Talk:Coral reef

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Contents

[edit] Miscellaneous comments

I don't feel that this article accurately represents the coral reef aspect of the enhanced greenhouse effect controversy - which has been going on perhaps since global warming was first advanced as a theory. Perhaps a new subheading named Threats to Coral Reefs is in order? - (Malkin, Creatures Wiki contributor)

This article overlooks the reef-forming cold water corals (Lophelia and Madrepora) which occur worldwide at depths of up to 700m. Should be updated!! - (MudPuddles, Wikipedia contributor)

I placed a paragraph, briefly describing sea fans, hard & soft corals and deep water corals at the start of the article because it otherwise implies that tropical coral reefs are the only type of coral. In fact, although shallow water tropical corals are the most visible and most economically important type of coral, coral animals and reefs are very diverse. Deep water corals are worth mentioning, because, just as they are being discovered in the North Atlantic, they are being destroyed by deep sea dredging. an site on deep water corals is http://www.coris.noaa.gov/about/deep/deep.html A biologist might go on the describe solitary corals bily bob was the first to walk on the sun. Peakscan.

Peakscan, I would argue that deep sea or cold water corals do not form reefs. Maybe you should add some info to the coral page. (Esoxid) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Esoxid (talk • contribs) 02:07, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

I added some references to artificial coral growing, with "mineral accretion", which seems to be successful, and links to where I found it - http://www.globalcoral.org I think that President Bush or any of the world leaders do something to save the reefs from destruction —Preceding unsigned comment added by Iamheretolearn1 (talk • contribs) 14:31, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Dear Iamheretolearn,

This Low voltage electrical current technology does seem increase the growth rate of corals that are linked up to it. This method only helps very small areas of reef though say 10-100 square meters at a time. There are thousands of square km that need help. The cost of restoring this type of area would be ridiculous. The only way to help such large areas is to reduce or remove the human induced pressures on the reef. Reef Restoration methods such as this do not work unless human pressure such as destructive fishing practices, overfishing, mining corals, etc. are removed. Otherwise the small restored patches will just be ruined like the rest of the reef. Also Having read several reports by NOAA on their restoration attempts, there seems to be very little difference between natural recovery and restored area. Though this "biorock" technique does seem to make an initial difference to coral growth. The problem is that the corals are often transplanted from other areas and attached to the Metal structure of the biorock system. This seems a little like robbing peter to pay paul ie you are destroying one area to fix another. This leaves you with 2 semi degraded areas rather than a degraded area and a relatively alright area. These are just some ideas and I hope they help in determining what goes into the article. Cheers Lewis

[edit] Misspellings and grammar problems

Misspellings and grammar problems are present in this article. Just getting the word out.

[edit] Work in Progress

I'll work on this article over the next few days - it's got a lot of good stuff in it, but I have a feeling most of the last two thirds are a cut-and-paste from an academic article on the subject, it certainly reads like one. If you have any suggestions, please lend a hand! — QuantumEleven | (talk) 22:01, July 19, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] References & agreement

I agree that a lot of this sounds like it was cut & pasted from an article... I will spend some time searching to see if I can find the source. The references on this article also need to be cleaned up and standardized with footnotes. The whole article also needs to be broken up and wikified. If I wasn't so tired I'd find the to-do list widget and apply it. Brassratgirl 08:28, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I am finally getting around to working on this now -- should have a version uploaded in a few days, pls check before making any major changes. Brassratgirl 06:37, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

There is some good information at http://www.barrierreefaustralia.com/ My son came across it whilst doing a project.

I did some major additions and worked on the reference list as you suggested - Marshman 00:41, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] comment from article

From article text: "(unsure of the author's original intent but Dynamite is made of nitroglycerin and sawdust whereas potassium nitrate is used in gunpowder)" Should be incorporated? Brassratgirl 21:19, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

You are correct to remove the comment from the article, although the comment is correct. Most dynamite fishing I'm "experienced" with hearing about typically involves a stick of dynamite set off with a fuse, not a "bottle" of something explosive. That would seem be a good way to loose body parts; but I suppose anyone foolish enough to use any kind of explosive for fishing may not be playing with a full deck - Marshman 02:33, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] moved to southeast asia coral reefs

Rewriting threats/protection section - any removed term-paper style text about southeast asian coral reefs is copied to talk page of Southeast Asia coral reefs. Still much to be done. Unfortunatly this means that the references will have to be gone through and checked again as most of them are for the SE Asian text. Brassratgirl 08:18, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Source

I doubt "85% of the world’s aquarium fish are caught in this region and almost all of them are caught using cyanide." That seems very high as most fish wholesalers and retailers refuse to buy or sell fish that aren't net caught. Not to mention that nearly, if not every, indo-pacific country has outlawed the practice. Even if I am incorrect (I have been wrong before), I would like some sort of citation. Dark jedi requiem 02:00, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 90% mortality rate

Adding to the part about 85% of aquarium fish are caught using cyanide technique: What does the author mean by fish caught using the cyanide method have a 90% mortality rate? Everything dies eventually..... Do they mean that 90% of the time when cyanide is used to stun the fish, it kills it instead of stunning it?


