Fijian coral reef damage and recovery from Cyclone Kina

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Early in 1993, Cyclone Kina struck the Fiji Islands, causing more than $100 million in property damage and damaging the coral environment as well. A few days after the cyclone, the most damaged reef was studied. The same reef had been studied 6 months before. This reef crest is dominated by Acropora. Comparison showed that 80-90% of the Acropora was torn from the outer reef and deposited in the inner lagoon. ... It is estimated that it will take a few years to 30 years for the reef to recover to pre-Kina conditions.

Oxygen isotope analysis of corals from the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Panama: application and implications for coral-based paleoclimate reconstructions [abstract]

EXTRACT (SEE PDF FOR FULL ABSTRACT): Coral-based reconstruction of past variability of sea surface conditions is improving our understanding of the tropical ocean-atmosphere system. We present oxygen isotope records from corals collected near the tip of Baja California (Baja) and the Gulf of Panama (Saboga).

Techniques for the transport and maintenance of scleractinian coral

Several small scleractinian coral colonies were collected from a remote reef and transferred [to] the Louisiana Universities Marine Center (LUMCON) for in vitro reproductive and larval studies. The species used here were Porites astreoides and Diploria strigosa. Colony size was ~20 cm in diameter. Colonies were brought to the surface by liftbag and stored in modified ice coolers. They were transported from Freeport, TX to Cocodrie, LA by truck for nearly 15 hours where field conditions were simulated in waiting aquaria. This document describes the techniques and equipment that were used, how to outfit such aquaria, proper handling techniques for coral colonies, and several eventualities that the mariculturist should be prepared for in undertaking this endeavor. It will hopefully prevent many mistakes from being made.

First record of a spindle cowry Crenovolva (Ovulidae, Gastropoda) from Bulleji, Karachi, on the gorgonian coral Muricella sp. and with a note on their association

Attached to hard substrata on our shores occur the branching colonies of gorgonian corals of the genus Muricella (Fig. 1A, Pl. 1B, C, D). Since there is no report on this genus from Pakistan this report be taken as the first record from here. The family Ovulidae comprises several hundred species of marine gastropods, all of which appear to be obligate associates of cnidarians as stated by Robertson (1970) and Hadfield (1976); the present ovulid gastropod genus Crenovolva lives exclusively on the gorgonians (Morton, 1989). Tirmizi and Zehra (1984) recorded thirty-two families of gastropods from Pakistan, but not any representative of the Ovulidae, so the material at hand may be the first record from Pakistan. Since we are unable to reach to specific level the material is being reported as unspecified.