Belize Manatee Separate Subspecies

Belize Manatees a Separate Subspecies, DNA Confirms The endangered manatees that live off the coast of Belize are distinct enough to be considered a separate subspecies from the Florida manatees. Recent studies find that the Antillean manatees in Belize showed extremely low genetic diversity. Belize hosts the largest known breeding population of Antillean manatees, about […]

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Taxonomy & Ecology of Caribbean Sponges

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Bocas del Toro Research Station presents: TAXONOMY AND ECOLOGY OF CARIBBEAN SPONGES Dates: July 16 ? 30, 2012 Location: Bocas Research Station, Bocas del Toro, Panama Registration Fee: $800 (includes room and board, STRI registration fee, etc..) Some need-based fellowships are available. Instructors:  Dr. Cristina Diaz, Museo Marino de Margarita, […]

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Ecology of Caribbean Sponges

I’d like to alert you to the cover article in this month’s Bioscience, which summarizes the last 20 years of research by my group on the chemical ecology of sponges on Caribbean coral reefs. This synthesis is notable in ecology because of its span from the level of molecules to an entire ecosystem, and because […]

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Illegal Coral Trade Prosecuted

Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, October 26, 2011 U.S. Virgin Islands Company Sentenced for Illegal Trade of Protected Coral Gem Manufacturing Sentenced to Highest Financial Penalty for Illegal Coral Trade WASHINGTON ? A U.S. Virgin Islands company was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I., for knowingly […]

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Coral Spawning (Columbia)

Subject: [Coral-List] Coral spawning – Colombian Caribbean To: “coral-list@coral.aoml.noaa.gov” <coral-list@coral.aoml.noaa.gov> Message-ID: <1319732013.65166.YahooMailNeo@web45102.mail.sp1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Dear Coral listers (CORALations), ? In the reef areas of Islas del Rosario and Tayrona (Colombia, Southwest Caribbean) Montastraea annularis and M. faveolata spawned on september 18th around 9.40 – 10.20 PM. In Tayrona, Diploria strigosa, spawned on the afternoon […]

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Digitalized coral collection

The importance of scientific specimen collections is well-recognized, but there are no large recent collections of corals and the old are not always accessible.? The Smithsonian Institution Web site offers digitized access to its collections but only for the Dana types.? The recent publication of a unique multimedia format in CD with digitized pictures of […]

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Marine Protected Area Design

Given that the journal /The Professional Geographer/ may not be on your frequent-reading list, I’m writing to draw your attention to a recently published focus section, “Marine Geomorphology as a Determinant for Essential Life Habitat and Marine Protected Area Design <http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rtpg20/current>” (Volume 63, Issue 4), guest edited by William Heyman and Dawn Wright and including […]

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Hurricane Rina

Rina is about 8 miles north of Mexico Rocks and still about 60 miles to the east.  This storm’s path is difficult to predict and all of northern Belize still sits on pins and needles.  Transport between Belize City and San Pedro remains uncertain.

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Common coral bleaching mechanisms

Coral Reefs DOI: 10.1007/s00338-011-0833-4Online First™ Report Transcriptomic responses to darkness stress point to common coral bleaching mechanisms M. K. DeSalvo, A. Estrada, S. Sunagawa and Mónica Medina Abstract Coral bleaching occurs in response to numerous abiotic stressors, the ecologically most relevant of which is hyperthermic stress due to increasing seawater temperatures. Bleaching events can span […]

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