The State Of The Virtual Reefs

• A Coral Reef Symposium on Practical, Reliable, Low Cost Monitoring Methods for Assessing the Biota and Habitat Conditions of Coral Reefs - Editors and Co-Chairmen: Michael P. Crosby, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; George R. Gibson, Jr. and Kennard W. Potts, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  Type: []
  

• Coral Reefs and biodiversity: What does management have to do with it? - Frank Talbot, IMS (International Marine Science) Newsletter, No.75/76, 2nd semester 1995.
  Type: [Secondary Source]
  Explains the importance of diversity on reefs, how humans impact reefs, and what humans can do to help. Gives references.
  Short, mostly text.

• Coral Reef Responses to Global Change: The Role of Adaptation - Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) Working Group 104
  Type: []
  UNDER CONSTRUCTION

• The Coral Reef Ecology Home Page - Dr. Teresa Turner, University of the Virgin Islands
  Type: [Tertiary Source]
  Deals mostly with general information on coral organisms (anatomy, feeding, reproduction, disease, symbiosis with zooxanthellae, and bleaching), but does address types of and threats to reefs, and animals associated with them. Also describes types of corals found in the Caribbean (see geography section of this site).
  All text.

• Coral Reef Ecology - Phillip Dustan, Department of Biology, University of Charleston
  Type: [Description]
  Describes the activities of his lab:
  • Florida Keys Coral Reef Monitoring Project - Describes how the monitoring sites were set up, with pictures. Takes a while to download.
  • The VitaReef Program - "Established in order to provide a standardized method of characterizing the conditions of reef corals." Describes the 18 assessment codes used and shows pictures of corals displaying the different levels of health. Graphically intense and takes a while to download, but quite useful.
  • Problems of scale - See geography section of this site.
  • Coral Optics and Remote Sensing - Since corals are rarely found at depths where light cannot penetrate, they can be detected by remote sensing equipment. Remote sensing can help in determining where reefs are, how humans are affecting them, etc.

• Disturbance To Florida Reef Corals: Effects Of Hurricane Andrew And Tropical Storm Gordon - Meier, O.W., University of Charleston, and Porter, J.W., University of Georgia
  Type: [Abstract (for now)]
  "This manuscript is in review. (They will) tell you more about it after it gets accepted for publication." Does give a short abstract on the subject for "the Panama meetings."

• Coral Reef Fish Ecology - Odyssey Expeditions
  Type: [Tertiary Source]
  "Odyssey Expeditions is a non-profit organization offering Tropical Marine Biology Voyages to students aboard the research vessels each summer in the Virgin Islands and Windward Islands." This site is an online course discussing larval ecology, settlement and recruitment ecology, post recruitment ecology, competition, lottery competition for territories, and predation.
  Mainly text, but good organization and layout.

• Predators Regulate Local Abundance of Marine Fish: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - Reefnet
  Type: [Biography, Summary, Interview]
  A biography about Mark Hixon, Oregon State University, precedes the article; an interview with him follows. The article describes a study by Hixon and Mark Carr on damselfish mortality. "They found that damselfish mortality was density-dependent only when both kinds of predators--residents (mostly groupers) and transients (schooling jacks)--were present."

• Interactions Between Fish and Sea Anemones - Dr. Daphne G. Fautin, California Academy of Sciences, University of Kansas, and, Dr. Gerald R. Allen, Western Australian Museum
  Type: [Tertiary Source]
  Chapter 5 of their Field Guide to Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones. Discusses the concepts of symbiosis, specificity, and how anemone and fish can affect one another.

Bleaching

• Mass bleaching of coral reefs in French Polynesia, April 1994 - Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, School of Biological Sciences and Coral Reef Research Institute, University of Sydney
  Type: [Primary Source]
  "Mass-bleaching was investigated on reefs associated with the island of Moorea in French Polynesia in April 1994. The ambition of this study was to determine the size and extent of mass-bleaching, and to compare it to previous mass-bleaching events in French Polynesia (Salvat 1991, Gleason 1993)."
  Excellent example of how reseach should be put on the web. Good layout, graphs and pictures.

• Review on Coral Reef Bleaching - Martin Pecheux, Scientific Consultant
  Type: [Internal Report/Secondary Source]
  Sept. 1995 updated version of Dec. 1992 internal report done for the Observatoire Océanologique Européen, Monaco. Tons of information on bleaching! The first part is about field knowledge, the second is about biophysiological knowledge. "(This site) is a bibliographic synthesis on this badly understood recent mass bleaching of reef photosynthetic symbioses, inattended to be the most comprehensive possible (it is, as far as I can tell), from biochemical aspects to global perspectives. Meanwhile it is suggested that CO₂ rise is the cause of this phenomenon."
  544K, all text! (Yes, there's a lot of information).

