Ornamental Aquarium Trade Research Project

[Reef of Eden]

I'm doing a research project for my Marine Biology class on, "The Ornamental Aquarium Trade's Impact Upon Ecosystems".

I'm in the process of compiling information for the project.

I was wondering if any one here had some website, books, or any research material suggestions that would be helpful, as well as any specifically important issues or points that you think I should make sure to address in this project.

It's going to be about a 10 minute long PowerPoint presentation.


Thanks in advance for the your time and help.

 

[Reef of Eden]

i meant to post this in the responsible reefkeeping forum, I'm sorry about that. I can't delete the thread for some reason either.

 

[kmckay]

The reef keeping hobby as changed our understanding of stony coral growth rates, which in turn has helped us better understand the durability of reefs. This directly impacts many scientific and political disscusions on enviornmantal issues.

 

[Poorcollegereef]

Well, I research the effects of human activity on marine ecosystems (Mostly marine shipping), and I have to say that the aquarium trade is a mixed bag when it comes to the environmental friendliness. On one hand, yes the hobby is degrading several sensitive sites... but the hobby is also an education program with many hobbiest being the foremost supporters of protecting the reef. To give he typical PhD answer: there is really no one true definate answer. Really, I am unaware of any scientific discovery as the result of a hobby tank (research tanks excluded) so saying that the hobby itself has increased the knowledge of the scientific community might be a big leap... however, like I have said, the biggest benefit might have been to educate the public... but even Pixar can both educate and destroy (check out what happened to the hobby after the Finding Nemo movie craze)

Now, If I remember correcty, there was another post a few months ago on this very same subject so it might be worth your time to run a search on the site... atleast via google advanced search.

In any case, here is one source (atleast one chapter I think) that is more about how transportation affected the hobby. After all, without fast and cheap air travel, most of what we understand to hobby to be would not exist.

The source

Davenport, John. (Ed) (2006) The Ecology of Transportation: Managing Mobility for the Environment. New York: Springer.

 

[dlynford]

If you want a great paper that can be found online look at:

From ocean to aquarium: the global trade in marine ornamental species.
By wabinetz et al. 2003

This breaks down a majority of the hobby trade.

 

[JazzZero]

aquarium corals(the book) by Eric H.Borneman is a very good book that talks about mainly corals but also their aquarium trade impact and conservation of corals.

 

[BCreefmaker]

i'm not sure if this was true or not, but i was watching a show on global warming and they said since the beginning of the last century 50% of coral reefs have died completely, 30% are in the process of dieing, leaving only around 20% of reefs still healthy. they didn't really state the causes for the loss or their percentile breakups, however i doubt any of contributing factors are going to change any time soon( pollution, collection for food, climate change, collection for the aquarium industry ect.). if that is true, is it more important to take what little is left so we can to try and raise it in captivity, or let it stay in the ocean and continue along it's current fate.