The Aquatic Dance of Turtles

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 24 While traveling from one survey site to another, the ground-truthing team came across two sea turtles mating. They appeared to be green turtles (Chelonia mydas), currently most abundant of the sea turtle species. Green …

The secret seagrass beds of BIOT

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 23 Seagrass beds are found in many tropical coral reef lagoons around they world. They provide important ecosystem services, including sediment retention, juvenile fish habitat, and coastal protection. Historically, seagrasses have also been used as …

Life and Death on the Reef

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 22 The grim reaper comes quickly if you are a coral. Superbly adapted to their life in the shallow ocean and so successful that they can build some of the biggest structures created by living …

The Daily Grind

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 21 Working at sea aboard the M/Y Golden Shadow, my day starts at 6:00am with a strong cup of coffee. The sun is just rising, and so is the rest of the dive team. The …

Adventures in Chagos (BIOT)

‘Adventures in Chagos,’ posted in the Scripps Institution Coral Reef Ecology blog, was written by Samantha Clements, a science team member on the Living Oceans Foundation’s BIOT Mission earlier this year. Adventures in Chagos Coral Reef Ecology Blog of Smith …

Stunning Sponges

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 20 For some divers, sponges are just unspectacular filter feeders hidden among corals, algae and other organisms but for others, including me, they are fascinating organisms. On many tropical Pacific reefs they are relatively uncommon, …

Walls of fish at Victory Bank

Written by Chris Mirbach Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 19 On a single dive on Victory Bank in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), I saw the greatest abundance of fish I have ever witnessed, after having completed nearly 1000 …

Coral Bleaching Hits Indian Ocean Reefs

Findings of coral bleaching in the Indian Ocean from the Global Reef Expedition mission to BIOT were published on CBSNEWS.com. Coral Bleaching Hits Indian Ocean Reefs CBSNEWS.com May 19, 2015 Michael Casey Coral bleaching has reached the Indian Ocean after …

Wobbling Coastlines of the Chagos Islands

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 18 I’m spending the week walking the coastlines of as many of the islands of Peros Banhos atoll as I can with an accurate global positioning system (GPS). The challenge we face when extracting the …