• Widespread Coral Reef Bleaching as an Indicator of Global Atmospheric Warming - By Thomas R. Karlo, a graduate student in the School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York.
  Type: [Tertiary Source]
  This essay is written as an example of "Writing the Scientific Essay" for his web page. Karlo points out that the idea of global warming became popular at about the same time (mid to late '80's) as people started noticing bleaching events. He notes that many people related the two events, but wisely says, "While their idea has been found to hold much merit, such a connection remains to be definitively proven." However, warming probably has some effect on bleaching, and he eventually goes on to say, "The research on coral bleaching would thus seem to indicate that the frequency of major mass bleachings of coral reefs on a global scale would serve as an indicator of global warming." It seems to be a well-researched article, but, in addition to the conclusion about reefs as indicators of warming, does make some questionable statements about reefs being "large sinks" for CO₂.

• Coral Reef Bleaching in Belize - "Al Strong's group" (Contact: Matt Stout)
  Type: [News]
  NOAA Press Release, 11/9/95. While the authors note that coral reef bleaching can occur due to many different stresses, "such as high ocean temperatures, cold ocean temperatures, elevated ultraviolet light, sedimentation and toxic chemicals," they suggest that the bleaching observed in Belize in 1995 was strictly due to warm waters in the western Atlantic.
  Short paper with a link to NOAA's SST maps.

• Coral reef bleaching: ecological and economic implications - Claire Gilbert
  Type: [Letter]
  Written in March, 1996 as a response to environmental studies and United Nations listserves. Talks about the International Year of the Reef and gives an overview of the article from the February program of The U.S. Global Change Research Program Seminar Series.
  All text, looks like e-mail (since it was).

• Bleaching Corals - Greenpeace
  Type: [Activism]
  This three-paragraph tidbit suggests that rising sea surface temperature is the cause of bleaching. For an activist site, they don't even suggest what humans can do about it.

• Directory of Bleaching Events - NOAA
  Type: [Database]
  Actual reports of observed bleaching events. "The data files...represent individual reported instances of coral bleaching, posted to the coral-list list server."

• Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Charts - NOAA
  Type: [Database]
  Including SST anomoly bleaching hotspots.

Predation

Organisms

• Field Guide to Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones - Dr. Daphne G. Fautin, California Academy of Sciences, University of Kansas, and, Dr. Gerald R. Allen, Western Australian Museum
  Type: [Field Guide/Tertiary Source]
  The identification portion gives a picture of each organism, along with the following information: the current scientific name, the original description, other names previously used, diagnostic field characters/color features and size, details, similar species, distribution, and associated organisms (e.g. which fish(es) go with which anemone(s)).The introduction discusses the geographical and ecological distribution of anemone fish and anemones in general, how the symbiotic relationship is possible, other symbionts, scientific names and what they mean, and how to use the guide. Other chapters address the biology of anemones, the life history of anemonefishes, interactions between fish and sea anemones, and aquarium care.
  Takes a while for the field guide pages to download, but is an excellent model for web field guides and texts.

• Library at the Waikiki Aquarium - Education department director: Dr. Carol Hopper.
  Type: [Field Guide]
  Only three entries (Acropora sp. - stony coral, Kulia sandvicensis - Aholehole or Hawaiian Flagtail (fish), and Aiptasia - anenome) as of this review, but great potential.

• Catalog of Marine Fish and Invertebrates
  Type: [Field Guide]
  Lists over 200 species (including corals), but only provides a picture (no info.) to go with the common and scientific names. Very useful to this end. Presented by the Fish Information Service, "a free...service about topics of interest to the aquarium hobbyist."

• The Acropora Connection - Brian Kubicki
  Type: []
  "This page was created to bring together those who are interested in therearing and propagation of small-polyped Scleractinian corals. This pagewill concentrate on the genus Acropora, looking at scientific viewpoints aswell as viewpoints from the reef hobby."

• Rugose and Tabulate Corals - Hope Nesmith and Brian Engel, Department of Geology, The University of Newcastle
  Type: []
  Brief descriptions of these extinct orders (Rugosa and Tabulata) of corals accompanies pictures of fossils.

• Halimeda Page - Ed Drew, Principal Research Scientist, Australian Institute of Marine Science.
  Type: []
  

• An introduction to nongeniculate coralline algae - Derek W. Keats, Botany Department, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
  Type: [Tertiary Source]
  "This website is a general introduction to the biology of nongeniculate coralline algae, and includes pointers to the latest family, subfamily and generic delimitations." Includes an identification guide with helpful pictures and schematics. See his links for more information.

