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Cyanobacterial Associated Colored Band Diseases of the Atlantic/Caribbean
Laurie L. Richardson, Aaron W. Miller, Patricia Blackwelder, and Husain Al-Sayegh
Coral disease is quickly becoming a crisis to the health and management of the world’s coral reefs. There is a great interest from many in preserving coral reefs. Unfortunately, the field of epizootiology is disorganized and lacks a standard vocabulary, methods, and diagnostic techniques, and tropical marine scientists are poorly trained in wildlife pathology, veterinary medicine, and epidemiology. Diseases of Coral will help to rectify this situation.
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Coral Research in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
Joshua Feingold and Peter W. Glynn
This chapter summarizes the scientific knowledge of scleractinian corals in the Galapagos Archipelago. A general introduction to coral biology is followed by a brief history of coral research in the islands. Subsequent sections discuss responses of corals to broad-scale impacts, anthropogenic stress on Galapagos corals, and recommendations for management of this important resource. Following an initial period (1835-1960s) of cataloging the species present in the Galapagos Islands, research on coral ecology was initiated by Wellington in the 1970s. Glynn and Wellington more thoroughly examined the surprising abundance and distribution of corals and reef frameworks in the 1980s. Glynn and other workers then documented mass mortalities of corals due to the 1982-1983 ENSO disturbance. Subsequent research focused upon this natural phenomenon and its effect on coral distribution, ecology, and physiology. Most recently, resilience and recovery of coral populations were reported. Compared to most other regions, there is little anthropogenic impact to corals in the Galapagos Islands. However, climate change and ocean acidification have effects, and there is evidence of impacts associated with fisheries and tourism. Recommendations for management decisions conclude this chapter.
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Evaluating Water-Depth Variation and Mapping Depositional Facies on the Great Bahama Bank - a "Flat-Topped" Isolated Carbonate Platform
Paul Mitch Harris, James Ellis, and Samuel J. Purkis
Great Bahama Bank (GBB) has long served as a frequently visited and well-studied example of a flat-topped, isolated carbonate platform. As such, GBB stands behind much of our understanding of modern processes and products of carbonate sedimentation. The geological models derived from studies on GBB are commonly used to illustrate depositional facies variations and frequently serve as reservoir analogs.
We have used Landsat TM and ETM+ imagery and an extensive set of water depth measurements to first critically evaluate the magnitude and patterns of bathymetry across GBB. We then integrated the seafloor sample data of Reijmer et al (2009) along with a small number of additional samples with the Landsat imagery compiled into ArcGIS and analyzed with eCognition to develop a depositional facies map that is more robust than previous versions. The new maps, in our opinion, can serve as a template for better characterizing GBB at all scales, highlight future research areas where "ground-truthing" is needed to further investigate facies patterns, and facilitate better use of this isolated carbonate platform as an analog for both exploration- and reservoir-scale facies analysis. As examples of information that can be extracted from the maps, we analyze the platform margins of GBB with respect to their orientation, examine the relationship between water depth and facies type, interrogate facies position and breadth across the platform top, and relook at the occurences of whitings relative to the distribution of mud on the platform.
The geospatial data for GBB are compiled into a 3.9 GB GIS database which is included on the DVD of this digital publication. The GIS contains raw data, interpretive products, and visualization examples that were produced during the development of the water depth and facies maps of GBB, including the Landsat TM imagery, DEM, images developed by combining layers in the GIS, and facies and whitings maps. In addition, the Projects folder of the GIS contains files that automatically display images, maps, and DEMs with an appropriate symbology in ArcGIS version 10.1 (.mxd), ArcGIS Explorer version (Build) 1750 and 2500 (.nmf), and GlobalMapper version 14-1 (.wks).
