Science topic
Coral Reefs - Science topic
Marine ridges composed of living CORALS, coral skeletons, calcareous algae, and other organisms, mixed with minerals and organic matter. They are found most commonly in tropical waters and support other animal and plant life.
Questions related to Coral Reefs
In the Red Sea (Egypt) we have found that virtually all coral reefs that protrude into the open sea have a straight line boundary. It also turned out that all rectilinear boundaries can have only 6-7 directions (angles). I do not want to impose my opinion because there may be more correct explanations.
Maybe there are ideas?

How can instruments and systems for the conservation of nature, the biosphere, the highly biodiverse coral reef ecosystems of the seas and oceans be improved?
The ongoing process of global warming is also causing, among other things, an increase in the temperature of the seas and oceans. This increase in temperature and the increase in the scale of water pollution in the seas and oceans is causing the death of coral reefs, which have formed over millions of years and have developed the most biodiverse ecosystems of the seas and oceans.
In view of the above, I address the following question to the esteemed community of researchers and scientists:
How can instruments and systems for the conservation of nature, of the biosphere, of the highly biodiverse coral reef ecosystems of the seas and oceans be improved?
What is your opinion on this?
What do you think about this topic?
Please reply,
I invite you all to discuss,
Thank you very much,
Best regards,
Dariusz Prokopowicz

I found that there has been no 'reef sites' section in the 'Coral Reefs' journal since the 2019 edition. In my opinion, the 'reef sites' section is very interesting, especially with its brief presentation of images and descriptions. Has the journal discontinued this type of article? If so, can anyone please suggest me similar article types in other journals?
Thank you
The risk of species extinction increases with every degree of warming. In the ocean, rising temperatures increase the risk of irreversible loss of marine and coastal ecosystems. Live coral reefs, for instance, have nearly halved in the past 150 years, and further warming threatens to destroy almost all remaining reefs.
Do coral reefs and phytoplankton and fish have major impacts on the energy budget of snowpack, and drought and global climate change and global warming?
I guess artificial coral reefs don't grow well in some places. In other places they grow even worse. I would be glad if I see an example of an artificial reef that is not inferior to the natural one. According to my observations, on a natural coral reef, areas of rapid development coexist with dead reefs. The distance between such sites can be less than 100 m. I have observed when a flowering coral reef has degraded in less than 10 years. Attached is a photo of the reef.
I propose to discuss a quote from the article "When are payment for ecosystems services suitable for coral reef derived coastal protection?: A review of scientific requirements": "Payment for Ecosystem Services is an emerging tool intended to solve a range of ecosystem management inefficiencies, by linking conservation action to payment. Such schemes have not been tested to our knowledge, for coral reef derived coastal protection, which is a key Ecosystem Service for many nations bordered by tropical coral reefs.".
The subject of discussion is that if we introduce a tax, then we must have effective mechanisms for influencing the situation. These mechanisms should guarantee its improvement. There are currently no such mechanisms. We do not even have a complete list of the causes of reef degradation. If there is no way to restore the reef with a tax, then there is no reason to collect such a tax.
First, we need to consolidate scientific research and develop an effective mechanism. While it is not available, it is advisable to use the experience of Egypt in creating reserves in the most flowering areas of the reef. The meaning of creating a reserve: "I know little about the ecosystem, about environmental conditions, about transboundary transfers .... For this reason, I" freeze "the situation so as not to harm."
Where am I wrong?

Coral reefs are very interesting natural objects, which, with their features, still ask scientists many questions. The possibility of observing them remotely (from artificial Earth satellites) shows, in particular, that their location in space most often has a linear form (we exclude coral islands). An example of relatively recently discovered coral reefs near the mouth of the Amazon is shown in the attached file.
Please express your opinions on this matter.
I hope for an interesting discussion that will bring us closer to understanding other issues related to many features of the formation, development and degradation of this natural “phenomenon”.
Natalia Kucherenko.
Коралловые рифы - очень интересный природный объект, который своими особенностями до сих пор задает ученым много вопросов. Возможность наблюдения за ними дистанционно показывает, в частности, что их расположение в пространстве чаще всего имеет линейную форму (исключим коралловые острова ). Пример относительно недавно открытых коралловых рифов близ устья Амазонки показан на прикрепленном файле.
Прошу высказать свои мнения на этот счет.
Надеюсь на интересную дискуссию, приближающую нас к пониманию и других вопросов, касающихся многих особенностей формирования, развития и деградации этого природного «явления».
Наталия Кучеренко.
The Atlantic Ocean has minimal coral reef area (Map 1) and minimal fish and shellfish coral biodiversity. Could this be a consequence of the maximum hydrothermal activity of the Atlantic Ocean? Look at the map of deep water acidity [CO32-] SW to the ocean (Map 2).
How true is this?


Recently, as a result of an increase in water temperature and a decrease in the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water, whitening of corals has been recorded (death of algae in the symbiosis of algae and polyps). Why have colonies of algae colonized coral reefs in the Red Sea in recent years? What is the reason for this contradiction?
Dear researchers,
I need certain full name definition of my acropora coral. Can anyone help me?



