[Coral-List] corals digest their zoozanthelle

[tomascik at novuscom.net]

Hi everyone,

I do not believe that there is anyone here on the list that expects us 
to read every paper that is published in our field. I think that what 
appears to be sadly lacking is the curiosity of chasing after the 
original idea. I found Wiedenmann et al. (2023) article of great 
interest, but clearly the hype in the mainstream media took it over the 
hill with headlines like this:

https://scitechdaily.com/darwins-paradox-of-coral-reefs-solved-scientists-unravel-age-old-mystery/

Not that long ago we were told the same:

https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2016/04/11/scientists-solve-darwins-paradox/

I am happy that we solved "Darwin's Paradox" not once, but twice!

With thousands of research papers from the past now digitized, and 
easily available trough most university libraries, it really is not that 
difficult to search if someone else has also done research on the topic. 
In case of Wiedenmann et al. (2023), the digestion of zooxanthellae by 
the coral animal. I used the 'Google Scholar' and searched for 
"digestion of zooxanthellae" and this is the results that popped up:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=digestion+of+zooxanthellae&btnG=

Boschma's 1925 article is second from the top, yet it did not make it as 
a reference in Wiedenmann et al. (2023). If a claim is being made of a 
major discovery (well, the mainstream media certainly seems to think so) 
than it is only fair to search the literature for past work on the 
subject.

In 1996, Titlyanov et al. (2019) also concluded that: "... hermatypic 
corals are capable of regulating their zooxanthellae populations by 
digestion and extrusion of zooxanthellae remnants". Yet, this article is 
also missing from Wiedenmann et al. (2023) reference list. For anyone 
interested in that article here is a link: 
https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps/139/m139p167.pdf).

I don't expect anyone to read all the papers being published on coral 
reefs and corals (an impossible task to begin with), but I am 
disappointed that more effort is not being made to search the vast 
literature that is now at our fingertips for more relevant articles.


Cheers,
Tom

ps: Citing:

Darwin, C.R. (1842). The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. 
Smith Elder and CO, London, 214 pp. (Reprinted 1962 University of 
California Press, Barkely, CA).

in the first sentence of the Wiedenmann et al. (2023) article would have 
been nice.


On 2023-08-28 4:02 pm, Hannah Mazurek via Coral-List wrote:
> 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
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