help finding articles of different opinions

[ladyfsu]

Hi, I teach 11th and 12th grade marine bio students. As any of us who have been around on these forums or reefing for a while, you know there are 2,3 or 10 different methods of doing something the "right" way. I want to find relatively current articles of differing opinions - or research supporting opposing ideas. If you know of some articles of such (marine related preferably), post up links please!

examples: lighting needs, filtration methods, propagation, fish or invert info, chemistry additives, macro algae for export etc, Thanks! Laine

[hahnmeister]

I would point you to a 'text book' more like it... by Sprung and Delbeek... 'The Reef Aquarium'...

I would suggest Volumes 1 and 3. Volume 2 is about invert care mostly (not that that isnt interesting and all, but the 'meat and potato' stuff you want is in the other 2 books). Anyways, the books are almost class textbooks. The first one is the 'basic' book, covering all the bases. Its great at that. The 3rd book is the 'advanced' one, detailing all the newer technologies and methods (since its also newer), as well as talking more in depth about some older ones.

If I had to teach a class on 'Reef Aquaria' I think these books would be the texts.

Other similar ones would be the 'Modern Coral Reef Aquarium' series by Nilsen and Fossa (there are 4 english volumes, and more German ones still to be translated). Not cheap at all though. Bang for the buck, the Sprung/Delbeek books are hard to beat.

[ladyfsu]

I'll check them out. Thanks. I've heard good things about them.

My problem is that if I ask students to research something, anything , they read 1 opinion and think that it's fact. I'm trying to get them to realize there isn't just ONE way to do things, and not everything that is published on the web as "this is the best" really is the best.

I have several groups who are having, well...sort of a contest on growing their corals the "best" (along with several other things), and I've come to realize that the kids don't question what they read and just agree with it. So, I want to have them do enough research and try to out-do the other groups (should they use 2-part, macro's, skimmers, plenums, etc). I want them to get skilled in research and questioning research. Make sense? So I want to find articles that are current, based on research, but differ in results.

[Anemone]

You might have them read the Tank of The Month articles in Reefkeeping Magazine.

Every month is a different setup, and all of them achieve amazing results (from sometimes radically different methods). Or, you can read the other articles, many of which discuss differing methods and opinions.

FWIW,
Kevin

[hahnmeister]

Then you just have to pick different authors, and trace their material. The method would hinge on you finding the right authors, ones with conflicting opinions/sources, etc... and following their works.

Either that, or you will have to pick the subject first, and then find articles on that subject. Good subjects that always seem to get hairs on the back raising high are DSB vs. BB, skimmer vs. no skimmer, natural vs. mechanical.

For the most part, these methods and how they vary are in the Sprung books, and detailed rather well.

[ryan_paskadi]

Not marine related but a good example is of Oxpeckers. They are african birds that ride on the backs of ox and other large animals. Every source you look up will tell you they are a mutualistic friend that feeds on parasites and helps the animals. My college text books even report this, but if you can find the journal article.....um i think its titled Oxpecker or Vampire bird. It is shown rather conclusively that these birds are parasites that open wounds and keep them open on these animals and then drink their blood.

[greenbean36191]

On a similar note. Compare what most popular media sources (including hobby reference books) claim about cleaner organisms like fish and shrimp to what the scientific literature says. They only eat a few types of parasites and there isn't much strong evidence that they provide any significant health benefit to the fish.
Here are just a few:
Losey, G.S. 1972. The Ecological Importance of Cleaning Symbiosis.
Copeia. 4: 820-833.

Bunkley-Williams, L. and E.H. Williams. 1998. Ability of Pederson Cleaner Shrimp To Remove Juveniles of the Parasitic Cymothoid Isopod, Anilocra Haemuli, From the Host. 8: 862-869.

Sikkel, P.C., C.A. Fuller, and W. Hunte. 2000. Habitat/sex differences in time at cleaning stations and ectoparasite loads in a Caribbean reef fish. MEPS. 193: 191-199.


You could do the same thing with effectiveness of UV sterilizers. People in the hobby swear by them, but the scientific literature is pretty much unanimous in the conclusion that they don't work on recirculating systems like ours.

Spotte, S. and Adams, G. 1981. Pathogen Reduction in Closed Aquaculture Systems by UV Radiation: Fact or Artifact? MEPS 6: 295-298.

Herald, E. S., Dempster, R. P, Hunt. M. 1970. Ultraviolet sterilization of aquarium water. In: Hayen, W. (ed.) Aquarium design criteria (Spec ed.), Drum and Croaker, U S Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. 57-71

Bullock. G. L.. Stuckey, H. M. 1977. Ultraviolet treatment of water for destruction of five gram-negative bacteria pathogenic to fishes. J. Fish. Res. Bd Can. 34: 1244-1249

Spotte, S., Buck, J. D. 1981. The efficacy of UV irradiation in the microbial disinfection of marine mammal water J. Wildl. Dis. 17: 11-16

Spanier, E. 1978. Preliminary trials with an ultraviolet liquid sterilizer. Aquaculture 14: 75-84

Gratzek, J.B., Gilbert, J.P., Lohr, A.L., Shotts, E.B. Jr., Brown, J. 1983. Ultraviolet light control of Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Fouquet) in a closed fish culture recirculation system. J. Fish. Dis. 6:2 145-153.


Finally, probably the biggest question in reef ecology at the moment- What do increased nutrients do to the reef? Here are just a handful of literally hundreds of articles on the subject.

Koop, K. et al. 2001. ENCORE: the effect of nutrient enrichment on coral reefs. Synthesis of results and conclusions. Mar Pollut Bull 42(2): 91-120.

Tomascik, T. and F. Sanders. 1987. Effects of eutrophication on reef-building corals. Marine Biology 94: 53-74.

LaPointe, B.E. and M.W. Clark. 1992. Nutrient Inputs from the Watershed and Coastal Eutrophication in the Florida Keys. Estuaries 15: 465-476.

Meye, J.L., E.T. Schultz, and G.S. Helfman. 1983. Fish schools: an asset to corals. Science 220:1047-1048.

[ladyfsu]

SWEET! Thank you! I've been reading up on Advanced Aquarist and RK for some things that are current- but what you just wrote - perfect! Now I just need to locate this information !!