Coral Taxonomy Workshop 2022

Project Phoenix, funded by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, has just completed a Coral Taxonomy Workshop at Orpheus Island Research Station on Goolboddi. The workshop included 13 participants from six different countries, eight different institutions and seven PhD students.  The primary aim of the workshop was to produce … Continue reading Coral Taxonomy Workshop 2022

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

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

Wepfer et al. (2021) have now written a reply to Bonito et al. (2021)

You can access the reply here. They accept that their work will need to be repeated using the approach outlined in Bonito et al. 2021 i.e. test all nominal species in the genus Galaxea using vouchered topotypes. Knowing where to look for topotypes will soon become much easier once Project Phoenix finish compiling a nomenclature for the … Continue reading Wepfer et al. (2021) have now written a reply to Bonito et al. (2021)