Hi everybody,
Just to clarify, I am also a student of Dr. Shiffman and it was so nice to meet you guys! Sorry for posting my introduction in the middle of nowhere.

-Alexander
#oceanchat

That all makes so much sense, thank you! Wow there is much more than meets the eye for a bunch of colorful rocks.

Hmm, what would prevent individual coral species (even if limited) from forming aggregations over time?

Wow I never thought about soft habitats being vulnerable, I hope we can further research sensitive microbial populations to gauge this question.

Are there any environments in particular that are more likely to be permanently scarred than a kelp forest? I would assume a coral reef would take many years to rebound if at all.
#oceanchat

It also highly depends on the environment, a sandbar is probably not going to get obliterated in the same way as a coral reef.

And the tricky thing is that as time passes further without action that it will likely be harder to spin this in a positive direction. It’s always so sad to learn about this!

I like to tell myself this when mourning the losses of other charismatic megafauna
#oceanchat

Wow! How do they do this? Are there genetic tracers in their guano? Or is it just a matter of quantity?
#oceanchat