Scientific articles
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2010
Population demographics, especially density, abundance, size structure, and morphology (branching pattern), as well as certain life history traits (e.g. growth rates, reproductive strategy, and longevity), must be considered when developing fisheries management strategies for precious corals in the family Coralliidae, as these provide indicators of the status of these species and their vulnerability to harvest. All species of Coralliidae are sessile, modular (colonial) gorgonians characterized by slow-growth, low rates of natural mortality, and a long lifespan. They typically occur at low densities, but are capable of forming large, highly branched, tree-like structures in absence of disturbance....
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2010
Deep-Sea Coral Ecosystems of the United States
Coral reefs are among the most spectacular ecosystems on the planet, supporting such rich biodiversity and high density of marine life that they have been referred to as the rainforests of the sea. The coral reefs that most people think of are found in warm shallow waters, generally within recreational diving depths (30 m or less). However, other coral ecosystems thrive on continental shelves, slopes, canyons, ocean ridges, and seamounts around the world, sometimes thousands of meters below the ocean’s surface. These communities are structured by deep-sea corals, also referred to as cold-water corals, and are distributed across a wide range of depths and latitudes, in both temperate and tropical oceans....
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2010
In June 2007, the US government proposed Corallium (pink and red corals) for listing on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The proposal was adopted and later overturned due to perceived difficulties in implementing and enforcing a CITES listing and uncertainties on population status. An expert review (Food and Agriculture Organization) questioned whether populations had declined to 20–30% of the historic baseline, the level required for a CITES Appendix II listing. This review used colony abundance and density as surrogates of decline, which may be high (200 to 1300 colonies m–2) in the Mediterranean....
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2010
Implications of Coral Harvest and Transplantation on Reefs in Northwestern Dominica
In June, 2002, the government of Dominica requested assistance in evaluating the coral culture and transplantation activities being undertaken by Oceanographic Institute of Dominica (OID), a coral farm culturing both western Atlantic and Indo-Pacific corals for restoration and commercial sales. We assessed the culture facilities of OID, the condition of reefs, potential impacts of coral collection and benefits of coral transplantation. Coral reefs (9 reefs, 3-20m depth) were characterized by 35 species of scleractinian corals and a live coral cover of 8-35%. Early colonizing, brooders such as Porites astreoides (14.8% of all corals), P. porites (14.8%), Meandrina meandrites (14.7%) and Agaricia agaricites (9.1%)...
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2009
Development of an Island Habitat Classification Scheme for the Amirante Islands, Seychelles
A collaborative expedition between Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, Cambridge Coastal Research Unit and Seychelles Centre for Marine Research and Technology – Marine Parks Authority (SCMRT-MPA) was conducted to the southern Seychelles, western Indian Ocean, in January 2005. This resulted in a series of habitat maps of the reefs and reef islands of the Amirantes Archipelago, derived from remotely-sensed Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) data. The procedures used in map development, image processing techniques and field survey methods are outlined. Habitat classification, and regional-scale comparisons of relative habitat composition are described. The study demonstrates the use of remote sensing data to construct digital habitat maps for the comparison of regional habitat coverage, a key function for coastal management.
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2009
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2009
Coral Reefs: Threats and Conservation in an Era of Global Change
Coral reefs are iconic, threatened ecosystems that have been in existence for ∼500 million years, yet their continued ecological persistence seems doubtful at present. Anthropogenic modification of chemical and physical atmospheric dynamics that cause coral death by bleaching and newly emergent diseases due to increased heat and irradiation, as well as decline in calcification caused by ocean acidification due to increased CO2, are the most important large-scale threats. On more local scales, overfishing and destructive fisheries, coastal construction, nutrient enrichment, increased runoff and sedimentation, and the introduction of nonindigenous invasive species have caused phase shifts away from corals....
