[Coral-List] Stockholm University and CORDIO: joint project on coral trait-diversity
Albert Norstrom
albert at ecology.su.se
Tue May 5 13:24:56 UTC 2009
Hi Coral-List,
We are currently working on a project to i) describe trait diversity and
ii) assess functional redundancy and response diversity in western
Indian Ocean coral reef assemblages. To the best of our knowledge,
empirical assessments of functional diversity on coral assemblages have
been restricted to simple functional group classifications based on
coral morphological traits and over small spatial scales. As a first
step to fill this gap in knowledge we have begun creating a database of
primary data on functional traits for coral species (worldwide).
Hopefully, one outcome of this project is an open-access database that
will result in readily accessible data pertaining to coral traits and a
simple tool that enables the continuous addition of new information by
all users.
We would be extremely grateful to receive your help in gathering data
for the database. This could be data from peer-reviewed papers (which we
have already begun searching), unpublished reports or theses, conference
proceedings and unpublished data. Specifically we need species-specific
information on:
i) growth rates
ii) growth strategies
iii) larval competency periods
iv) recruit survival rates (in-situ and ex-situ)
v) maximum size of adult colonies
vi) tissue thickness
vii) reproductive age
viii) palatability
ix) strength of attachment
x) temperature sensitivity (limits for loss of
zooxanthellae as well as host tissue apoptosis/necrosis)
xi) zooxanthellae clade preference
xii) disease proneness
Any meta-data (such as site and date of data collection, or basic
laboratory conditions) are also welcome. All data incorporated into the
database will be credited appropriately.
Best regards,
Albert Norström^1 , Magnus Nyström^1 , Lisen Runsten^1 , David Obura^2
^1 Dept Systems Ecology, Natural Resource Management Group, Stockholm
University
^2 CORDIO East Africa and IUCN working group on Climate Change and Coral
Reefs
--
Albert Norström
PhD Student
Natural Resource Management Group
Dept. Systems Ecology
Stockholm University
Kräftriket 9A
104 05 Stockholm
Sweden
Tel: +46 (0)73-707 88 78
Email: albert at ecology.su.se
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