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Zoology www guide
Zoology 105 (2002): 175–176 © by Urban & Fischer Verlag http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/zoology
Zoology www guide edited by Thomas C. G. Bosch Readers are welcome to send Website suggestions for future editions of Zoology to [email protected]. With the rise of molecular phylogenetics, comparative biology is coming back and once under-studied animal phyla, for example Urochordata or Cnidaria, are moving toward the center. Here we focus on Cnidaria and corals.
Cnidaria (http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/biochem/steele/default.html) Cnidaria lack a key feature of most animals: bilateral symmetry. However, in contrast to the simplest metazoa, such as sponges, they do have a body axis. Cnidarians have fascinated zoologists ever since Abraham Trembley in 1744 has conducted experiments in the freshwater hydra. By demonstrating that this simple animal can regenerate astonishingly well missing parts of the body he refuted the preformation theorists which were very influential at that time. Nearly 200 years later, in 1909 embryologist Ethel Browne used Hydra to demonstrate for the first time that distinct regions of the body can act as organizer and induce neighbouring tissue to differentiate. Similar lateral transplantation experiments were done 15 years later by Hans Spemann and Hilde Man-
gold in Triturus. The third time when an cnidarian had a major impact on the formulation of biological concepts was when Alan Turing in 1952 and a number of notable developmental biologists thereafter used Hydra to support concepts of graded distribution of positional information along the body axis. With present day molecular technology and the development of methods to study the function of genes, cnidarian such as Hydra, Hydractinia or Podocoryne may be used to explain some major transitions during animal phylogeny, such as the origin of multiple germ layers in the ancestor of the bilaterian. For getting an exhaustive supply of information, click on the cnidarian homepage. The site´s offerings range from a historical chapter, to cnidarian taxonomy, cnidarian photos, description of research labs (“people, places and activities”), genetic information and research methods, to a link to other invertebrate models. Site developer Robert E. Steele of the University of California, Irvine, also posts messages to the Cnidaria Newsgroup forum where you can ask a scientist to answer your questions. Most recently, Steele has set an up an on-line, searchable database to provide a central location for information on the hydra strains available in various labs. “This site is maintained at the University of California, Irvine, for the use and benefit of the worldwide community of researchers studying all aspects of cnidarian biology”.
Coral Reefs (http://www.reefcheck.org/) Cnidarians are not only of interest from the perspective of understanding how animal body plans evolve. Cnidarians also include corals. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth. As second most 0944-2006/02/105/02-175 $ 15.00/0
T. C. G. Bosch
diverse ecosystem in the world they have been the model for some of the most important work in ecology. They are economically valuable as a source of food and compounds that can be used as drugs; they also protect the coast from wave erosion during storms. Scientists have been monitoring coral reefs since the time of Darwin. Yet, despite their importance, little has been done to understand coral reef organisms and how they respond to human activities. One place to find an answer to questions concerning coral reefs is the homepage of “The Reef Check Foundation”, located in the Institute of the Environment at the University of California Los Angeles. Goals of the foundation are to obtain high quality scientific data on the health of coral reefs on a global scale; to provide local reef managers with the tools and resources necessary to manage their reefs at a community level; and to raise public awareness about the value of coral reefs, the problems facing their health, and solutions to these problems. You can search the site for coral reef research
176
centers, species identification, publications, and even employment possibilities. The site also contains links to all major websites of coral reef research.
Zoology 105 (2002) 2
Zoology www guide edited by Thomas C. G. Bosch Readers are welcome to send Website suggestions for future editions of Zoology to [email protected]. With the rise of molecular phylogenetics, comparative biology is coming back and once under-studied animal phyla, for example Urochordata or Cnidaria, are moving toward the center. Here we focus on Cnidaria and corals.
Cnidaria (http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/biochem/steele/default.html) Cnidaria lack a key feature of most animals: bilateral symmetry. However, in contrast to the simplest metazoa, such as sponges, they do have a body axis. Cnidarians have fascinated zoologists ever since Abraham Trembley in 1744 has conducted experiments in the freshwater hydra. By demonstrating that this simple animal can regenerate astonishingly well missing parts of the body he refuted the preformation theorists which were very influential at that time. Nearly 200 years later, in 1909 embryologist Ethel Browne used Hydra to demonstrate for the first time that distinct regions of the body can act as organizer and induce neighbouring tissue to differentiate. Similar lateral transplantation experiments were done 15 years later by Hans Spemann and Hilde Man-
gold in Triturus. The third time when an cnidarian had a major impact on the formulation of biological concepts was when Alan Turing in 1952 and a number of notable developmental biologists thereafter used Hydra to support concepts of graded distribution of positional information along the body axis. With present day molecular technology and the development of methods to study the function of genes, cnidarian such as Hydra, Hydractinia or Podocoryne may be used to explain some major transitions during animal phylogeny, such as the origin of multiple germ layers in the ancestor of the bilaterian. For getting an exhaustive supply of information, click on the cnidarian homepage. The site´s offerings range from a historical chapter, to cnidarian taxonomy, cnidarian photos, description of research labs (“people, places and activities”), genetic information and research methods, to a link to other invertebrate models. Site developer Robert E. Steele of the University of California, Irvine, also posts messages to the Cnidaria Newsgroup forum where you can ask a scientist to answer your questions. Most recently, Steele has set an up an on-line, searchable database to provide a central location for information on the hydra strains available in various labs. “This site is maintained at the University of California, Irvine, for the use and benefit of the worldwide community of researchers studying all aspects of cnidarian biology”.
Coral Reefs (http://www.reefcheck.org/) Cnidarians are not only of interest from the perspective of understanding how animal body plans evolve. Cnidarians also include corals. Coral reefs are the largest biological structures on earth. As second most 0944-2006/02/105/02-175 $ 15.00/0
T. C. G. Bosch
diverse ecosystem in the world they have been the model for some of the most important work in ecology. They are economically valuable as a source of food and compounds that can be used as drugs; they also protect the coast from wave erosion during storms. Scientists have been monitoring coral reefs since the time of Darwin. Yet, despite their importance, little has been done to understand coral reef organisms and how they respond to human activities. One place to find an answer to questions concerning coral reefs is the homepage of “The Reef Check Foundation”, located in the Institute of the Environment at the University of California Los Angeles. Goals of the foundation are to obtain high quality scientific data on the health of coral reefs on a global scale; to provide local reef managers with the tools and resources necessary to manage their reefs at a community level; and to raise public awareness about the value of coral reefs, the problems facing their health, and solutions to these problems. You can search the site for coral reef research
176
centers, species identification, publications, and even employment possibilities. The site also contains links to all major websites of coral reef research.
Zoology 105 (2002) 2