Colleagues,

the following global coral reproduction review chapter has recently
been published in Dubinsky and Stambler’s book:

Harrison, P.L. (2011). Sexual reproduction of scleractinian corals.
In: Z. Dubinsky and N. Stambler (Editors), Coral Reefs: An Ecosystem
in Transition Part 3, 59-85,
DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-0114-4_6 Springer Publishers.

This new review presents a synthesis of current global knowledge of
coral reproduction and updates aspects of the earlier major review by
Harrison, P.L. and Wallace, C.C. (1990), with particular emphasis on
new data and molecular perspectives that have emerged during the past
two decades.

Some key points that may be of interest:
Information on sexual reproduction is now available for 444
scleractinian coral species (almost double the number of species
compared with the 230 species whose reproductive characteristics had
been studied by the late 1980s).

The global data confirm many of the trends noted previously: the
great majority of species that have been studied are hermaphroditic
broadcast spawers (64.5%) with fewer gonochoric spawners (19.5%) and
relatively few hermaphroditic brooders or gonochoric brooders
recorded. However, there are a number of species for which mixed
sexual patterns/sex change and/or both brooding and spawning modes of
development have been recorded hence these sexual patterns and modes
of development are not simple binary characteristics for all
scleractinian corals.

Biogeographical patterns are even more complex:  multispecific
spawning has been recorded in many reef regions, but the scale of
spawning and degree of reproductive synchrony within and among
populations of different species forms a continuum from largely
asynchronous patterns through to highly synchronised mass spawning
events.

If you want to know more please contact me.  Read the actual paper here. Harrison 2011 Coral Reproduction Review[1]

cheers, Peter
—
Professor Peter Harrison, PhD
Director of Marine Studies SCU
Director, Marine Ecology Research Centre
Research Leader, Coral Reef and Whale Research Teams
Marine Science and Management Course Coordinator
School of Environmental Science and Management
Southern Cross University, PO Box 157
Lismore NSW 2480   AUSTRALIA
Patron, Banyan Tree Marine Labs, Maldives
SCU Phone: 0266 203774    Fax: 0266 212669
Mobile: 0407456249
E-mail: peter.harrison@scu.edu.au
International Phone: 61 266 203774   International Fax: 61 266 212669
_______________________________________________
Special thanks to:

Coral-List mailing list
Coral-List@coral.aoml.noaa.gov
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list

http://www.coraldisease.org/

The GCDD is the result of a collaboration between UNEP-WCMC and NOAA NMFS. The project aims to collate information on the global distribution of coral diseases, in order to contribute to the understanding of coral disease prevalence. The GCDD is a compilation of information from scientific literature gathered before 2007 (archive data), as well as new contributions from users. The content of the database is being continually updated by users, creating a sustainable platform for the dissemination of coral disease data.

download the entire report at:

http://na.oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/Ocean_Acidification_The_Untold_Stories.pdf

November 1, 2010

Our use of fossil fuels, deforestation and land use changes are wreaking havoc on the  oceans. Besides causing global climate change, which could cause catastrophic impacts around the world, the release of carbon dioxide from these activities is also leading to ocean acidification. The oceans ultimately absorb most carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and thus play a critical role in regulating climate. They also help to mitigate human caused climate change. But the unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide being created by human activity has surpassed what the oceans can healthfully absorb, changing ocean chemistry and making them more acidic.

Acidity is measured on a pH scale, where lower pH indicates more acidic water. Ocean pH has dropped by thirty percent globally during the last two hundred years. Even though the drop in pH appears small (from 8.2 to 8.1), the pH scale is logarithmic, meaning that this change is large enough that it may already be beginning to affect some of the oceans most beloved and biologically important residents, including corals.