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The Near-Surface Layer of the Ocean: Structure, Dynamics and Applications
Alexander Soloviev and Roger Lukas
- Updating the previous edition of the book due to remarkable results from synthetic aperture radar satellites, from satellites which measure sea surface salinity, and computational fluid dynamic models open new opportunities in understanding the processes in the near-surface layer of the ocean
- Monitoring short surface waves has significantly progressed due to passive acoustic methods
- Gives a comprehensive account of the structures and dynamics of the near-surface layer of the ocean
- Clarifies theoretical concepts that are developed from fundamental physics and thermodynamics
- Shows results of major air-sea interaction experiments (including those obtained with the participation of the authors), included in the analysis
- Includes an overview of the results for important oceanographic applications such as remote sensing, climate, hurricane physics, oil spills, marine biology, optics and acoustics
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Coral Reefs of the Chagos Archipelago, Indian Ocean
Mebs Ateweberhan, Allen C. Chen, Alasdair Harris, Rachel Jones, Shashank Keshavmurthy, Carl Lundin, David Obura, Samuel J. Purkis, Peter Raines, Bernhard Riegl, Michael H. Schleyer, Anne L. S. Sheppard, Jerker Tamelander, John R. Turner, Shakil Visram, and Sung-Yin Yang
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Atlas of Saudi Arabian Red Sea Marine Habitats
Andrew Bruckner, Gwilym Rowlands, Bernhard Riegl, Samuel J. Purkis, A Williams, and Philip Renaud
The Red Sea is a narrow, but relatively deep, oceanic trough that extends for over 1900 km, between 13º and 28º N latitude. It has a total surface area of roughly 438,000 km², with a width of approximately 180 km in the north, and 354 km at its widest point in the south. The Red Sea narrows to about 29 km in the Strait of Bab el Mandab, where it joins the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. The maximum depth is over 2200 m, with an average depth of 490 m. The Red Sea is shallowest at the southern end, with depths of only 130 m in the Strait of Bab el Mandab. It is the world’s northernmost tropical sea, with extensive shallow shelves that support complex coral reefs and associated ecosystems.
The Red Sea is part of the tropical Indo-Pacific Ocean, which encompasses the largest marine ecosystem on earth and also the most diverse. Much of the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coastline is characterized by coastal fringing reefs that are narrow, extending tens of meters from shore before plummeting to deep water. However, several regions in Saudi Arabia contain extensive seagrass beds, offshore reef habitats, mangroves, and algal flats. These areas support a wide range of reef morphologies, such as barrier reefs, patch reefs, ridge reefs, atolls, tower reefs, pinnacles, pillars, and spur and groove structures, as well as diverse coral communities growing on algalderived limestone structures (Sheppard et al. 1992).
Over a four year period, the Living Oceans Foundation has been involved in a massive scale marine habitat research project in the Red Sea. The results are now published in this first ever atlas of the Red Sea marine habitats of offshore coral reefs. It is available for download in both English and Arabic.
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Coral Reef Remote Sensing: A Guide for Mapping, Monitoring and Management
James A. Goodman, Samuel J. Purkis, and Stuart R. Phinn
Remote sensing stands as the defining technology in our ability to monitor coral reefs, as well as their biophysical properties and associated processes, at regional to global scales. With overwhelming evidence that much of Earth’s reefs are in decline, our need for large-scale, repeatable assessments of reefs has never been so great. Fortunately, the last two decades have seen a rapid expansion in the ability for remote sensing to map and monitor the coral reef ecosystem, its overlying water column, and surrounding environment. Remote sensing is now a fundamental tool for the mapping, monitoring and management of coral reef ecosystems. Remote sensing offers repeatable, quantitative assessments of habitat and environmental characteristics over spatially extensive areas. As the multi-disciplinary field of coral reef remote sensing continues to mature, results demonstrate that the techniques and capabilities continue to improve. New developments allow reef assessments and mapping to be performed with higher accuracy, across greater spatial areas, and with greater temporal frequency. The increased level of information that remote sensing now makes available also allows more complex scientific questions to be addressed. As defined for this book, remote sensing includes the vast array of geospatial data collected from land, water, ship, airborne and satellite platforms. The book is organized by technology, including: visible and infrared sensing using photographic, multispectral and hyperspectral instruments; active sensing using light detection and ranging (LiDAR); acoustic sensing using ship, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and in-water platforms; and thermal and radar instruments.