• Biology of Sea Anemones - Dr. Daphne G. Fautin, California Academy of Sciences, University of Kansas, and, Dr. Gerald R. Allen, Western Australian Museum
  Type: [Tertiary Source]
  Chapter 3 of their Field Guide to Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones,

• Cnidaria Home Page - Maintained at the University of California, Irvine
  Type: [Links]
  Basically a site of links to other sites about cnidarians (includes corals).

• Life History of Anemonefishes - Dr. Daphne G. Fautin, California Academy of Sciences, University of Kansas, and, Dr. Gerald R. Allen, Western Australian Museum
  Type: [Tertiary Source]
  Chapter 4 of their Field Guide to Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones,

• An Illustrated Field Guide to the Fishes of Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary - Matthew R. Gilligan, Ph.D., llustrated by Karen Roeder
  Type: []
  

• Coral Reef Fishes - Luiz A. Rocha
  Type: []
  "Born in 06/08/73 in João Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil, (Luiz has been) a Biologist since08/04/96. His main research interests are the ecology, biology and systematics of coralreef fishes. He recently published three works on scientific magazines, two about theecology of brazilian reef fishes and the other being the description of a new reef grunt fromBrazilian coast."

• Reef Geology - Dr. Paul Blanchon, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Indiana.
  Type: []
  Good graphics, informative

• Abstracts of Dr. Paul Blanchon's presentations. Geological focus.

• Neogene Marine Invertibrates of Tropical America - Dr. Ann F. Budd and her associates at the Universities of Iowa and Glasgow (U.K.).
  Type: []
  "A taxonomic resource for several groups of marine organisms. The best section by far is the guide to the identification of common Caribbean reef corals which includes two identification routines as well as illustrated definitions of morphological attributes used in coral taxonomy. Very useful." (Paul Blanchon)

Contemporary Issues

Paleogeology

• Jurassic Reef Park - Reinhold Leinfelder, Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, University of Stuttgart.
  Type: []
  Compares Jurrasic Period reefs with present reefs.

Specific Locations

• Panama: Coral Reef Deterioration
  Type: []
  "Summary: Emboff, along with 1200 scientists. biologists, students, and professionals from 60 countries, attended the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium in Panama. The conference provided the opportunity for the embassy to focus on the state of Panama's coral reefs." Written on 8-9-96.

• Florida's Coral Reef Ecosystem at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary - Reef Relief's Environmental Education Center in Key West.

• Negril Coral Reef Preservation Society
  Type: []
  A non profit, non governmental environmental organization founded in September of 1990 by a small group of dive operators and local citizens concerned about the coral reefs and marine environment. Since its beginning, the Society has focused heavily on environmental education through workshops, printed materials, school programs.

• About Marine Habitats...Coral Reefs - Dwight F. Davis, Mote Marine Laboratory Volunteer.
  Type: []
  Short piece specific to Florida's Gulf coast.

• Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary
  Type: []
  "Located 32 kilometers (17.5 nautical miles) off Sapelo Island,Georgia and encompasses 58 square kilometers (17 sq. nautical miles) of live-bottomhabitat." (NOAA?)
  • Gray's Reef Educational Handbook

• What corals to look for during a swim and/or dive in the Virgin Islands/Caribbean - Dr. Teresa Turner, University of the Virgin Islands
  Type: [Tertiary Source/Field Guide]
  "Throughout the Caribbean, including the Virgin Islands, there is little variation in the region between the number and types of coral species commonly found among the reefs (Edmunds et al. 1990)." This site describes what you would see.

• Glover's Reef Marine Research Station (Belize) - Wildlife Conservation Society
  Type: [Description/Tertiary Source]
  Describes the society and its facilities, and provides some biological, geological, and historical background about the reef.

Australia

• Managing the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park - Dr Ian McPhail, Chair, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority
  Type: []
  "Reprinted from McPhail, I. The Changing Environment of Managing Use in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Presented at the ABARE Outlook '96 Conference, Melbourne, February 1996."

• Great Barrier Reef Photo Essay - EarthBase
  Type: []
  Good general focus on the "largest functioning coral reef."

• One Tree Island - University of Sydney
  Type: []
  Describes the research station. The slide show tells about many organisms on the reef.

