Professor Andrew Baird presented a seminar at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies on the Topic “When does coral taxonomy matter?” The full talk is available to watch at the link below. https://youtu.be/J_tWYYP_gH8
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2022 Lizard Island Critical Research Grant award to Project Phoenix members
Andrew Baird, Tom Bridge, Pete Cowman and Josh Madin have just been awarded the 2022 Lizard Island Critical Research Grant to re-visit the taxonomy of the reef-building corals of Lizard Island, Australia. For an excellent summary of the project by Dr Anne Hoggett, co-director of the Lizard Island Research Station, see the link below. https://lirrf.org/2022-critical-research-grant-awarded/ The … Continue reading 2022 Lizard Island Critical Research Grant award to Project Phoenix members
FY2022 JSPS Invitational Fellowship for Research in Japan
Professor Andrew Baird from James Cook University has been awarded a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Long-Term Invitation Fellowship. The purpose of the programme is to invite overseas researchers with excellent track records to collaborate with Japanese colleagues. Andrew will spend four months with his host, Dr Saki Harii, at the Tropical … Continue reading FY2022 JSPS Invitational Fellowship for Research in Japan
Coral mass spawning explained
Author: Andrew Baird *This article was originally written for the Norfolk Island's Reef website. As adults, corals are sedentary or sessile animals, meaning that they are attached to the ocean floor. One consequence of being sessile is that they cannot move to find a mate with which to reproduce. When the time comes to breed … Continue reading Coral mass spawning explained
Plesiastraea proximans
Author: Andrew Baird Species: Plesiastraea proximans Dennant, 1904 The use of types in taxonomy does present some problems. For example, in many older works the catalogue number of the specimen on which the species description was based is not listed, and in some situations it is not even clear which museum the specimen was deposited … Continue reading Plesiastraea proximans
New paper: Solving the Coral Species Delimitation Conundrum
Catalina Ramírez-Portilla and colleagues from Project Phoenix have just published a paper in Systematic Biology titled Solving the Coral Species Delimitation Conundrum. In this case study, the authors focused on delineating tabular Acropora species in Okinawa (Japan) using morphology, cross-breeding trials and DNA sequences. Tabular Acropora spp. are notoriously difficult to identify, a phenomenon that … Continue reading New paper: Solving the Coral Species Delimitation Conundrum
November 2021 Norfolk Island
Project Phoenix has just returned from a collecting trip to Norfolk Island. Norfolk Island (29.03° S; 167.95° E) is one of the most isolated reefs in the Pacific Ocean according to an index developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The size of the reef surrounding the island is likely to have fluctuated widely … Continue reading November 2021 Norfolk Island
October 2021 Port Noarlunga Jetty, South Australia
South Australia might not seem like an obvious destination to collect reef-building corals, but it is, in fact, the type location for four nominal species: Caryophyllia australis Milne-Edwards & Haime 1849; Cylicia magna Tenison-Woods, 1878; Homophyllia incrustans Dennant 1906 and Plesiastrea proximalis Dennant 1904. Caryophyllia australis is currently accepted as Homophyllia australis; Cylicia magna is … Continue reading October 2021 Port Noarlunga Jetty, South Australia
October 2021 Vernon Islands
Project Phoenix has just returned from a field trip to the Vernon Islands north of Darwin, Australia. The Top End is a vastly under-explored area for coral reef research. Indeed, there have been only two papers on the coral fauna published to date despite extensive and flourishing reefs: a checklist of the corals in Darwin … Continue reading October 2021 Vernon Islands
Review for Coral Finder 2021
Coral Finder 2021 (CF2021) is a significant milestone for all those interested in coral identification. For the first time since the molecular revolution threw coral taxonomy into a state of chaos, there is now a guide that summarises all the changes at the family and genus level in a single publication. Russell Kelley, author of … Continue reading Review for Coral Finder 2021
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