Emphasis and Audience This book serves multiple roles. It offers an overview of the current state-of-the-art technologies for reef mapping, provides detailed technical information for coral reef remote sensing specialists, imparts insight on the scientific questions that can be tackled using this technology, and also includes a foundation for those new to reef remote sensing. The individual sections of the book include introductory overviews of four main types of remotely sensed data used to study coral reefs, followed by specific examples demonstrating practical applications of the different technologies being discussed. Guidelines for selecting the most appropriate sensor for particular applications are provided, including an overview of how to utilize remote sensing data as an effective tool in science and management. The text is richly illustrated with examples of each sensing technology applied to a range of scientific, monitoring and management questions in reefs around the world. As such, the book is broadly accessible to a general audience, as well as students, managers, remote sensing specialists and anyone else working with coral reef ecosystems.
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Analogs for Carbonate Deposition in Early Rift Setting
Paul Mitch Harris, James Ellis, and Samuel J. Purkis
Driven by requests to provide carbonate analogs for subsurface hydrocarbon exploration in rift settings, we have identified and described select examples, summarized them from a carbonate perspective, and assembled them into a GIS database. The analogs show a spectrum of sizes, shapes and styles of deposition for lacustrine and marginal marine settings, wherein the types of carbonates inferred from seismic and cores (emphasis on microbialites, tufas, and travertines) can be illustrated.
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Laboratory Exercises in Biology
Edward O. Keith, Charles Messing, Emily F. Schmitt Lavin, and Joshua Stephen Feingold
Third edition
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Coral Reefs of the Gulf: Adaptation to Climatic Extremes in the World’s Hottest Sea
Bernhard Riegl and Samuel J. Purkis
This book treats coral reefs in the water body enclosed between Iran and the Arabian peninsula that in this book we refer to as “The Gulf”. The area is variably also known as the Persian or Arabian Gulf, or as the ROPME Inner Sea Area. The Gulf has a long research history and a compilation of present knowledge about its reefs is timely. In 16 chapters, this book guides the reader through environmental and geological determinants of reefbuilding, through the dynamics of reef corals and reef fishes, to the taxonomy of key reef organisms. Also the importance of artificial structures as novel reef substrates is discussed.
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Schlerochronology
Kevin P. Helmle and Richard E. Dodge
Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.
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Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology
Hans Hess, Charles Messing, and William I. Ausich
This volume is edited by Paul Selden, authors are Hans Hess and Charles G. Messing, coordinating author is William I. Ausich. This is the first volume to be published in an extensive revision of the Class Crinoidea. The present volume deals with the Subclass Articulata that contains all post-Paleozoic and living crinoids. The descriptions are preceded by an introduction, a chapter on the morphology of articulate crinoids, a glossary of important terms, and an overview of classification. The reference list is comprehensive for this volume.
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Modification of Turbulence at the Air-Sea Interface Due to the Presence of Surfactants and Implications for Gas Exchange. Part II: Numerical Simulations
Silvia Matt, Atsushi Fujimara, Alexander Soloviev, and Shin Hyung Rhee
We conducted high-resolution non-hydrostatic numerical simulations to study the effect of surfactants on near-surface turbulence. Laboratory experiments at the UM RSMAS ASIST facility presented in a companion paper report a reduction of turbulence below the air-sea interface and an increase of the surface drift velocity in the presence of surfactants. We implement the effect of surfactants as a rheological, viscoelastic boundary condition at the surface. Our numerical experiments are consistent with the results of the laboratory experiments. We also simulated the effect of surfactants on the temperature difference across the thermal molecular sublayer (cool skin) and on gas transfer velocity. The numerical simulations demonstrate an increase in the temperature difference across the cool skin and reduction of the gas transfer velocity in the presence of surfactant. The results also reveal the effect of surfactants on the different types of molecular sublayers (viscous, thermal and diffusion), which is important for the development of proper parameterization of the interfacial component of air-sea gas exchange under low and moderate wind speed conditions.