We have seen many coral reefs. Some of these are algae staple because they are rich in nutrients. However, in such a situation we observed a coral reef dominated by Sponges. Physical and other parameters of the water indicate that it should also be an algae-dominated reef rather than a sponge-dominated coral reef. We can't understand why this happened.
During the past few years a number of papers have been published on the coral reefs of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh. I would like to invite our colleagues working in the northern Bay of Bengal to have a look at our recent comment on the subject. Our comment can be found at:
Kind regards,
Tom
We are launching a Ph.D. research looking at the effect of salinity and temperate increase on the bioerosion rates in coral reefs in the northern Persian Gulf. In doing so, artificial and natural blocks will be submerged along a gradient of salinity and temperature where hypersaline water from the desalination plant discharges into the sea. We are planning to use two types of natural and artificial blocks including (1) natural blocks by segmenting dead massive corals (e.g., Platygyra sp.); and (2) artificial blocks made of carbonate calcium.
But wonder how to make artificial blocks that need to be identical to natural blocks in terms of porosity and texture. Can we use crushed dead corals that have been blocked by a glue? If yes? What type of glue?
Wondering if anyone has experience in making such artificial blocks.
Best regards
Mohammad
I am trying to assess chlorophyll-a content from coral tissue using spectrophotometry (with SPECTROstar Nano, BMG). However, I always seem to obtain some negative values in my optical density raw data which then affects the chl-a calculations (Ritchie, 2008)
My extraction solvent is 95% etOH (laboratorios Roldan) and I use this as a blank (one blank well at the end of each line of wells filled with the samples)
I have tried different protocol settings in the spectrophotometer but still getting negative values:
Usual protocol settings:
Endpoint
BMG 96-well microplate
wavelengths: 632,649,665,696
Path length corr.ection off
well scan: spiral average (4mm diameter)
settling time 0.5s
No. of flashes: 30
Shaking before plate reading: orbital 500rpm for 5s
Variation:
well scan: orbital
settling time: 0.1
No. of flashes: 21
Thanks so much for your thoughts!!
Until this morning, when I viewed a 5-second film clip of a coral growing as tall as the Empire State Building on a national network television "Today" news broadcast, I thought that Global Warming is causing ocean waters to get too hot, as evidenced in the destruction of major coral reefs, which have already turned white, and presumably died, because of higher temperatures caused by Global Warming. Does this finding of an exceptionally tall coral formation indicate a different or new species of coral? Or is this thriving coral evidence of a positive result from the increased levels of carbon in Earth's atmosphere, or from some other factor that is not related to Global Warming? For more information, please see the Internet: " Standing taller than the Empire State Building’s 443 metres, the reef rises up to 40 metres deep. Research leader Robin Beaman, from James Cook University (JCU), described the pinnacle of the reef as a ‘thriving coral community.’ "
Ha logrado alguno críopreservar exitosamente los ovocitos de alguna especie de coral? Solamente he encontrado un caso para una gorgónea (Junceella juncea) por medio de vitrificación (Tsai et al. 2015, adjunto abajo). Se que algunos investigadores (comunicaciones personales) han logrado en algunos casos descongelarlas y reactivarlas después de realizar las inmersiones o el almacenamiento en nitrógeno líquido, sin embargo, pese a que los ovocitos salen 'vivos', estos pierden su capacidad de ser fertilizados (quedan infértiles).
Agradezco de antemano su apoyo y colaboración compartiendo sus respuestas y experiencia en este asunto.
Hi everyone, I am using ENVI to analyze landsat footage of the Great Barrier Reef to analyze the change in coral health from 1990-2017. I am trying to analyze the coral bleaching trends, sea surface temperatures, and turbidity as variables. I have figured out temperature but does anyone know how to allocate software or know how I can modify my landsat files to view these variables? I also have this website https://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/hdf/index.php , with available FTP (.nc) files but do not know how to convert this into something readable by ENVI. I am fairly new to ENVI so any help is appreciated. Thank you.
I am trying to find the 'model' of coral reef ecosystem functioning. I have seen in the literature different models according to the various research questions. Nonetheless, I want to find an ecological functioning model where all the functional groups and its interactions are clearly explained.
If you could give some hint, I would highly appreciate it,
Ameris
Do you think ten years is enough to make any changes to coral erosion?
I am currently conducting a coral conservation project where we 1) rescue corals (loose and broken fragments/branches) 2) transplant on cement+glass plates in nursery site 3) send them back to natural site to recover damaged/patchy reefs.
My question is, are there any specific distances when placing corals from each other?
The 2 pictures below are some of the corals that we placed at the damaged and patchy reef site.
I would normally refer to reference sites to estimate suitable density of transplant and the distance from each other. But i'm not sure if it can be applicable at restoration sites to reduce competition/stresses among growing corals.
Appreciate the recommendations and comments

