WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 9
SCIENCE
Biology convention discusses problems facing coral reefs
By Kevin Wiggs
kwiggs@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
An ocean hasn't existed in Kansas for 85 million years, but researchers from 26 countries don't care. They've come to the University of Kansas to discuss marine life.
The University is hosting the seventh International Conference on Coelenterate Biology this week, the first held in the United States.
"It is the best opportunity to see people in closely related fields covering many aspects," said Adorian Ardelean, Timisoara, Romania, doctoral student. "This is the best meeting I can get."
Daphne Fautin, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and chair of the conference's organizing committee brought the event to the University. She said she wanted to display the University's unique biology department.
"Other universities focus on the molecular level of organisms, like DNA," she said. "KU looks at the animals as a whole.
I wanted to showcase that."
The main topic at this conference is the plight of coral and coral reefs.
If the coral situation does not improve it will reduce the population of fish, said Ray Pierotti, associate professor of biological sciences at the University.
"It's a very serious situation," he said. "The water temperature is rising and we're not quite sure why, and diseases are showing up and we're not sure where they come from."
Theories for these coral problems include global warming, people building resorts around the reefs,the dumping of sewage into the ocean and fishermen using dynamite to catch fish around the reefs,Pierotti said.
Yesterday the conference attendees took field trips to various locations around Lawrence and Kansas City. Lectures will resume in the Kansas Union tomorrow and Friday, with workshops on Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, visit www.nhm.ku.edu/inverts/iccb.
- Edited by Jennifer Wellington
Andorean Ardelean. Timisoara, Romania doctoral student, stands in front of his presentation for the seventh Conference on Coelenterate Biology being held on the sixth floor of the Kansas Union this week. His presentation,"A Revision of the Sea Anemone Family Actinodendridae," has been seen by over 200 conference participants from 26 countries.
Zach Straus/Kansan
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