[Coral-List] Bioturbulence Proven as a Factor in Ocean Mixing and it's Implications
Risk, Michael
riskmj at mcmaster.ca
Tue May 31 13:06:51 UTC 2022
All good, thanks.
May I point out that some of the earliest work on this was done by Mike
Chartock, a half-century ago?
Chartock, M A 1972 (thesis) and 1982 Biotropica?
[1]The role of Acanthurus guttatus (Bloch and Schneider 1801) in cycling
algal production to detritus
He was a student of Gerry Bakus, whose work on grazing was seminal.
Just to remind us all that we stand on the shoulders of those who went
before.
__________________________________________________________________
From: Coral-List <coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> on behalf of
Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2022 9:44 PM
To: Austin Bowden-Kerby <abowdenkerby at gmail.com>
Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Bioturbulence Proven as a Factor in Ocean
Mixing and it's Implications
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
> [2]https://www.corals4conservation.org
>
>
[3]https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-
coral-bleaching/
> <
>
[4]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:
> >
> >>
> >>
>
[5]https://eos.org/articles/tiny-creatures-may-play-a-difficult-to-dete
ct-role-in-ocean-mixing?utm_source=EosBuzz&mkt_tok=OTg3LUlHVC01NzIAAAGE
o_OQQIW0rqNZgyI-5z4UkTpsHp10Uek4dHjh4bgXqzxC0SqtKmfPEA6BYterhbNRI5v4ND6
0Wn_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
> >>
> >>
> >> [6]https://www.corals4conservation.org
> >>
> >>
>
[7]https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-
coral-bleaching/
> >> <
> >>
>
[8]https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-
coral-bleaching/
> >> >
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Coral-List mailing list
> >> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> >> [9]https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
> >>
> >
> _______________________________________________
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>
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References
1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2387954
2. https://www.corals4conservation.org/
3. https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
4. https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
5. 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
6. https://www.corals4conservation.org/
7. https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
8. https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
9. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
10. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
11. https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
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