One of the most diverse vertebrate communities is found on tropical coral reefs. Coral-reef fishes are not only remarkable in color and shape, but also in several aspects of physiological performance. Early in life, at the end of the pelagic larval stage, coral-reef fishes are the fastest swimmers of all fishes in relation to body size, and show the highest specific rates of maximum oxygen upta...

Many corals (stony corals and octocorals) rely on their symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) for survival. Under stress, zooxanthellae are expelled, resulting in coral bleaching. The hypothesis that corals may survive climate change by exchanging algal types is shown here to be potentially applicable only to a minority of corals. Data on 442 coral species from 43 studies reveal that only a few coral...

A data mining approach is introduced that automatically extracts SAR information from high-throughput screening data sets and that helps to select active compounds for chemical exploration and hit-to-lead projects. SAR pathways are systematically identified consisting of sequences of similar active compounds with gradual increases in potency. Fully enumerated SAR pathway sets are subjected to p...

Anomalously high water temperatures, associated with climate change, are increasing the global prevalence of coral bleaching, coral diseases, and coral-mortality events. Coral bleaching and disease outbreaks are often inter-related phenomena, since many coral diseases are a consequence of opportunistic pathogens that further compromise thermally stressed colonies. Yet, most coral diseases have ...

Matched molecular pairs (MMPs) are widely used in medicinal chemistry to study changes in compound properties including biological activity, which are associated with well-defined structural modifications. Herein we describe up-to-date versions of three MMP-based data sets that have originated from in-house research projects. These data sets include activity cliffs, structure-activity relations...

On coral reefs, fishes can facilitate coral growth via nutrient excretion; however, as coral abundance declines, these nutrients may help facilitate increases in macroalgae. By combining surveys of reef communities with bioenergetics modeling, we showed that fish excretion supplied 25 times more nitrogen to forereefs in the Florida Keys, USA, than all other biotic and abiotic sources combined. ...

Climate change is negatively affecting the stability of natural ecosystems, especially coral reefs. The dissociation of the symbiosis between reef-building corals and their algal symbiont, or coral bleaching, has been linked to increased sea surface temperatures. Coral bleaching has significant impacts on corals, including an increase in disease outbreaks that can permanently change the entire ...

A close examination of the coral disease literature reveals many hypothesized mechanisms for how coral disease may be linked to climate change. However, evidence has been largely circumstantial, and much uncertainty remains. Here, I review the latest information on both the predicted effects of climate change in coastal marine ecosystems and current research on coral-pathogen dynamics in relati...

Coral reefs play an important physiological and ecological role in coastal ecosystems such as providing natural breakwaters that protect shorelines and human settlements from waves and storm. Corals killed by tsunami, waves and storms are often degraded into rubble. This rubble is dynamic, easily shifted by currents and storms, which effectively forms ‘‘killing fields’’ for coral juveniles, hin...