• Hawai'i Coral Reef Network
  Type: []
  "The Mission of the Hawai'i Coral Reef Network is to foster education and research on coral reefs by facilitating communication among the environmental, scientific, governmental, and public communities and to enhance community involvement in reef conservation through stewardship." Site managed by Brian Tissot of the University of Hawai'i at Hilo

• Marine Life of Hawai'i - Brian N. Tissot, Kalakaua Marine Education Center, University of Hawai'i at Hilo.
  Type: []
  Gives short descriptions of marine invertebrates, fishes, and plants common to Hawai'i. Also has a short glossary. Not deep in information, but helpful for matching a name with a face.

• Checklist of common Hawaiian Invertebrates - Brian N. Tissot, UH at Hilo
  Type: []
  For his class titled: Biology of Marine Invertebrates. Only lists scientific names.

• Community-Based Management of Coral Reefs in Hawai'i - Brian N. Tissot, UH at Hilo
  Type: []
  Article from the "Save Our Seas Clean Oceans Conference," June 13-15 1997.

• Volcanoes in the Sea: The Birth of Islands and Reefs in Hawai'i - Brian N. Tissot, UH at Hilo.
  Type: []
  

• Overview of Ecology of Coral Reefs in Hawai,'i - Brian N. Tissot, UH at Hilo
  Type: []
  

• Status of Coral Reefs in the Pacific - Sea Grant College Program at the University of Hawaii and the Pacific Science Association
  Type: []
  "In recognition of the International Year of the Reef, the Sea Grant College Program at the University of Hawaii has joined hands with the Pacific Science Association to produce a volume on the status and health of coral reefs in the Pacific." The reports start with the fourth item on the page.
  Also describes the coral laws of Hawai'i.

• Coral and reef growth in the Western Indian Ocean: Paleoclimaticimplications
  Type: [Description]
  "Since 1994 a group of European reef geologists...has been investigating Western IndianOcean reefs, studying paleoclimatology and sea-level changes...The approach is on three time scales using: 1. Living corals to document coral growth and climatic change over the last 103 years; 2. Drill cores in Holocene reefs to cover the last 104 years; 3. Outcrops of Pleistocene limestones to investigate the past 105 years and including: a.Sampling of raised Eemian limestones; b.Studies of submerged reef terraces (isotope stage 3 and LGM, 20-18ka) by submersible." Describes the study, but no conclusions yet.

• The Toloka Foundation
  Type: []
  "A group of local people from the village of Katupat,...of the Togian Islands. Run by two brothers, Jafur and Saiful Amin, the group have recognised the need toconserve the local environment and help educate others to do likewise."

• Coral Reefs of Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary
  Type: []

• Status of coral reefs in the Middle East - Moustafa Fouda, Department of Fisheries Science & Technology at Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman.
  

Spatial Relations, Scale Issues, and Mapping

• Towards a Management Plan for a Tropical Reef-Lagoon System Using Airborne Multispectral Imaging and GIS - Gary Borstad and Leslie Brown, G.A. Borstad Associates Ltd., Canada; William Cross and Peter Wainwright, LGL Environmental Research Associates Ltd., Canada; and Mardayven Nallee, Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Mauritius.
  Type: [Primary Source]
  "Using in situ observations of bottom type, and reflectance spectra of coral and algae specimen as ground truth, the (remote sensing) image data were classified and thematic maps of the shallow lagoons and coral reefs were created. These maps were imported to a Geographic Information System (MapInfo) and are being used to train Ministry staff in the use of GIS for marine management and planning." Describes the process.

• Problems of Scale in Coral Reef Ecology - Phillip Dustan, Department of Biology, University of Charleston
  Type: [Case Studies]
  "Ecological phenomena occur on a variety of scales ranging from angstroms to kilometers. (This site offers) case studies illustrating that imagery generated at almost any scale can be analyzed using image processing tools combined with GIS techniques."

• Reef Zone Tour - Digital Studios
  Type: []
  Brief descriptions of the different parts of a reef (beach, reef flat, algal ridge, sub-terrace, terrace, reef slope, and drop off), how they relate spatially, and the types of organisms found at each location. A more detalied CD-ROM is avaiable to order.
  Good graphics and pictures. Helps to see the relationships.

• Smithsonian Photographs Online - search under "coral reefs," etc.
  • Smithsonian Underwater Pictures
  • Belize and Panama reef pictures

• Reef Aquarium Pictures and other underwater pictures.

• Reef Gallery - Paul Blanchon, Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Indiana
  "From the spectacular reefs around the Caribbean island of Grand Cayman."

• The Earth Communications Office Coral Reef Project
  Type: [Description]
  "The environmental voice of the entertainment industry." No real information, but good pictures.

• Sherman's Lagoon - Comic strip by Jim Toomey