[Coral-List] corals can eat their zooxanthellae

Fri Aug 25 20:58:31 UTC 2023

Greetings from Belize, all.

Stayed away long time ( busy) BUT

I want to add that i heard many disappointed folks from last in person ICRS meeting ( and not because of the covid rates- which btw is back here atm in belize)

Disappointments conveyed to me were on the lack of research & prior knowledge, lack of lit searches, lack  of proper historical science/ knowledge on many presenters part- wasn’t there- no specific talks or names do i have. Was not there.

Personally, I do not have access to many publications but EVERY SINGLE AUTHOR i have messaged for a publication has sent me a PDF over the last decade.

So: we don’t publish much as no time, I am not condoning current academic/ publishing bs . Simply saying that:

Not enough people do their homework.

Best from Belize,
Lisa Carne
Fragments of Hope

Look us up if you don’t know us

> On 25-Aug-2023, at 14:25, Austin Bowden-Kerby via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> 
> Cool Doug- and something I too was unaware of, even if it was previously
> known.  : )
> 
> Many key findings and information in technical areas such as biochemistry,
> genetics etc, does not get translated into the general/public knowledge of
> coral reefs, or into a form whereby it can be easily assimilated by
> university students and workers in the field, who until recently had poor
> access to publications, especially to those that are not mainstream to our
> field.  Is there a simple summary I can read somewhere?  I am constantly
> playing catch up.
> 
> I never understood the specific energy and nutrient transfer mechanisms of
> the symbiosis, as it was not taught when I was a graduate student, and
> somehow I missed it subsequently.  I always wondered if the algae
> generously and altruistically leaked out sugars and proteins for the host
> to use, as that is what the public information seems to imply, or if the
> host had to digest the algae to get them?  Do any of these papers tell us
> how and where they digest the algae, does the algae have to be expelled
> into the gastrovascular cavity or can it happen intracellularly?  If
> intracellular digestion occurs, then how to get rid of the wastes?
> 
> And another question, how do the algae leak out and get shared with
> incoming juvenile corals? As the algae are flagellated and can swim, how do
> they get out to swim away?
> 
> And lastly, to Alina, opioids are no excuse for publicly shaming someone
> and being rude.  It is no wonder that so many of our younger scientists
> and those more sensitive are so terrified of posting on the Coral List.  I
> was for years, but I got over it, as science is failing us at this critical
> point in history - our house is on fire!   We know so much about a system
> that may soon be gone.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Austin
> 
> Austin Bowden-Kerby, PhD
> Corals for Conservation
> P.O. Box 4649 Samabula, Fiji Islands
> 
> https://www.corals4conservation.org
> Publication on C4C's coral-focused climate change adaptation strategies:
> https://www.mdpi.com/2673-1924/4/1/2/pdf
> Film on our "Reefs of Hope" coral restoration for climate change adaptation
> strategies:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG0lqKciXAA
> https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/
> <https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/emergency-response-to-massive-coral-bleaching/>
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> On Sat, Aug 26, 2023 at 1:58 AM Alina Szmant via Coral-List <
>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>> 
>> I know that I am on opiods due to my recent surgery, but this message
>> makes me feel that I must be living in an alternative universe that is
>> informationally separated from previous century. We knew that corals can
>> digest and assimilate their zooxanthellae since Muscatine, Trench,  Yonge
>> and other researchers work many decades ago. So your message makes we
>> wonder if people simply just don't bother to read the literature,  or
>> younger researchers are caught up in the "Breaking News" mindset.  I
>> haven't looked at the papers yet, but my guess is that the new work is just
>> adding details to a fact and process that has been long known.  So maybe
>> just modify the messaging, such as "new information about the harvesting of
>> zooxanthellae by their anthozoan hosts" would be more appropriate.  Nice to
>> kearn new details about how nature works, but the sensationalism should
>> left for cable news coverage of plane crashes and celebrity arrests.
>> 
>> Alina Szmant
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Dr. Alina M. Szmant,  CEO
>> CISME Instruments LLC
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -------- Original message --------
>> From: Douglas Fenner via Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>> Date: 8/24/23 11:06 PM (GMT-05:00)
>> To: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
>> Subject: [Coral-List] corals can eat their zooxanthellae
>> 
>> Like hard-working farmers, corals cultivate and eat their resident algae
>> 
>> 
>> https://www.science.org/content/article/hard-working-farmers-corals-cultivate-and-eat-their-resident-algae
>> 
>> Corals have algal friends for dinner
>> 
>> https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02593-7
>> 
>> Note author contact
>> 
>> Reef-building corals farm and feed on their photosynthetic symbionts
>> 
>> https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06442-5
>> 
>> open-access
>> 
>> It sounded like from the popular accounts that the corals only did that
>> when the water they were in had zero nutrients in it, they didn't do it in
>> low-nutrient water that is typical of tropical reefs in oligotrophic
>> waters.  That's what it sounded like at least.
>> 
>> Cheers, Doug
>> 
>> --
>> Douglas Fenner
>> Lynker Technologies, LLC, Contractor
>> NOAA Fisheries Service
>> Pacific Islands Regional Office
>> Honolulu
>> and:
>> Coral Reef Consulting
>> PO Box 997390
>> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799-6298  USA
>> 
>> One recent study estimates over 61,000 people died from heat during
>> Europe's record-breaking summer last year.
>> 
>> https://www.yahoo.com/news/record-breaking-heat-bakes-us-014459083.html
>> 
>> 1 million Florida buildings will be overrun by sea-level rise, new study
>> shows, at a cost of $261-624 BILLION
>> 
>> 
>> https://www.yahoo.com/news/1-million-florida-buildings-overrun-091203340.html
>> 
>> Scientists size up human predatory footprint
>> Humans are the ultimate predators, trapping, hunting, or otherwise
>> exploiting 15,000 species of vertebrates—300 times more species than
>> jaguars and 113 times more than great white sharks.
>> 
>> https://www.science.org/content/article/news-glance-muscular-dystrophy-therapy-lab-grown-chicken-and-humans-toll-wildlife
>> _______________________________________________
>> Coral-List mailing list
>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>> _______________________________________________
>> Coral-List mailing list
>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>> 
> _______________________________________________
> Coral-List mailing list
> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list