proposal & bib

8/10/2019 Proposal & Bib.

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Proposal with

Annotated

Bibliography

Ian Combs

Economical and Environmental

Issues of Threatened and

Endangered Corals


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Ian Combs

[email protected]

704-929-9298

Memorandum

Date: October 17, 2014

To: Dr. Robert Arnold

From: Ian Combs

Subject: Request Approval of Research Project

The reason I am writing you today is to formally request approval of my research project topic. I

am interested in exploring the problems that aquarium hobbyist and businesses will face by

corals being placed on the Endangered Species Act. This memo will go into detail about why this

topic interests me, my research plan, and objectives of this project.

Topic Interests

I have, and currently, owned a saltwater aquarium containing corals for a number of

years.

I am an active conservationist and find the oceans to be at the forefront of the need for

protection and preservation.

I have many friends whose livelihood depends upon them being able to grow and sale

corals.

Research Plan

Being that this topic affects me personally I have organized a plethora of research material to

use on this project. I have several magazine articles written by noted professionals in their

respective fields. I also have many scholarly online articles all written by PhDs examining the

issue at hand. My final research plan will be to conduct interviews with some of the local

aquarium shops to get their firsthand account of the impact this will have on their business.

Objectives

My objective of this project will be to find a way to protect and preserve the coral species of the

world while still allowing the possession and sale of aforementioned corals. The key objective is

that the corals must remain protected from wild collecting.


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Ian Combs

[email protected]

704-929-9298

Solution

The solution to the problem at hand would be to allow the aquaculture and mariculture trade

to continue to alleviate pressures from wild collection practices.

Schedule

The schedule of this project is as followed.

October 10

thDowndraft of proposal.

October 15th

Initial research on the topic.

October 17th

Final proposal and annotated bibliography.

October 22nd

Feasibility report introductions.

Conclusion

My included annotated bibliography will give details on my sources and their importance. Feel

free to contact me at [email protected] if more information is needed, thank you.

Annotated Bibliography

"Corals." NOAA Fisheries. NOAA Fisheries, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

.

This site and the following NOAA site is where most of my information came from. This page

and articles provided all the information I needed about coral facts. Here you can find all the

facts about corals such as what is coral, how they live, and why they are threatened. This site

list all the reasons why corals are endangered and all the corals placed on the endangered

species act.

"NOAA Lists 20 New Corals as Threatened Under the Endangered Species Act."

NOAA Fisheries. NOAA Fisheries, 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

.

This is the second NOAA site that I used. Here you will find the final ruling made by NOAA and

other coral facts sheets. This site talks about what will happen now that the corals have been


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Ian Combs

[email protected]

704-929-9298

placed on the endangered species list and what part of the world they come from. Again NOAA

and their scientist wrote all the articles published on this site. When citing my NOAA sources I

will simply refer to both site as one since they are both under the same parent website.

Interview conducted by me with Chris and Kevin from Nemos Reef.

This interview is where I was able to get a first hand account of the impact this ruling will have

upon the aquarium trade. They also provided my great incite into how aquarium stores get and

maintain their corals. Chris and Kevin were able to tell me how much of their corals are

sustainable sourced and how many they carry that will be impacted by this ruling.

Rajcic, Christie D., B.S. "The Effect of PH, Alkalinity, and Calcium on Hermatypic Corals."

Advanced Aquarist. Advanced Aquarist, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.

.

While there are many great articles published on Advanced Aquarist site, this article was great

at providing information on coral sensitivity. Christie did many experiments on corals to see

how much impact things like pH, temperature, and other factors play a role in coral health. She

talks about how much people are impacting the coral reefs and what we can do to stop the

destruction.

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