Paleo Slide Set: Coral Paleoclimatology
A school of goatfish (Mulloidicthys dentatus) at Clipperton Atoll.

The modern age, an era where human beings have attained an uneasy control over 
the natural world, is a direct threat to many of the species with which we share 
this planet. If in coming years, pollution or anthropogenic climate change erases 
scenes such as this, a school of goatfish serenely swimming above large colonies 
of Porites lobata, from the earth, not only will we lose one of the most fascinatingly 
beautiful ecosystems on the planet, we will also lose one of our most important tools 
for understanding how our planet works. Both beauty and information are increasingly 
valuable and scarce commodities in this rapidly changing world of ours, and we can 
ill afford to lose either.

Photo Credits:
Jerry Wellington
Department of Biology, University of Houston