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Remote Sensing and Global Environment Change
Samuel J. Purkis and Victor V. Klemas
Remote Sensing plays a key role in monitoring the various manifestations of global climate change. It is used routinely in the assessment and mapping of biodiversity over large areas, in the monitoring of changes to the physical environment, in assessing threats to various components of natural systems, and in the identification of priority areas for conservation.
This book presents the fundamentals of remote sensing technology, but rather than containing lengthy explanations of sensor specifications and operation, it concentrates instead on the application of the technology to key environmental systems. Each system forms the basis of a separate chapter, and each is illustrated by real world case studies and examples.
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Coral Reefs in the Mariana Islands
Bernhard Riegl
Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.
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Coral Reefs in the Western Atlantic/Caribbean
Bernhard Riegl
Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.
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Coral Reefs in the Persian/Arabian Gulf
Bernhard Riegl and Samuel J. Purkis
Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.
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Persian/Arabian Gulf Coral Reefs
Bernhard Riegl and Samuel J. Purkis
Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.
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Modification of Turbulence at the Air-Sea Interface Due to the Presence of Surfactants and Implications for Gas Exchange. Part I: Laboratory Experiment
Alexander Soloviev, S. Matt, Mikhail Gilman, H. Huhnerfuss, Brian K. Haus, D. Jeong, I. Savelyev, and Mark A. Donelan
The air-sea gas transfer of gases like CO2 is substantiallydetermined bythe properties of the aqueous diffusion sublayer and free-surface turbulent boundarylayer. Little is known about the effect of surfactants on turbulence in the near-surface layer of the ocean. In order to investigate the effect of surfactants on turbulent exchanges below the air-sea interface, we have conducted a series of laboratoryexperiments at the UM RSMAS Air-Sea Interaction Saltwater Tank (ASIST) facility. Results from these experiments demonstrate that the surfactant monolayer suppresses turbulence and reduces drag below the water surface and increases the surface drift velocity. This effect is important for parameterization of the interfacial component of gas exchange under low wind speed conditions. From the theoretical standpoint, the mechanism of the turbulence reduction can be explained bythe modification of the “streaks” in the buffer zone near the interface byvisco-elastic properties of the water surface when surfactants are present. These findings are consistent with results from high-resolution non-hydrostatic numerical simulations presented in a companion paper.
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Delineating and Quantifying Depositional Facies Patterns of Modern Carbonate Sand Deposits on Great Bahama Bank
Paul Mitch Harris, James Ellis, and Samuel J. Purkis
SEPM Short Course #54
Delineating and Quantifying Depositional Facies Patterns. Processed satellite images, derived bathymetry (Digital Elevation Models), and sand body interpretation maps of three key areas of modern carbonate sand deposition on Great Bahama Bank (GBB) are organized into a GIS to develop morphometric data. The results of the sand body and sandbar interrogation imply that certain architectural properties of high-energy sand deposits are generic. We think such results broaden our perspective of the types of information that can be derived from studies of the modern and hopefully will stimulate further studies. Collectively, the sand deposits show a range of depositional facies patterns. Rimming the southern end of Tongue of the Ocean (TOTO) is the broadest expanse of "high-energy" sands found in the Bahamas characterized by narrow sandbars separated by wide, deep channels and a lack of islands. A variation of the tidal bar motif with broader and more irregular sandbars, relatively narrow channels, and few small islands occurs at the northern end of Exuma Sound (Schooners). Sands associated with tidal channels and the numerous islands of the Exumas chain along the western edge of Exuma Sound occur primarily as flood tidal deltas.
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Unraveling the Ecological Importance of Elasmobranchs
Michael Heithaus, Alejandro Frid, Jeremy Vaudo, Boris Worm, and Aaron J. Wirsing
