One of the topics that you will need to become more familiar with is corals.....to start you off, here is an article that you should find interesting. It describes the mechanisms that corals use to stave off extinction and the resulting problems that oceanographers and biologists have in classifying them. Please post your comments and/or questions below. I will post more coral related articles, but this will get you going.....
the picture in this posting is of the fairly rare bamboo coral......
link to article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090223221343.htm
the coral in cancun was gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the coral change and morph to adapt and survive is very interesting. This is a perfect example of how evolution works and how organisms will evolve to fit their environment.
ReplyDeleteSara says:
ReplyDeletethink people don't realize they're hurting the diversity of the coral because they can't tell by the outside that there are different kinds of coral that look very similar. This new research will be good to show people the differences and maybe help them be more careful. Plus, it would be cool to know if you were going to swim near them. :)
excerpt from the article:
ReplyDelete- "we need to understand how many groups
exist that can interbreed"
i may sound like an idiot but how in the world exactly do coral interbreed?
Nope Morgan, you sound ok to me....i will post something to help you after I finish packing Nathan's things for the movers that are showing up at 8am on Monday.....ok?
ReplyDeleteMorgan I have the same question..i feel clueless about this article!
ReplyDeleteI agree with yall I dont understand how the corals interbreed??? But its great that were finally starting to understand the corals.
ReplyDeleteThe article suprised me when it said that coral is classified generally by shape. Does coral not have DNA? Wouldn't that be an easier (but more expensive) way to classify?
ReplyDeleteCool beans. But it sucks that we have been using a system that is probably as worthless as the penny. We need to develop a way to categorize and for certain differentiate between species. We need these systems to help preserve the coral because it disappears at a rate which is comparable to my lit grade falling into the abyss. I like Ashton's idea about using DNA or some type of molecular distinguishing system but there are bound to be complications with this because of interbreeding.
ReplyDeleteTo answer morgans question. Corals interbreed when a boy coral sees a girl coral who looks a little bit different, but they accept their differences and have children anyway.
ReplyDeleteDefinately like how the article was right beside ads for jewelry and other stuff made out of corals.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely interesting. Im not surprised that they are finding genetic differences since coral has been around for what, millions of years? I think it's pretty cool. Also there's this really cool episode of planet earth on corals in the ocean fighting each other, don't ask me how. But I think it would be cool if we watched it lol
ReplyDeleteI wish I could see it in person maybe one day
ReplyDeleteLogan,
ReplyDeletethat is really sort of ironic isn't it.
Sarah,
Remember back to earth science when we talked about geologic time.....you are exactly right that coral has been around forever ( well just about!)
morgan, that is a good point. How do they interbreed? But using DNA to classify the coral sounds like a better way to distinguish what group they belong to.
ReplyDeleteThis article reminded me of the section in chapter seven that discussed the evolution of the coral, and how new species are forming.
ReplyDeleteAnna,
ReplyDeletethat is a great tie in...thanks!!
How many species of coral are there really?? if they can interbreed then there can be billions couldn't there, need species could be forming every day
ReplyDeleteinsert new where need is*
ReplyDeleteOn a similar note to coral destruction, please look at the article in the follow link that describes how the carbon dioxide being absorbed by oceans is leading to thinner shells for the corals and other forams.....so on one hand there is good news that they can interbreed, thus maybe preventing extinction, but on the other hand you lose biodiversity and the acidification of the ocean is weakening the physical capability of the microscopic organisms to survive anyway....
ReplyDeleteHere is the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/growingacidproblemthinsshellsofoceancreatures
its really interesting how the coral alter their skeletal structure. I may be off the mark but this reminds me of people and different body types. Tall people are classified as ecto=morphs with long limbs but sometimes you can have a ecto-meso or an ecto-endomorph. I know were talking about coral it just reminded me of the diversity in people and structure. The coral is beautiful and hopefully science can get a handle on the perplexity of this interbreeding.
ReplyDeleteMarine biologists becoming more familiar with coral and its properties can only benefit further research. Considering that so many different species use coral as a shelter only boost the need to try and preserve it as long as possible. After reading the article it seems to me that ways of distinguishing the coral is becoming increasingly successful.
ReplyDeleteIt seems unusual that in order to tell coral apart we have to distinguish between their various shapes. I would have thought that there was some kind of way to tell the difference between coral that was a little more "high-tech".
ReplyDeleteim a little cluless like always but im glad the ways of seeing the coral and understanding it is becoming alot better. i have never seen coral or been on a cruise but i deff want to one day. i think but to bens comment i agree with him on that and also its color not its shape
ReplyDeleteHow many different types of coral are there?
ReplyDeletewouldn't that be something if there in fact was only one type of coral...just different evolutions of them like the canaries on that one island that i can't remember?
ReplyDeleteWith so many different types of coral already existing if inbreeding keeps occurring there will be countless corals living in the oceans.
ReplyDeletewell i didn't think that corals could even be grouped by shape because the different deposits, organsisms that are attached determines the shape and those would differ alot wouldn't they?
ReplyDeleteWe can't really control the type, or event the shape of coral when it reproduces because we can't keep them from interbreeding can we? And Im sure that there are more types of corals in the ocean than we are already aware of anyway.
ReplyDeletelawson says: considering some animals take centuries to evolve i think its interesting that corals can evolve in such a short time.
ReplyDelete