Sunday, June 15, 2008

Corals and Modern Life

COE Seminar - Dr. Andrew Baird - June 13th

Dr. Baird (or Andrew after a beer) gave an interesting talk on corals, their Symbiodinium, the stresses of modern life, and what may or may not happen. His opinions were:

1. Different corals have different max temp thresholds in different areas, even within species, and there is variation.
2. Global climate change may not be a "doomsday scenario" but their may be community shifts.
3. Some species of coral may adapt (not acclimate) in time.

All in all, food for thought, as we can apply lots of these ideas to zoanthids and soft corals.

YM, ES, FS, and JDR attended.