[Coral-List] corals digest their zoozanthelle

[Hannah Mazurek]

As one of the young/newer researchers and individuals on this list this exchange has been very disheartening to read. I am new to the large and growing field of coral work and research. My undergraduate degree really only covered the basics of coral ecology, reef structure, and importance as I was at the time getting a bachelors in biology from a university surrounded by freshwater. Only within maybe the last two years have I even been close to the world of coral research and only the past year has involved me working directly in this realm. If in that year all I did was read current and past research there is no way I could have even scratched the surface of the literature, and I did do a lot of reading to build myself up from a base of zero technical knowledge regarding corals or my work with histology. However, that wasn't the only thing I did. I was completing my masters degree and internship, running fecundity calculations, spending long lab hours. When I wasn't in the lab I would be doing statistics or reading literature, including yours, to increase my understanding and knowledge. And of I wasn't doing either of those things I was working a second job because that is what I needed to do. I want to learn, I want to read, and I want to remain within this research world but it is saddening to see this attitude. 
Austin, thank you for your words of encouragement.
Hannah MazurekMPS Rosenstiel schoolCoral Histology Technician, Nova Southeastern University 


 It is a shame that so many people who have an interest in coral reefs> > haven't either had the opportunity to take a higher level coral reef> > ecology and physiology course, or in lieu of this, taken the time to> > actually read the scientific literature. I was of the impression that> when> > Coral-List was started by Jim Hendee it was oriented to coral reef> > scientists communicating with each other about substantive coral reef> > topics. It was open to all which is a good way for those with little> > background to learn from scientists with more experience. Over the> years, I> > find that this scenario has changed and it is now more a forum for> > afficionados, but not necessarily ones with any background in the science> > of corals and coral reefs. I have shelves of books about all kinds of> > geological, ecological and biological aspects of corals that I use to> brush> > up on topics, and there have been excellent overview books over the> decades> > for those who take the time to read them. e.g. Ecosystems of the World> Vol> > 25 Coral Reefs (1990). Then there is https://scholar.google.com for more> > specific literature searches.> >> > I am sorry, but I will not apologize for being shocked that in 2023> people> > on this list would be so uninformed about coral biology to not know what> is> > basically general knowledge that corals digest some of their> zooxanthellae.> > As Rob pointed out, the first paper on this was by Boschma back in 1925.> He> > also did cool experiments showing how he could infect aposymbiotic corals> > with zooxanthellae by feeding them bits of zooxanthellate coral tissue> > mixed up with crab meat. He did a lot of his research with the cold water> > coral Astrangia danae (now poculata). I used to spend hours and hours> > reading the literature to catch up with what had been learned over the> > decades, even centuries, before I came along. Apparently that doesn't> > happen anymore: everyone is too busy reinventing the wheel. I was at the> > Bremen ISRS and did come away with the impression that oh so many young> and> > intelligent researchers are underprepared for tackling major research> > topics because of lack of knowledge with which to reason with.> >> >> > *************************************************************************> > Dr. Alina M. Szmant, CEO> > CISME Instruments LLC> > 210 Braxlo Lane,> > Wilmington NC 28409 USA> > AAUS Scientific Diving Lifetime Achievement Awardee> > cell: 910-200-3913> > EMAIL: alina at cisme-instruments.com