New AIMS Publications and an Award!

Last week was a good one for AIMS!

Scott Wooldridge was awarded with the Coral Reefs Volume 33 Best Paper Award for his article Differential thermal bleaching susceptibilities amongst coral taxa: re-posing the role of the host. The Award is given to the article voted best publication of the year (2014) by the Editors and Editorial Board and consists of EUR 1.000 and an engraved glass paperweight. 

Abstract: It is well established that different coral species have different susceptibilities to thermal stress, yet it is less clear which biological or physical mechanisms allow some corals to resist thermal stress, whereas other corals bleach and die. Although the type of symbiont is clearly of fundamental importance, many aspects of coral bleaching cannot be explained solely by differences in symbionts amongst coral species. Here, I use the CO2 (sink) limitation model of coral bleaching to repose various host traits believed to influence thermal tolerance (e.g. metabolic rates, colony tissue thickness, skeletal growth form, mucus production rates, tissue concentration of fluorescent pigments and heterotrophic feedings capacity) in terms of an integrated strategy to reduce the likelihood of CO2 limitation around its intracellular photosymbionts. Contrasting observational data for the skeletal vital effect on oxygen isotope composition (δ18O) partitions two alternate evolutionary strategies. The first strategy is heavily reliant on a sea water supply chain of CO2 to supplement respiratory CO2(met). In contrast, the alternate strategy is less reliant on the sea water supply source, potentially facilitated by increased basal respiration rates and/or a lower photosynthetic demand for CO2. The comparative vulnerability of these alternative strategies to modern ocean conditions is used to explain the global-wide observation that corals with branching morphologies (and thin tissue layers) are generally more thermally sensitive than corals with massive morphologies (and thick tissue layers). The life history implications of this new framework are discussed in terms of contrasting fitness drivers and past environmental constraints, which delivers ominous predictions for the viability of thin-tissued branching and plating species during the present human-dominated (“Anthropocene”) era of the Earth System.

Kathy Burns' book Science and Sails: (Memoir of first woman oceanographer in a changing world) is now available on Kindle for $3.98. 

Synopsis: This memoir by Kathy Burns charts the career of the first woman graduate from the most prestigious oceanographic institute in the world, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Joint Program. The first chapter is the struggle and achievements of a graduate student who discovers a new test that will revolutionize efforts at monitoring toxins in the marine environment. The time scale is the early nineteen seventies at the beginning of global awareness of the dangers of unchecked coastal development that was ruining the ecological functioning of critical estuaries. Kathy is caught up in the urgency of saving the Oceans and is launched into a career which until this time was strictly a man’s domain and has to overcome the prejudices and downright hostility of male colleagues and associates who want to preserve their exclusivity. 

Subsequent chapters follow Kathy and her husband, Robbie, around the world as Kathy takes up positions in Melbourne Australia, Monaco, Bermuda Biological Station, and then back to the Australian Institute of Marine science in Townsville Australia and their adventures in sailing between these positions on the world globe. Most people fly on commercial airlines but these two decided that was too tame, stocked their yacht with provisions and set sail. Not even Kathy’s chronic seasickness deters her and you have to wonder at her drive and determination, no doubt the same impetus to get her PhD degree at such a transitional time for women in science.   

Eric Wolanski also had a new book published last week. Titled Estuarine Ecohydrology: An Introduction the book is available for purchase through Elsevier. 

Synopsis: Estuarine Ecohydrology, Second Edition, provides an ecohydrology viewpoint of an estuary as an ecosystem by focusing on its principal components, the river, the estuarine waters, the sediment, the nutrients, the wetlands, the oceanic influence, and the aquatic food web, as well as models of the health of an estuary ecosystem. 

Estuaries, the intersection of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, exhibit complex physical and biological processes which must be understood in order to sustain and restore them when necessary. 

This book demonstrates how, based on an understanding of the processes controlling estuarine ecosystem health, one can quantify its ability to cope with human stresses. The theories, models, and real-world solutions presented serve as a toolkit for designing a management plan for the ecologically sustainable development of estuaries.