> nutrients and organic matter on coral reefs.  Limnology and Oceanography
> 30: 146-156.
>
>  Meyer JL, Schultz ET  (1985)  Tissue condition and growth rate of corals
> associated with schooling fish.  Limnology and Oceanography 30: 157-166.
>
> Graham, N. A. J., Wilson, S. K., Carr, P., Hoey, A. S., Jennings, S., and
> MacNeil, N. A. 2018. Seabirds enhance coral reef productivity and
> functioning in the absence of invasive rats. *Nature* 559: 250-252.
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 29, 2022 at 12:27 AM Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
>> 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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