giving coral reefs a future

The idea of the project is to using micro processor technologies to replicate environmental conditions that may trigger spawning in a closed system. He wants to use that technique to do climate change research to understand the resilience within corals, and also to develop a sustainable aquaculture for corals. Later on, we will interview Jamie, hoping to allure him to share some more details about this interesting project!

[Lectures]

Dave Burdick moved on and shared some of his extensive knowledge about coral reef ecology. His lecture should be followed by a short field workshop in the afternoon. However, halfway through the morning, Mike McCue brought in a weather report showing three depressions surrounding Guam. One is located southwest of the island, and might build up to a tropical storm heading for Guam. So we decided to change our schedule and combine the ecology field workshop with tomorrows disease workshop. This allowed us to go Ritidian Point, one of the most beautiful beaches of Guam. Its shallow reef is abundant, with many colonies of Porites, Acropora, Montipora and Heliopora spp.. A perfect place to snorkel and examine corals up close and personal.

[Ritidian Point]

Early evening we split into two groups. Though spawning wasn't yet predicted to happen, we still wanted to monitor the corals in the reef and the marine lab. One group went for an observation night dive at Tanguisson Beach, while the other went to the lab to see if any pre-spawning signs would occur. As expected, no staging was observed in the lab, nor in the field. The dive team spent a pleasurable hour under water, enjoying the reef and its many inhabitants by night.

[Night dive]

Some of us seized their chance to experiment photographing with fluorescent light, resulting in some extraordinary pictures. Jamie happily shared one of his photos with us, so you can see for yourself!

[Fluorescent]