A History of Niue

<p>"In the beginning, this island now called Niue was nothing but coral rock (he punga)... There came a god, an aitu, from the south, a god sailed to and fro on the face of the waters. He looked down here and saw far below on the ocean the white punga rock. He let down his hook and hauled the punga up to the surface, and lo! there stood and island!" - John Lupo. The genesis of Niue remains conjectural. The Polynesian calls in a supernatural agency, an aitu from the south, to explain the emergence of the multiplication of corals and algae from the waters of the mid-Pacific to form an island two-hundred feet high, but the story of the god and his line and hook is a local adaptation of a very ancient and widespread fable, as are in varying degrees other Polynesian versions of the birth of the island, Cook advanced two further possibilities in 1777 when he speculated: "Has this Island been raised by an earthquake? Or has the sea receded from it?"</p>

A History of Niue

<p>"In the beginning, this island now called Niue was nothing but coral rock (he punga)... There came a god, an aitu, from the south, a god sailed to and fro on the face of the waters. He looked down here and saw far below on the ocean the white punga rock. He let down his hook and hauled the punga up to the surface, and lo! there stood and island!" - John Lupo. The genesis of Niue remains conjectural. The Polynesian calls in a supernatural agency, an aitu from the south, to explain the emergence of the multiplication of corals and algae from the waters of the mid-Pacific to form an island two-hundred feet high, but the story of the god and his line and hook is a local adaptation of a very ancient and widespread fable, as are in varying degrees other Polynesian versions of the birth of the island, Cook advanced two further possibilities in 1777 when he speculated: "Has this Island been raised by an earthquake? Or has the sea receded from it?"</p>

STRUKTUR KOMUNITAS MAKROALGA DI PANTAI GEGER DAN PANTAI MENGENING KABUPATEN BADUNG

Macroalgae is a type of flora known as seaweed and is classified into low-level plants, where roots, stems, and leaves are relatively difficult to distinguish. This study aims to determine the differences of habitat characteristics, number of species, biomass, and macroalgae community structure in Geger Beach and Mengening Beach. This quadrant transect method was used to collect the data. The results show that Geger Beach has sandy substrate, while Mengening Beach has substrate consisting of coral rock. The water quality in both locations are still suitable for macroalgae growth. The results of the study found 8 types of macroalgae in Geger Beach and 10 types of macroalgae in Mengening Beach. The highest macroalgae biomass at Geger Beach was found in Gracilaria hayi with the weight ranging from 72.08-73.18 g/m2, while at Mengening Beach was found in the Valonia aegagropila, ranging from 181.31-190.40 g/m2. The diversity index of macroalgae in Geger Beach was between 1.93-1.99, while at Mengening Beach was between 1.79-2.07, therefore categorized as medium. The dominance index of macroalgae at Geger Beach was between 0.15-0.17, while at Mengening Beach was between 0.17-0.25, therefore the dominance index at both site was categorized low. The evenness index at Geger Beach was between 0.93-0.96, while at Mengening Beach was between 0.78-0.90, which categorized as stable conditions.

Relationship of Coastline and Mangrove Area in West Rangsang - Indonesia

The coastal zone of West Rangsang is part of the Kepulauan Meranti regency, which directly faces Malacca Strait, which is one of the most crowded channels in the world. However, its shoreline is an open coast, which mostly undergoes local erosion as the defensive areas, encompassing coral rock and mangrove forest, are fragmented by nature and human exploitation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between the damaged coastline and the mangrove area changes in West Rangsang for the past 20 years. We propose a remote sensing method by satellite imagery to evaluate the coastline changes and the mangrove. Each year, the coastline positions were obtained using data processing involving geometric calibration, image cutting, and extraction. The changes were analyzed by inter-crossing the images of 1997 and 2017, further divided for four periods, i.e., 1997–2002, 2002–2007, 2007–2012, and 2012–2017. The results showed that varying erosion and accretion rates were due to shoreline exposure, strongly associated with the mangrove forests' devastation. However, this caused the physical function loss as an anchor against the coast's wear-out and as a breaker of waves and current approaching the island from the ocean. The stakeholder may use these research results to appropriate measures, such as replanting and creating mangrove-care societies, to conserve and maintain the coast.

Acid secretion by the boring organ of the burrowing giant clam, Tridacna crocea

The giant clam Tridacna crocea , native to Indo-Pacific coral reefs, is noted for its unique ability to bore fully into coral rock and is a major agent of reef bioerosion. However, T. crocea 's mechanism of boring has remained a mystery despite decades of research. By exploiting a new, two-dimensional pH-sensing technology and manipulating clams to press their presumptive boring tissue (the pedal mantle) against pH-sensing foils, we show that this tissue lowers the pH of surfaces it contacts by greater than or equal to 2 pH units below seawater pH day and night. Acid secretion is likely mediated by vacuolar-type H + -ATPase, which we demonstrate (by immunofluorescence) is abundant in the pedal mantle outer epithelium. Our discovery of acid secretion solves this decades-old mystery and reveals that, during bioerosion, T. crocea can liberate reef constituents directly to the soluble phase, rather than producing sediment alone as earlier assumed.

Growth and survival of marine sponges, Stylissa massa (Carter, 1887) and Liosina paradoxa (Thiele, 1899) in sea and land based culture systems

Two species of marine sponges Stylissa massa and Liosina paradoxa were cultured in cages (in situ) and in land based aquaria (ex situ) over a period of 120 days. Growth and survival were evaluated using four substrates viz., tile, block, coral rock and rope) under both in situ and ex situ conditions. L. paradoxa in cages recorded significant increase (p<0.05) on day 90 i.e., by 70% compared to initial volume whereas at 120 days there was a significant (p<0.05) decrease (54.22%). S. massa showed significant increase (p<0.05) in growth by 95.6% at 120 days compared to initial volume. Negative growth was recorded in S. massa under aquarium conditions while L. paradoxa recorded good growth as well as survival and performed exceptionally well in aquarium during the entire experimental period of 120 days. In cages, 90.62% survival was recorded for S. massa in 120 days. Among the different substrates used, coral rocks gave 100% survival whereas other substrates such as tiles, blocks and ropes showed 87.5% survival. Under aquarium conditions, S. massa showed overall survival of 81.25% and among the different substrates, 100% survival was obtained with coral rocks, 87.5% with blocks, 75% with ropes and the lowest survival of 62.5% was recorded with tiles.

“Natural Chronometers”: Coral Islands and the Discovery of Time, from Buffon to Darwin

Two phenomena in particular offered hints to early nineteenth-century geology about dating the antiquity of the earth: volcanos of the kind discovered at Pompeii, and coral rock of the kind discovered, above all, in the tropical Pacific. This paper surveys the growth in knowledge of coral between the theories offered up by Johann Reinhold Forster (who accompanied James Cook on his second voyage of 1772-1775) to those more or less authoritative ones published by Charles Darwin in his Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs of 1842. Inputs both religious and secular are included, because the Biblical element imaginatively accompanied, and sometimes stimulated, the more strictly empirical endeavours of scientists. What was needed for nineteenth-century geological and biological theories to gain a footing was a new vision of time, and coral was a 'natural chronometer' of momentous importance in demonstrating how old the earth must be.