Present Limits to Heat-Adaptability in Corals and Population-Level Responses to Climate Extremes

Climate change scenarios suggest an increase in tropical ocean temperature by 1–3°C by 2099, potentially killing many coral reefs. But Arabian/Persian Gulf corals already exist in this future thermal environment predicted for most tropical reefs and survived severe bleaching in 2010, one of the hottest years on record. Exposure to 33–35°C was on average twice as long as in non-bleaching years. Gulf corals bleached after exposure to temperatures above 34°C for a total of 8 weeks of which 3 weeks were above 35°C. This is more heat than any other corals can survive, providing an insight into the present limits of holobiont adaptation. We show that average temperatures as well as heat-waves in the Gulf have been increasing, that coral population levels will fluctuate strongly, and reef-building capability will be compromised. This, in combination with ocean acidification and significant local threats posed by rampant coastal development puts even these most heat-adapted corals at risk. WWF considers the Gulf ecoregion as “critically endangered”. We argue here that Gulf corals should be considered for assisted migration to the tropical Indo-Pacific. This would have the double benefit of avoiding local extinction of the world's most heat-adapted holobionts while at the same time introducing their genetic information to populations naïve to such extremes, potentially assisting their survival. Thus, the heat-adaptation acquired by Gulf corals over 6 k, could benefit tropical Indo-Pacific corals who have <100 y until they will experience a similarly harsh climate. Population models suggest that the heat-adapted corals could become dominant on tropical reefs within ∼20 years

The innervation of patella: anatomical and clinical study

Esmer, Ali Firat/0000-0003-2511-9879WOS: 000233246400012PubMed: 16172870As much interest has been focused on afferent innervation of knee than that of patella, there are few articles about patellar innervation. But in clinical practice anterior knee pain due to patellar disorders is a quite frequent problem. Our aim was to review the innervation pattern of patella and to give the topographic anatomy of the nerves. We dissected 30 knees of 15 formaldehyde-fixed cadavers. Two nerves from vastus medialis and lateralis were found to reach patellar edge. Apart from these, we were unable to find any other neural structures around patellae. Mean distances between the tuberosity of the tibia and medial and lateral nerve entry points were 90.1(range 74-102) and 96.3 mm (range 76-109), respectively. The angles between lines which join the entry points of nerves and vertical line to the center point of patella were measured in frontal plane. It was approximately 60 degrees medially and 40 degrees laterally. To confirm that these nerves are patellar pain afferents, we performed a local anesthesia test in 32 knees of 20 patients with patellofemoral pain. Clinically, there was a significant difference between the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores before and after local anesthetic injections (p < 0.01). Previous studies have emphasized especially the medial innervation. We found that both superomedial and superolateral nerves were important for patellar innervation. We described precisely the entry points of these nerves to patella for selective denervation