"The coral reefs of south Sulawesi are some of the most diverse, colorful and vibrant in the world. At least, they used to be, until they were decimated by dynamite fishing in the 1990s.

As part of a team of coral reef ecologists based in Indonesia and the UK, we study the reefs around Pulau Bontosua, a small Indonesian island in south Sulawesi...

In many places around the world, damage like this might be described as irreparable. But at Pulau Bontosua, the story is different. Here, efforts by the Mars coral restoration program have brought back the coral and important ecosystem functions, as outlined by our new study, published in Current Biology. We found that within just four years, restored reefs grow at the same rate as nearby healthy reefs.

Speedy recovery

The transplanted corals grow remarkably quickly. Within a year, fragments have developed into proper colonies. After two years, they interlock branches with their neighbors. After just four years, they completely overgrow the reef star structures and restoration sites are barely distinguishable from nearby healthy reefs.

The combined growth of many corals generates a complex limestone (calcium carbonate) framework. This provides a habitat for marine life and protects nearby shorelines from storm damage by absorbing up to 97% of coastal wave energy.

We measured the overall growth of the reef framework by calculating its carbonate budget. That's the balance between limestone production (by calcifying corals and coralline algae) and erosion (by grazing sea urchins and fishes, for example). A healthy reef produces up to 20kg of reef structure per square meter per year, while a degraded reef is shrinking rather than growing as erosion exceeds limestone production. Therefore, overall reef growth gives an indication of reef health.

At Pulau Bontosua, our survey data shows that in the years following restoration, coral cover, coral colony sizes, and carbonate production rates tripled. Within four years, restored reefs were growing at the same speed as healthy reefs, and thereby provided the same important ecosystem functions...

Outcomes of any reef restoration project will depend on environmental conditions, natural coral larvae supply, restoration techniques and the effort invested in maintaining the project. This Indonesian project shows that when conditions are right and efforts are well placed, success is possible. Hopefully, this inspires further global efforts to restore functioning coral reefs and to recreate a climate in which they can thrive."

-via Phys.org, March 11, 2024

Ramalina peruviana

Quipu lichen, Peruvian ribbon lichen

This fruticose lichen has many thin, flattened branches and tiny, isidiate branchlets growing out of lateral soredia and branch tips. The surface is pale gray-green interrupted by ellipsoidal or linear pseudocyphellae and punctiform soralia. It only rarely produces apothecia. R. peruviana grows on bark and occasionally rock in tropical and costal regions worldwide. So why is it named R. peruviana? Well, the type specimen used by Erik Acharius to describe the species was found in Peru. What's a type specimen, you may ask? Well when you describe a species, you need to have one specimen of that organism from which characteristics and features of the species description are drawn, and it needs to be stored in a collection where it can be accessed to compare characteristics and potentially DNA with future potential specimens. So even though this entire species grows all over the place and isn't only found in Peru, the name is a nod to the specimen which set the standard for the entire species name. It's pretty weird to think about using one individual as the standard when we know so much physical variation exists between members of the same species, right?

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Lecania spadicea

This crustose lichen has an areolate-subplacodioid thallus of convex areoles towards its center, with more lobe-like areoles around its margins. It is dark green-brown when wet, and lighter gray-brown when dry. It has lecanorine apothecia with a pale margin and a pruinose, dark-brown disc. L. spadicea grows on calciferous rock at low elevations in the Mediterranean region.

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Ramalina labiosorediata

Powdery twig lichen, chalky bush lichen

Look, I know that "labio" is just the Latin for "lips." I know that. But that doesn't stop the dumb 13-year-old that lives in the back of brain from cringing and giggling when I read that word. I just . . . I would simply choose to not name R. labiosorediata that, ya know? This fruticose lichen has a shrubby thallus that grows in ragged clusters up to 2 cm long. It has flattened or slightly inflated branches which have marginal or terminal, lip-shaped soralia which often look like accidental splits in the surface spewing powdery soredia. R. labiosoreiata was established as its own species in 2017, and is the North American counterpart to the more widespread R. pollinaria.

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Kuettlingeria teicholyta

This lichen falls somewhere in the space between crustose and foliose lichens, falling closer to the crustose side with its continuous to areolate-rimose centeral thallus, but still nodding in the direction of foliose with its stubby, lobe-like structures around the thallus margin. The upper surface is pale gray in color, with abundant blastidia (globular asexual propagules containing both fungal and algal cells) covering the center of the orbicular patch. Most lichens have soredia (loose conglomeration of hyphal tissue and algal cells) or isidia (structured chunk of lichen thallus material containing fungal and algal cells), but blastidia is somewhere in between those two. It only rarely produces apothecia, which have a deep red disc and an orange proper margin (rim made of apothecial tissue), and sometimes a thin, blastidiate thalline margin (rim made of thallus tissue). Really, K. teicholyta seems to have a hard time just choosing ONE THING. It loves to sit in the margins and deny simple classification. You can find this unique little paradigm-shifter growing on calciferous rock and human-made structures warm-temperate regions of the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

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