Faculty Bulletin

Arthur Bos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, has published an article, entitled “The lunar cycle determines availability of coral reef fishes on fish markets” in the international Journal of Fish Biology. This is the first study to prove that the presence of coral reef fishes on markets is affected by the lunar cycle.

As Arthur explains: “This knowledge is extremely important, because, worldwide, management of fish populations depends on data collected at fish markets. It is therefore recommended that future fish market surveys should be designed in such way that the lunar cycle does not affect their outcomes.”

The abstract of the article can be found HERE.

 Justin Grubich (Assistant Professor of Biology) along with Arthur Bos (Assistant Professor of Biology) and Selim Kafafy (undergraduate student in Biology) filmed a documentary at AUC’s John D. Gerhart Field with ZED productions. The topic of the film was Justin’s research into the ecology and behavior of Red Sea lionfishes. This international documentary will highlight Justin’s ongoing investigations comparing the native Red Sea lionfishes with the invasive lionfish populations that now dominate the coral reef ecosystems of the Caribbean and western Altantic ocean.  

Arthur Bos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, has published a paper in the international journal Invertebrate Reproduction and Development. The paper, entitled “Size at maturation, sex differences, and pair density during the mating season of the Indo-Pacific beach star Archaster typicus (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) in the Philippines,” describes the unusual reproduction behavior of this starfish. Most starfishes reproduce by broadcast spawning (simultaneously releasing gametes into the water column), but this starfish performs mating to increase reproductive success. During mating, males mount on females and stay there for hours up to several days. This paper determined the timing of reproduction, studied locomotion differences between males and females, and described the changing population densities during reproduction. This is important information for management of this starfish’s populations that are highly affected by harvesting for the ornamental and aquarium trade.

The abstract of the paper (online first) can be found HERE.

CONFERENCE GRANTS

BUS (School of Business)

*Khaled Samaha (ACCT). Ljubljana, Slovenia. May 2012.

*Hamed Shamma (MGMT). New Orleans, USA. May 2012.

GAPP (School of Global Affairs and Public Policy)

*Ibrahim Awad (CMRS/PPAD). San Diego, CA, USA. April 2012.

*Kevin Keenan (JRMC). Myrtle Beach, SC, USA. March 2012.

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*Tahia Abdel Nasser (ECLT). Providence, RI, USA. March-April 2012.

*Elizabeth Arrigoni (ELI). Princeton, NJ, USA. April 2012.

*James Curiel (SAPE). New Orleans, USA. April 2012.

*Mariah Fairley (ELI). Philadelphia, USA. March 2012.

*Atta Gebril (ELI). Princeton, NJ, USA. April 2012.

*Amy Holmes (SAPE). New York, USA. February 2012.

*Ivan Ivekovic (POLS). Calcutta, India. January 2012.

*Nagwa Kassabgy (ELI). Boston, USA. March 2012.

*Namira Negm (POLS). Kuwait. November 2011. 

*Ann Shafer (PVA). Philadelphia, USA. January 2012.

*Nadine Sika (POLS). Washington, DC, USA. December 2011.

*Elisabeth Yoder (ELI). Philadelphia. March 2012.

LLT (School of Libraries and Learning Technologies)

*Meggan Houlihan (Library). Limerick, Ireland. May 2012.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Wael Mamdouh Ahmed (CHEM). Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, Spain. February 2012.

*Sherif Aly (CSCE). Lugano, Switzerland. March 2012. 

*Amal Esawi (MENG). Orlando, Fl, USA. March 2012.

*Hany Fayek (MENG). Toronto, ON, Canada. July 2012.

*Suher Zada (BIOL). Beijing, China. March 2012.

RESEARCH GRANTS

BUS (School of Business)

*Khaled Samaha (ACCT), “The Determinants and Use of Future Oriented Disclosures: A Comparative Analysis of Egypt and the United Kingdom.” Cairo. December 2011-November 2012.

DDC (Desert Development Center)

*Richard Tutwiler (DDC), “Initial Assessment of the Carbon Footprint of the American University in Cairo,” Cairo, December 2011-May 2012.

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*John Baboukis (PVA). “Performance of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat.” Cairo, Egypt. February-March 2012.

*Salima Ikram (SAPE). “North Kharga Oasis Survey. Fieldwork.” Kharga Oasis, Egypt. December 2011-January 2012.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Arthur Bos (BIOL). “Phylogenetic Analysis of Red Sea Fishes and Echinoderms.” Red Sea, Egypt. January-August 2012.

*Ali Darwish (EENG). “Thermal Analysis and Stability Analysis of MMIC.” Cairo and Washington, DC, USA. December 2011-August 2012. 

*Mayyada El-Sayed (CHEM). “Preliminary Characterization of Isoflavones in Soy Nutritional Supplements.” February-April 2012.

TEACHING ENHANCEMENT GRANT

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*Salima Ikram (SAPE). “Visiting Archaeological Sites in the Sudan (Nubian Sites).” Sudan. January 2012.

Arthur R. Bos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, published a paper in the ‘Reefsite’ section of Coral Reefs, the journal of the International Society for Reef Studies. The paper, entitled “Fishes (Gobiidae and Labridae) associated with the mushroom coral Heliofungia actiniformis (Scleractinia: Fungiidae) in the Philippines,” describes new symbiotic relationships between fishes and individual polyps of the mushroom coral H. actiniformis. Representatives of the mushroom coral family are well known for their associations with shrimps and popular targets for underwater photographers. Especially, the individual polyps of the mushroom coral H. actiniformis are popular due to their ability to extend their tentacles during the day and not just at night as most corals do. Fish associations with corals are relatively common, but the only fish known to be associated with the mushroom coral H. actiniformishas been the white pipefish Siokunichthys nigrolineatus. Dr. Bos firstly observed fishes, other than S. nigrolineatus, associated with the mushroom coral H. actiniformis. Moreover, this is the first record of various fish species cohabiting in a single H. actiniformisindividual, resembling cases involving various shrimp species in the same coral host and clown fishes in a single sea anemone. The ‘Reefsite’ can be downloaded from the Coral Reefs website by clicking HERE.

Arthur R. Bos, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, recently published a paper in the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology (RBZ), a journal of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research in Singapore. The paper is entitled “Feeding biology and symbiotic relationships of the corallimorpharian Paracorynactis hoplites (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia),” and describes the feeding mechanism and symbiotic animals of this large marine anemone-like polyp.

Dr. Bos described this newly discovered corallimorpharian species with colleagues in 2010, and they gave it its present taxonomic name Paracorynactis hoplites. The polyp can reach an unusually large diameter of up to 170 mm and, even more remarkably, is able to digest the toxic crown-of-thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci). This sea star has caused tremendous problems in Indo-Pacific coral reefs (including the Great Barrier Reef). As this sea star feeds exclusively on coral tissue and its density dramatically increases at regular intervals, it has destroyed entire reefs during so-called “crown-of-thorns outbreaks.” Dr. Bos studied how the polyp P. hoplites preys upon the crown-of-thorns and what sizes of sea stars it can ingest (Fig. 1). This knowledge is extremely important for the management of crown-of-thorns populations and may contribute to the explanation of the poorly-understood crown-of-thorns outbreaks. The paper also describes other natural prey species of the polyp P. hoplites and reports on the symbiotic relationships with shrimps and fishes, which live among the tentacles of the polyp as observed in the Philippines. The paper can be downloaded (open access) from the RBZ website (http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/592/59rbz245-250.pdf)

Figure 1  A Polyp of Paracorynactis hoplites ingesting a crown-of-thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci)

Figure 2 Arthur Bos