3 ms·

You say "of course they do" as though it's not a novel finding and "this is not the real question" as though this is the answer to a question and not a scientif

You say "of course they do" as though it's not a novel finding and "this is not the real question" as though this is the answer to a question and not a scientific finding. Neither is the case.

pvaldes 7y ago
1) Bleaching in corals is not one disease. They are (at least) five different types associated to four different genuses of bacteria. All of them could be symptoms of another problem instead the real causes, as seen in research done in Oculina, the other ubiquitous species from Mediterranean Sea with Cladocora (see Ainsworth et al 2008). And there are other kinds of necrosis caused by viruses, echinoderms and polychaetes. That some species of corals at least can recover relatively fast after bleaching is know since... dunno, but probably since 80's at least. A bibliographic search should find early documents about it. Other species never bleach and other just die (Levas et al 2018) 2) The real juicy question to answer there, is not if corals bleach and recover, we knew that they do it since decades even if was not reported for Cladocora. The question is what corals bleach and what corals recover, in my not so humble opinion.
- boomlinde 7y ago
  1) OK, but I'm not sure how it pertains to your point that there are multiple causes of bleaching. 2) In this case, Cladocora caespitosa
  - pvaldes 7y ago
    Corals can recover from "bleaching" and can overgrow skeletonised areas (at some extent), but neither all bleaching cases are equal, nor all of the around 3500 species, if I remember correctly) of extant hard corals are equally resilient. The real cause of bleaching is unknown. Vibrio can invade the area and accelerate the killing of coral tissue, but is unclear if they are a cause of the disease or a secondary effect of the disease.
    - boomlinde 7y ago
      The real cause of bleaching isn't in question. The article has little to do with the cause of bleaching. It doesn't suppose that the 3500 species extant hard corals are equally resilient. You are telling me things that, while certainly interesting and appreciated as such, don't really address any problems with the article or its assumptions.
      - pvaldes 7y ago
        Sorry, but I'm not interested in peer reviewing the article here if this is what you expected. I was not asked to do so in any case by the editors, and this is not the place for it. The article is great, but the problem is more complex than that, for several reasons that as you pointed, are out of the scope of the article (so I will not discuss them here). Feel welcomed to talk about the article, and only about the article, if this is what you want. I will listen carefully.
    - kls 7y ago
      IT is absolutely known, it has been proven that Nitrogen in the presence of phosphorus with the addition of micro metals such as titanium and zinc suspensions found in sunscreen are creating a chemical cocktail that is toxic to the coral.

You say "of course they do" as though it's not a novel finding and "this is not the real question" as though this is the answer to a question and not a scientific finding. Neither is the case.

pvaldes 7y ago

1) Bleaching in corals is not one disease. They are (at least) five different types associated to four different genuses of bacteria. All of them could be symptoms of another problem instead the real causes, as seen in research done in Oculina, the other ubiquitous species from Mediterranean Sea with Cladocora (see Ainsworth et al 2008). And there are other kinds of necrosis caused by viruses, echinoderms and polychaetes. That some species of corals at least can recover relatively fast after bleaching is know since... dunno, but probably since 80's at least. A bibliographic search should find early documents about it. Other species never bleach and other just die (Levas et al 2018) 2) The real juicy question to answer there, is not if corals bleach and recover, we knew that they do it since decades even if was not reported for Cladocora. The question is what corals bleach and what corals recover, in my not so humble opinion.

boomlinde 7y ago
1) OK, but I'm not sure how it pertains to your point that there are multiple causes of bleaching. 2) In this case, Cladocora caespitosa
- pvaldes 7y ago
  Corals can recover from "bleaching" and can overgrow skeletonised areas (at some extent), but neither all bleaching cases are equal, nor all of the around 3500 species, if I remember correctly) of extant hard corals are equally resilient. The real cause of bleaching is unknown. Vibrio can invade the area and accelerate the killing of coral tissue, but is unclear if they are a cause of the disease or a secondary effect of the disease.
  - boomlinde 7y ago
    The real cause of bleaching isn't in question. The article has little to do with the cause of bleaching. It doesn't suppose that the 3500 species extant hard corals are equally resilient. You are telling me things that, while certainly interesting and appreciated as such, don't really address any problems with the article or its assumptions.
    - pvaldes 7y ago
      Sorry, but I'm not interested in peer reviewing the article here if this is what you expected. I was not asked to do so in any case by the editors, and this is not the place for it. The article is great, but the problem is more complex than that, for several reasons that as you pointed, are out of the scope of the article (so I will not discuss them here). Feel welcomed to talk about the article, and only about the article, if this is what you want. I will listen carefully.
  - kls 7y ago
    IT is absolutely known, it has been proven that Nitrogen in the presence of phosphorus with the addition of micro metals such as titanium and zinc suspensions found in sunscreen are creating a chemical cocktail that is toxic to the coral.