As the aragonite becomes undersaturated in deep water, will exposed coral skeleton completely dissolve, or is it only a part of the structure (the aragonitic elements) that will dissolve? I am trying to work out how ocean acidification may affect structural complexity on deep water coral reefs, and coral rubble habitats
we are looking at the effect of salinity and temperature increase on bioerosion rates in coral reefs in the northern Persian Gulf of the Persian Gulf for 18 month. To that end, we are planing to use natural ( dead massive coral parts) and artificial blocks made of carbonate calcium. we want artificial blocks be identical to natural blocks in term of texture and porosity.
can we use iceland spar crystals as artificial blocks that bioeroded by macroborers?
I've read that benthic calcifiers like coral reefs and shellfish are producing most of the carbonate in coastal areas in the ocean. About 2.5 Gt of carbonate a year. Reef calcifiers are the most important which produce about 7,250 t CaCO3 km/yr. Further that corals dominate carbonate production with 73%.
On the other hand we have all the pelagic calcifiers like many zooplankton species using carbonate for building their shells.
Therefore, i would like to know if this is right and if this whole process plays an important role for the second tropic level in the ocean by supplying the oceans with carbonates? If it plays a role reefs should be especially important in times of an acidifying ocean, which is reducing the amount of free carbonates or am i wrong here?
I ask this, because we have already a huge impact on zooplankton in the oceans and i would like to know if dying reefs will also impact the second tropic levels negatively through this diminishing meachanism.
Thanks for any answer
Sheers
Jan
Dear All
I am beginning a project to understand the impact on climate change on fish diversity and implications for coral reefs at the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. I am targeting top predators of commercial importance (groupers) and I would like to work on groupers traits. Can any one suggest any comprehensive database?
Best
Hi,
I had originally thought that distinguishing between fixed and random factors was relatively self explanatory, however, having read an article on this very subject, I am now not so certain.
The author's decision tree (see below), particularly the part stating that any factor with 2-4 levels 'must' be fixed left me especially confused.
"A) Can I talk you out of including it? (solved – drop it from the model)
A) No I can’t talk you out of it? too bad. Go to B
B) Is it a continuous variable or has only a few levels (e.g. 2-4) → has to be fixed
B) OK, a choice is possible – go to C.
C) Do you want estimates of s1, s2,…,sn (perhaps because you have lots of data and so lots degrees of freedom to burn and are curious how sites differ)? →Fixed
C) Do you want estimates of σ2, perhaps because it saves you degrees of freedom you really need or perhaps because the variance is more interesting (or useful for variance partitioning) than a bunch of estimates of site effects nobody will ever look at? go to D
D) can you either keep the design really simple or are willing to give up p-values→Random
D) You’re kind of out of luck. Change one of your answers and try again"
The article also links to a discussion regarding the recommended number of groups for a factor to be random, which conforms with much of what he has said in his article.
I'm no statistician, so much of this goes straight over my head.
For my particular research question, I'm looking at differences in the composition and abundance of fishes associated with three different coral colony states (live, dead, overgrown by a particular 'coral-killing' sponge species).
I've collected my data from 6 sites, split between two islands. I've also recorded the particular growth form of each coral colony.
To summarise, my factors are as follows:
Colony state (live, dead, overgrown)
Growth form (encrusting, submassive, columnar)
Site (6; nested in Island)
Island (2)
I had originally performed Permanova (in Primer7) using colony state and growth form as fixed factors, with site and island as random. However, as per the advice of the aforementioned articles, I tried again with all four factors as fixed, which produced very different results from my original design. I've tried other combinations of fixed/random, which again, produce very different results.
Basically I'm just looking for any advice as to the correct way to proceed with this, and if anyone could provide a more definitive answer with how to determine the appropriate effect for one's factors.
Thanks in advance.
I am working on a concept related to the formation of coral reefs and I need to demonstrate the concept in the form of a visual model that changes over time. I am fairly new to this area of computer generated modeling and coding, but I'm ready to learn if you can help me find a suitable and easy to use software for this purpose. Your help will be much appreciated.
We know that some modern and also ancient coral reefs and carbonate mounds may be intimately associated with the sub-surface hydrology. To the west of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), there is located a massive groundwater basin trapped in The Great Artesian Basin (GAB). Even though there is a mountain chain between these two entities, there may be a possiblity that some of the artesian water may be leaking out on the seafloor immediately below or adjacent to parts of the GBR.
For a discussion of similar aspects, please see: Hovland (1990) and Hovland (2008) provided attached.
I am Prof. N. Rajeshwara Rao from the Department of Applied Geology, University of Madras. I have been working on Foraminifera from diverse ecosystems such as the littoral zone, inner shelf, continental slope, deep-sea, mangroves, coral reefs, backwaters and estuaries for the last 30 years. Currently, my team is working on forams from a seamount in the Arabian Sea (water depth of ~520 m). I'm interested in working on forams from the core you have documented. Please let me know if you are willing to have a collaboration with me.
Best regards.
RAO