ScienceDaily: Coral Reef News
First ever underwater university lectures
Fri, 05/17/2013 - 07:57Students at the University of Essex have taken their lectures to a whole new level -- 18 metres under the sea in remote Indonesia to be precise.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Coral reef fishes prove invaluable in the study of evolutionary ecology
Thu, 05/16/2013 - 11:36Coral reef fish species have proven invaluable for experimental testing of key concepts in social evolution and already have yielded insights about the ultimate reasons for female reproductive suppression, group living, and bidirectional sex change.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Cooling ocean temperature could buy more time for coral reefs
Tue, 05/14/2013 - 10:28Limiting the amount of warming experienced by the world's oceans in the future could buy some time for tropical coral reefs, say researchers.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Microbes capture, store, and release nitrogen to feed reef-building coral
Tue, 05/14/2013 - 07:54Microscopic algae that live within reef-forming corals scoop up available nitrogen, store the excess in crystal form, and slowly feed it to the coral as needed, according to a study published in mBio.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Corals turn to algae for stored food when times get tough
Tue, 05/14/2013 - 07:54Researchers present new evidence for the crucial role of algae in the survival of their coral hosts. Ultra-high resolution images reveal that the algae temporarily store nutrients as crystals, building up reserves for when supplies run low.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Coral reefs suffering, but collapse not inevitable
Thu, 05/09/2013 - 11:34Coral reefs are in decline, but their collapse can still be avoided with local and global action. That's according to findings based on an analysis that combines the latest science on reef dynamics with the latest climate models.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Insights into deadly coral bleaching could help preserve reefs: Surprising result from study of 1893 World's Fair corals
Tue, 04/23/2013 - 12:51Coral reefs are stressed because of climate change. Researchers have discovered corals themselves play a role in their susceptibility to deadly coral bleaching due to the light-scattering properties of their skeletons. No one else has shown this before. Using optical technology designed for early cancer detection, the researchers discovered that reef-building corals scatter light in different ways to the symbiotic algae that feed the corals.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Human shadow cast over the Caribbean slows coral growth
Tue, 04/09/2013 - 10:16Striking Caribbean sunsets occur when particles in the air scatter incoming sunlight. But a particulate shadow over the sea may have effects underwater. A research team has linked airborne particles caused by volcanic activity and air pollution to episodes of slow coral-reef growth.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Air pollution stunts coral growth
Sun, 04/07/2013 - 12:32A new study has found that pollution from fine particles in the air -- mainly the result of burning coal or volcanic eruptions -- can shade corals from sunlight and cool the surrounding water resulting in reduced growth rates.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Remote coral reefs can be tougher than they look: Western Australia’s Scott Reef has recovered from mass bleaching
Fri, 04/05/2013 - 08:45Isolated coral reefs can recover from catastrophic damage as effectively as those with nearby undisturbed neighbors, a long-term study by marine biologists has shown. Scott Reef, a remote coral system in the Indian Ocean, has largely recovered from a catastrophic mass bleaching event in 1998, according to the study.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Hope for Galapagos wildlife threatened by marine invaders
Tue, 03/26/2013 - 10:20Increasing tourism and the spread of marine invasive non-native species is threatening the unique plant and marine life around the Galapagos Islands.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Fluorescent light revealed as gauge of coral health: Mysterious glow of light found to correlate with coral stress prior to bleaching
Tue, 03/12/2013 - 08:29Coral reef decline in recent years due to a variety of threats -- from pollution to climate warming -- has lent urgency to the search for new ways to evaluate their health. A new study has revealed that fluorescence, the dazzling but poorly understood light produced by corals, can be an effective tool for gauging their health.
Categories: Coral Feeds
New marine species discovered in Pacific Ocean
Thu, 02/28/2013 - 15:54An international expedition in Papua New Guinea has found a new species of sea slugs, feather stars and amphipods, a shrimp-like animal.
Categories: Coral Feeds
New maps depict potential worldwide coral bleaching by 2056
Mon, 02/25/2013 - 12:20New maps by scientists show how rising sea temperatures are likely to affect all coral reefs in the form of annual coral bleaching events under different emission scenarios. If carbon emissions stay on the current path most of the world's coral reefs (74 percent) are projected to experience coral bleaching conditions annually by 2045, results of the study show.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Conserving corals by understanding their genes
Thu, 02/21/2013 - 19:40In reef-building corals variations within genes involved in immunity and response to stress correlate to water temperature and clarity, finds a new study. This information could be used to conserve or rebuild reefs in areas affected by climate change, by changes in extreme weather patterns, increasing sedimentation or altered land use.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Picky eater fish clean up seaweeds from coral reefs
Tue, 02/12/2013 - 15:44Using underwater video cameras to record fish feeding on South Pacific coral reefs, scientists have found that herbivorous fish can be picky eaters – a trait that could spell trouble for endangered reef systems.
Categories: Coral Feeds
How new corals species form in the ocean
Wed, 02/06/2013 - 16:23Biological sciences professors have investigated how corals specialize to particular environments in the ocean. They propose that the large dispersal potential of coral larvae in open water and the proximity of different species on the ocean floor creates a mystery for researchers who study speciation, asking, "How can new marine species emerge without obvious geographic isolation?"
Categories: Coral Feeds
Tortugas Marine Reserve yields more, larger fish
Mon, 02/04/2013 - 18:46Both fish populations and commercial and recreational anglers have benefited from "no-take" protections in the Tortugas Ecological Reserve in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, a new report shows.
Categories: Coral Feeds
Coral-killing starfish decimate entire coral reefs, reason for spread unclear
Fri, 02/01/2013 - 11:41Acanthaster planci is the principle natural enemy of reef-building corals. Outbreaks of this coral-feeding starfish occur periodically, due to reasons that remain unclear. It decimates entire reefs in the space of just a few years, as has been the case in French Polynesia since 2004.
Categories: Coral Feeds
How do corals survive in the hottest reefs on the planet?
Fri, 02/01/2013 - 09:04Coral reefs are predicted to decline under the pressure of global warming. However, a number of coral species can survive at seawater temperatures even higher than predicted for the tropics during the next century. How they survive, while most species cannot, is being investigated.
Categories: Coral Feeds