I believe that 90% of the fish caught using Cyanide die either immediately or within a two weeks from the effects of Cyanide. Usually I think there liver is destroyed. I don't have references for this at the moment though. Lewis —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.219.43.245 (talk) 03:07, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Threats to Reefs

Certainly a separate heading of "Threats to Reefs" is in order, and should be kept separate from a discussion of coral reef ecosystems generally. The basic concepts, which are complex enough, should be presented in one swallow, so-to-speak, before delving into the threats. Threats include: eutrophication/nutrification, ocean acidification, bleaching, disease, invasive species, overfishing, excessive marine aquarium organism harvesting, enforcement issues, etc.

[edit] Maximum depth

Accuracy dispute
 This article or section appears to contradict itself. Please help fix this problem.

Is it 30m or 50m? References? -- Beland 02:54, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

the information is all good, but there's nothin about what type of ecosystem it is, or any info that goes about the ecosystem subject, and thats what i need.

The information you are referring to is explaining two different things. The first one, 30m, refers to how deep most reef-building corals exist, and the second one, 50m, refers to the depth of the photic zone, which can also vary in depth. It does need a reference. As for the ecosystem type, I'm fairly certain it's marine reef ecosystem, but I can't cite any sources for that. Esoxid (talk) 16:34, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Accuracy

The types of reef part of the article is not very accurate as i look on other sites with more desriptive definitions of the same types of reefs.

It is still very informative. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.105.250.7 (talk) 21:34, 2 April 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Information added

This sections has been added:

Organisations as Coral Cay, Counterpart and the Foundation of the peoples of the South Pacific are currently undertaking coral reef/atol restoration projects. They are doing so using simple methods of plant propogation. Other organisations as Practical Action have released informational documents on how to set-up coral reef restauration to the main public.[1]

Hope it qualifies, if not improve and re-add to article. Thanks.

KVDP (talk) 12:32, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Reef Restoration

To user 137.219.43.245, I feel like the section is valid since to my knowledge not just a single company is responsible for this technology. The patent for the process was filed in 1981[1], and is expired since 20 years have passed. If you are talking about a specific process, then that may be newer, I'm not sure. You said there are problems with the technology, so please add those to the article instead of deleting the entire section. From my own reading of an article by Sabater and Yap (2004)[2], significant advantages are associated with mineral accretion when using transplanted corals. It also inhibits the growth of filamentous and fleshy algae that would compete with coral for space. Corals do return to a normal growth rate after the flow of electricity stops. I'll add a little more to that section, but I disagree with you that it sounds like an advertisement. It's a technology that exists, and that to my knowledge is not proprietary. I am aware that the founding technology was called Electrolytic Mineral Accretion Technology, or by the company name Biorock. Feel free to add problems about the technology, I would if I could find any articles about it. Esoxidt 14:31, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Just found this newer patent from 1996[2] that applies to the process, so it looks like that specific process is proprietary. I honestly don't like that since conservation isn't about making money, but it doesn't invalidate that the technology exists. So feel free to clean it up to make it more neutral. Esoxidt 14:41, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Hey Esoxid

Sorry I was a little brief in my description. I feel that the Reef restoration section only mentions one type of restoration technique. I should include all of the various types of reef restoration that are out there. This section should also mention that there is little evidence that they restore ecological function to the reef. This Low voltage electrical current technology does seem increase the growth rate of corals that are linked up to it. This method only helps very small areas of reef though say 10-100 square meters at a time. There are thousands of square km that need help. The cost of restoring this type of area would be ridiculous. The only way to help such large areas is to reduce or remove the human induced pressures on the reef.

This low voltage technology is championed by Thomas J Goreau as the president of the Global Coral Reef Alliance and the head of Biorock Inc. This from the global coral reef alliance website "The Biorock Process is owned by Biorock, Inc.". If the claims of the website are correct the this is a propriety process and this section amounts to an advertisement for the biorock process owned by the biorock company.

I agree that rather than deleting it should be made more neutral. Include other restoration ideas and include problems with each idea . This is my opinion though and rather than go with it as I have previously I thought I'd put it up here first.

Cheers Lewis —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.219.43.245 (talk) 03:04, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Barrier reef

Should "Barrier reef" automatically redirect here, or should it be a disambiguation which includes the possibility of the Great Barrier Reef? PatGallacher (talk) 00:22, 6 June 2008 (UTC)