[Coral-List] Coral immortality/senescence
Martin Moe
martin_moe at yahoo.com
Mon Mar 21 14:25:53 EDT 2011
Dear list,
Immortality is impossible. In this universe, everything that has a beginning,
has an end. And in the shorter run, everything that lives on our little Earth,
also has an ending. Death is programmed into the genome of complex animals and
plants, if it were not then the species itself could not change with sexual
reproduction and evolve to survive changing ecological and environmental
conditions. The continued existence of a species depends on the death, sooner or
later, of individuals and the continuous change and renewal of the genome of
that species. (Humans, by the way, are no exception, and extinction is not
impossible.)
Semantics aside, great longevity of individual organisms, measured in thousands
of years is very rare, but possible. I think that the longevity of coral
colonies is more dependent on the continuous existence of environmental factors
that favor growth and survival then internal mechanisms that might induce the
simultaneous death of coral colonies of many species at intervals of a great
many years over vast tracks of ocean habitat.. Reproductive success in corals is
dependent upon simultaneous spawning on an annual basis, but I can’t see how
simultaneous death after many long years of cyclic sexual reproductive activity
would contribute to survival of the species. Corals can reproduce sexually and
asexually, providing both evolutionary flexibility and colonial longevity. But
neither the genome of a coral species, although granted longevity through
colonial growth and fragmentation, nor individual colonies whose term of
existence is determined by the limits of growth as influenced by ecological and
climateological conditions, are immortal.
We have much yet to learn about the biology and longevity of corals, but at this
point we need to find ways to enhance the existence of our coral reefs and keep
them with us for as long as possible in the hopes that they will be able to
survive the insults humanity is heaping upon them.
My two cents worth.
Martin Moe
________________________________
From: vassil zlatarski <vzlatarski at yahoo.com>
To: Coral -List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Sent: Mon, March 21, 2011 10:58:30 AM
Subject: [Coral-List] Coral immortality/senescence
Dear colleagues,
The question of coral immortality is related to the knowledge about their
senescence. Unfortunately, our understanding concerning coral senescence in
shallow water habitat is poor. The data about the ontogeny, generation time and
whole life history for the mesophotic zone and deep sea are even less. One
constructive appeal of the current discussion will be to start projects focused
on these issues.
Cheers,
Vassil
Vassil Zlatarski
D.Sc. (Biology), Ph.D. (Geology)
131 Fales Rd., Bristol, RI 02809, USA; tel.: +1-401-254-5121
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