reef in Biological News

Scripps-led study shows ocean health plays vital role in coral reef recovery

The new research study led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego suggests that by improving overall ocean health, corals are better able to recover from bleaching events, which occur when rising sea temperatures force corals to expel their symbiotic algae, known as z...

Canadian-based UN coral reef expert honored at world meeting in Australia

World experts meeting in Australia have presented a Canadian-based UN coral reef specialist with a distinguished award for his lifetime of achievement in marine research. Peter Sale, Assistant Director for Coastal Zones at the United Nations University's International Network on Water, Environm...

Historical photographs expose decline in Florida's reef fish, new Scripps study finds

A unique study by a scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego has provided fresh evidence of fishing's impact on marine ecosystems. Scripps Oceanography graduate student researcher Loren McClenachan accessed archival photographs spanning more than five decades to analyze and...

Study says 'middle class' coral reef fish feel the economic squeeze

The economy isn't just squeezing the middle class on land, it's also affecting fish. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other organizations, researchers discovered a surprising correlation between "middle class" communities in Eastern Africa and low fish levels....

Rise or fall of reef fish driven by both economy and ecology

Overfishing on coral reefs isn't simply caused by too many people, according to a new report published in the February 10th issue of Current Biology , a Cell Press publication. Rather, the researchers found that the biomass of fish found on coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean depended mostly ...

Light pollution offers new global measure of coral reef health

We've all seen the satellite images of Earth at night--the bright blobs and shining webs that tell the story of humanity's endless sprawl. These pictures are no longer just symbols of human impact, however, but can be used to objectively measure it, according to a study in the December 2008 iss...

The good, the bad and the smelly: USGS at the 2008 Coral Reef Symposium

USGS scientists will present major research findings at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. from July 7-11, 2008. African Dust Poses Threat to Coral Reefs and Human Health: Contaminants carried with African dust to the Caribbean and the Americas may be a thr...

8-day undersea mission begins experiment to improve coral reef restoration

Scientists have begun an eight-day mission, in which they are living and working at 60 feet below the sea surface, to determine why some species of coral colonies survive transplanting after a disturbance, such as a storm, while other colonies die. Coral reefs worldwide are suffering from the com...

Scripps expedition provides new baseline for coral reef conservation

An ambitious expedition led by scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego to a chain of little-known islands in the central Pacific Ocean has yielded an unprecedented wealth of information about coral reefs and threats from human activities. The exploration of four atolls...

Coral reef fish harbor an unexpectedly high biodiversity of parasites

IRD researchers (1) showed that Epinephilus maculates, a fairly abundant species of grouper off New Caledonia, was parasitized by 12 species of microscopic monogenean worms. This diversity of parasites has just been confirmed also in the malabar grouper, Epinephilus malabaricus, another the coral r...

Investing wisely to save the Great Barrier Reef

CSIRO science is being used to improve land management practices on farmland to help reduce run-off of sediments, nutrients and pesticides on to the Great Barrier Reef. A decision support process facilitated and designed by CSIRO, Australian Government Reef Rescue team and the Bureau of Rural S...

A big lesson from the reef

The lesson from Australia's Great Barrier Reef is that we have to protect its biodiversity because biodiversity in turn protects us. That's the message from Professor Sean Connolly from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University who today receives the Austral...

Voracious sponges save reef

Tropical oceans are known as the deserts of the sea. And yet this unlikely environment is the very place where the rich and fertile coral reef grows. Dutch researcher Jasper de Goeij investigated how caves in the coral reef ensure the reef's continued existence. Although sponges in these coral cav...

Rabbits to the rescue of the reef

While rabbits continue to ravage Australias native landscapes, rabbit fish may help save large areas of the Great Barrier Reef from destruction. The reason, say scientists, is the same in both cases both rabbits and rabbit fish are efficient herbivores, capable of stripping an area of vegetati...

CSIRO imagery shows Outer Great Barrier Reef at risk from river plumes

A stunning series of satellite imagery of Australia's Great Barrier Reef released by the CSIRO shows for the first time visual confirmation of the theory that sediment plumes travel to the outer reef, and beyond. The remotely sensed images, taken from February 9 to 13 this year, challenge conve...

Ongoing collapse of coral reef shark populations

Investigators have revealed that coral reef shark populations are in the midst of rapid decline, and that “no-take zones”—reefs where fishing is prohibited—do protect sharks, but only when compliance with no-take regulations is high. The findings, reported by William Robbins and colleagues at James...

First Biodiversity Census of coral reef ecosystems in the NW Hawaiian Islands

As part of the international Census of Marine Life (CoML), a team of world renown scientists will embark on an expedition to explore coral reef biodiversity in the largest fully protected marine area in the world--the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. Led by the National Ocea...

Fish species plays surprise role in aiding coral reef recovery

In a study that marks progress in understanding the basis of coral reef recovery, researchers have revealed the critical importance of a rare batfish, Platax pinnatus, in promoting the return to health of a disturbed coral reef overgrown with algae. The findings bring to light a previously unrecogn...

Scientists look to the Bahamas as a model for coral reef conservation

Bacteria are bad. Mothers and doctors, not to mention the cleaning product industry, repeatedly warn of their dangers. But a Stanford University School of Medicine microbiologist is raising the intriguing idea that persistent bacterial and viral infections have benefits. Stanley Falkow, PhD, the ...

An (ecological) origin of species for tropical reef fish

Dealing a new blow to the dominant evolutionary paradigm, Luiz Rocha and colleagues from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Harvard University the University of Florida and the University of Hawaii, report coral reef fish from neighboring habitats may differ more from one another than fro...

Naming evolution's winners and losers

... "We are interested in understanding the causes of biodiversity," Alfaro said. "We are trying to understand what explains the staggering diversity of reef fishes and other vertebrates." "Our analysis can highlight how much higher extinction rates are in the present, compared with the historical rat...

