Summer Marine Biology Programs for
Young People and Educators
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Coral Reefs Are Threatened Worldwide Assessments to late 2000 show that 27% of the world's coral reefs have been irrevocably lost, the greatest damage being in the Indian Ocean, where 59% of reefs have been lost. Coral cover has decreased on most Caribbean islands because of pollution and coral disease (i.e. in Jamaica coral cover dropped from 52% in the 70s to 10-15% in 2001.) Globally, it is estimated that 40% of the world's coral reefs have been lost by 2010, and another 20% in the 20 years following unless an urgent management plan is implemented. If global warming trends continue, coral reefs, which live at the upper tolerances of temperature already, will be among the first ecosystems devastated. Past episodes of warming water (most recently during El Nino 1998) resulted in large scale mortality and bleaching of corals. While corals can recover from such temperature fluctuations, sustained temperature increases would most likely result in permanent mortality. |
The Research Project
You'll
be expected to design and execute a whole-group coral reef monitoring
project as part of your experience. The project takes place in the field
on SCUBA and is dependent on whole group coordination. In the past,
we have focused our research on monitoring various coral reef health
indicators at two different sites that experience different SCUBA diving
pressures. We have amassed four years of data, allowing us to make longitudinal
observations about the sites.
We believe that the best research projects contribute to local conservation efforts. Students present their data to the Caymanian Department of the Environment, lending important health indicators on local coral reefs for the DOE's conservation efforts.
We are proud to report that:
• Our research has been written about in Caymanian national news
• One of our students, Blakely Kay, won semi-finalist status (1996) with her research paper from the program in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search Competition (formerly known as the Westinghouse Science Talent Search). For more information, see Intel Science Talent Search.
• The Caymanian Department of the Environment keeps the Ocean Matters student research on file.
"I
think back to the last couple of days [of the program], when we were
putting together our research report, doing standard deviations, working
really hard. We wouldn't have accomplished as much if we didn't all
feel that way about the reef and care about the project and the topic.
I have a quotation that sums it up, 'Nothing in the world is accomplished
without passion.'"
-- Robyn, a student of Ocean Matters
Contact us for more information
about Ocean Matters.
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