The changing acidity of the oceans threatens to throw off the delicate chemical balance upon which marine ife depends for survival. The scant attention this issue has received has focused primarily on corals, which are threatened with extinction within this century unless we change course. Corals are the framework builders of reefs, by far the most diverse ecosystems of our oceans. However, the effects of acidification are not going to stop with reefs, like dominoes, the impacts are going to be far-reaching throughout the oceans.

snorkeling trails[1]

Conservation Biology. Vol 14 No. 6 December 2000

http://www.articlesafari.com/2010/10/dolphin-human-dna/

Seema Kumar, of Discovery Channel Online, writes that scientists have discovered that the genetic make-up of dolphins is amazingly similar to humans. They’re closer to us than cows, horses, or pigs, despite the fact that they live in the water.

“The extent of the genetic similarity came as a real surprise to us,” says David Busbee of Texas A&M University. He hopes his research will reveal how long ago humans and dolphins branched off the evolutionary tree. There’s been some speculation that dolphins and whales, who breathe air, may have returned to the water AFTER first evolving into land animals.

“Dolphins are marine mammals that swim in the ocean and it was astonishing to learn that we had more in common with the dolphin than with land mammals,” says geneticist Horst Hameister.

Busbee says, “If we can show that humans are similar to dolphins, and anything that endangers dolphins is an equal concern for humans, it may be easier to persuade governments to keep oceans clean.”

There are still many mysteries about the beings who share the earth with us. Humans and dolphins may have much more in common than people think, especially when it comes to genetics.

In a Sea Grant-funded project, Texas A&M University veterinarians are comparing human chromosomes to those of dolphins and are finding that the two share many similarities. The scientists hope to use these similarities to identify and map the genes of dolphins.

Genes are organized into segments along the length of a chromosome – a tightly wound spool of DNA. This spool is made up of two, complementary, single strands of DNA bound together. Every living thing has a characteristic number of chromosomes, and each chromosome carries different genes. Dolphins have 44 chromosomes, and humans have 46. Dr. David Busbee and his team applied human “paints,” fluorescently labeled pieces of human chromosomes, to dolphin chromosomes on microscope slides. Scientists broke open dolphin cells, releasing chromosomes onto slides. The dolphin chromosomes were then treated with labled human chromosome pieces, providing the opportunity for complementary DNA strands to match up.

When scientists examined the photos taken with a fluorescence microscope, they found dolphin chromosomes fluorescently tagged with the labeled, or “painted,” pieces of human chromosomes and concluded that dolphins hold many of the same chromosomes as humans. “We started looking at these and it became very obvious to us that every human chromosome had a corollary chromosome in the dolphin,” Busbee said. “We’ve found that the dolphin genome and the human genome basically are the same. It’s just that there’s a few chromosomal rearrangements that have changed the way the genetic material is put together.”

Dolphins have been viewed as somehow magical for millennia by humans. They’re one of the only animals that appear to play, leaping out of the water and doing tricks, and the bottlenose dolphin even seems to grin widely at everything. It was inevitable that such a remarkable animal also collected a remarkable mythology that extends through today.

The first documented culture that seems to have mythology associated with the dolphin was the Minoan, a seafaring people in the Mediterranean. They left few written records, but they did leave beautiful murals on the walls of their palaces, murals that show the importance of dolphins in their mythology.

Because they were strongly associated with Poseidon by the later Greeks, this probably explains why the sea god was so often surrounded by dolphins. In one myth about Poseidon, dolphin messengers were sent to bring him a nymph he loved, who he later married. As a reward, he set the dolphin in the sky as a constellation. And he was constantly accompanied by dolphins among other sea creatures.

This wasn’t the last time the Greeks associated dolphins with romance. Aphrodite is often depicted with dolphins, riding them or being accompanied by them. Later, the god Dionysus transformed the way dolphins were perceived in Greek literature. He was set upon while at sea by a band of pirates. Instead of simply destroying the sea raiders, he transformed them into a pod of dolphins, charging them to rescue any distressed sailors in the ocean.

Pirates transforming into dolphins. Drawing from an Etruscan Black Figure Hydria, 510-500 BC

Special thanks to Larry Lawhorn.