Humans 'damaging the oceans'

...ns, impacting ecosystem services and threatening human food security," the study by Professor Mike Kingsford of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral reef Studies and James Cook University and colleague Dr Andrew Brierley of St Andrews University, Scotland, warns. Their review, published in the latest...

University of Miami receives stimulus funds for study of hurricane impacts on structures, ecosystems

...is critical for the present and future well-being of society." The Marine Life Science Center, co-located within the facility, will focus on coral reef research, helping to assess and measure the effects of climate change and ocean acidification on corals and reef-building processes. Scientists at th...

Overfishing and evolution

...ow the evolutionary effects of overfishing. The fish population in coral reef areas is often assessed by snorkelers or SCUBA divers, but new research sho... the actual diversity and abundance of fish communities." Counting coral reef fish informs researchers about local ecological changes. However, accurate ...

Coralline algae in the Mediterranean lost their tropical element between 5 and 7 million years ago

... the western region of the Mediterranean 7 million years ago. "Just like reef corallines, algae flora reflects the cooling of the Mediterranean and its i...", Braga states. The Mediterranean-Atlantic characteristics of Messinian reef corallines therefore reflect the decrease in tropical biotas that occurred ...

Nursery programs for corals receive TLC from NOAA this Independence Day

... Professor Diego Lirman and fellow Caribbean coral reef nursery scientists will be celebrating as well. T...ment and private entities to help repopulate local reef areas. The centerpiece of the proposed activities ... boasts one of the planet's most significant coral reef ecosystems. Once abundant and productive marine ha...

Coral face 'a stormy future'

... Mallela of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral reef Studies and Australian National University. Usi...l colonies formed, but also far fewer of the major reef building coral species recruited successfully." ...reefs of Jamaica, and on the Meso-American Barrier reef off the coast of Belize", says Prof. Crabbe. To...

Troubled waters: Low Apalachicola River flow may hurt gulf fisheries

... that could prove detrimental to grouper and other reef fish populations in the northeastern Gulf of Mexic...n Florida continental shelf. A number of important reef fish, such as grouper, spawn on the outer shelf ed...which coincide with the spawning period of several reef fish species. "It is possible that if the nat...

NOAA report finds threats to California's Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuary

... centers. Seafloor habitat quality was rated lower, primarily due to prior impacts from fishing gear that came into contact with the sanctuary's rocky reef and soft sediment habitats. The report notes that populations of rockfish, salmon, some seabird species, and leatherback sea turtles that use the s...

Gear bans 'can help save reefs'

...h Cinner of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral reef Studies at James Cook University has proposed that... jeopardy for both the corals and certain types of reef fish. They are already on the edge because of the ...ons and haven't been able to do much but watch the reef die and often not recover." "Selective gear re...

Help for climate-stressed corals

... a study by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral reef Studies at James Cook University, the Wildlife Con... jeopardy for both the corals and certain types of reef fish. They are already on the edge because of over...ons and haven't been able to do much but watch the reef die and often not recover." "Selective gear re...

Caribbean coral reefs flattened

...niversity of East Anglia (UEA). The collapse of reef structure has serious implications for biodiversit...he 1970s. There have been two major periods of reef flattening. The first occurred when a widespread d...al erosion and flooding." Reversing declines in reef architecture now poses a major challenge for scien...

In the turf war against seaweed, coral reefs more resilient than expected

...rida Keys and the Indo-Pacific, and increased slightly on the Great Barrier reef due to moderate coral loss. "Overall, our results indicate that there is...esults from this study question many of the prevailing paradigms that coral reef ecologists have developed over the past two decades," Precht said. "These f...

Studies shed light on collapse of coral reefs

...for 250 million years, disruptions in these biological and communication systems are the underlying cause of the coral bleaching and collapse of coral reef ecosystems around the world, scientists will report tomorrow in the journal Science . The research was funded in part by the National Science Foun...

Toward cheap underwater sensor nets

...y Doug Palmer, principal development engineer, are working on such a craft, reef Bot. Closer to home, Benson had first hand knowledge of how sensor nets...he Southern California volunteer coordinator for the nonprofit organization reef Check. Benson oversees the training of veteran divers to conduct surveys of...

Stanford scientists find heat-tolerant coral reefs that may resist climate change

... have not recovered, according to the Global Coral reef Monitoring Network, an international collaboration...fu Island in American Samoa. Ofu, a tropical coral reef marine reserve, has remained healthy despite gradu...ure. Oliver then compiled dozens of coral reef studies from across the tropics and compared them ...

Voyages of discovery or necessity?

... Ciguatera poisoning, the food-borne disease that can come from eating large, carnivorous reef fish, causes vomiting, headaches, and a burning sensation upon contact with cold surfaces. An early morning walk on cool beach sand can become a painf...

UCSB scientists document fate of huge oil slicks from seeps at coal oil point

... (Santa Barbara, Calif.) Twenty years ago, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was exiting Alaska's Prince William Sound when it struck a reef in the middle of the night. What happened next is considered one of the nation's worst environmental disasters: 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spil...

WWF study says climate change could displace millions in Asia's Coral Triangle

...rth's surface, but is home to fully 30 percent of the world's coral reefs, 76 percent of reef-building coral species and more than 35 percent of coral reef fish species. It is also serves as vital spawning grounds for other economically important fish such as tuna. "In one scenario, we continue alon...

Rules proposed to save the world's coral reefs

... Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral reef Studies (CoECRS), The Australian Museum, Woods Hol...nd actions to protect or enhance the resilience of reef ecosystems in the face of existing and unavoidable...ow Dr Laurence McCook of Australia's Great Barrier reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) argues. "Ecologi...