Coral Ecology

An Unusual Endemic Coral

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 6 A species is said to be endemic if it is confined to a defined region like an island, country or geographical zone. As we move our research from the West Pacific to the Indian …

The Hole Record

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 5 Today we hear from Konrad Hughen, Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, about the process of coral coring and how it is being used to measure changes in climate in this remote …

Mission to Palau

The Global Reef Expedition surveyed the reefs of Palau as part of their ongoing mission to study the health of coral reefs around the world. Palau’s reefs are filled with schools of large fish and ancient corals, important indicators of …

Spring Break?

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 3 School is definitely in session here in Chagos! The fish team has had our hands full trying to identify, count, and size all the fish we’ve been seeing in our surveys. The reefs here …

Looks Can Be Deceiving

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 2 For our first mission to the British Indian Ocean Territories (BIOT), our research is concentrated on the southern banks of the Chagos Archipelago. This area includes a number of small islands and atolls. Our …

Exploring Chagos

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Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 1 We have just arrived at the Chagos Archipelago to study some of the most remote reefs on the planet for the latest leg of the Global Reef Expedition. M/Y Golden Shadow has just completed …

Restoring Jamaica’s Pedro Banks

Written by Elizabeth Rauer In the 1970’s, Jamaica’s reefs were the pride of the Caribbean, teaming with large fish that supported a vibrant tourism industry and provided seafood for local communities. But overfishing, disease, hurricanes, and development pressure degraded many …

Palau’s Precious Places

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Expedition Log: Palau – Day 21 Today is the last day the Global Reef Expedition’s mission to Palau. Over the last five weeks our team of scientists surveyed 85 different coral reefs, stretching from Angaur in the south, through the …