Exploring Marine Ecosystems and Native Plants: Insights from Coral Reefs to Backyard Gardens
Not long after I got certified to scuba dive, I learned about the Coral Restoration Foundation. CRF is a really exciting and amazing organization dedicated to "actively restoring coral reefs on a massive scale, educating others on the importance of our oceans, and using science to further coral research and coral reef monitoring techniques." While… Continue reading Citizen Science with Coral Restoration Foundation
This is an Initial Phase Queen Parrotfish being cleaned (most likely) by juvenile bluehead wrasse and are the best photos we've ever gotten of cleaner fish in action. I learned about this amazing occurrence from a fishinar presentation "Cleaning Stations" given by Ned Deloach (co-author of everyone's favorite fish ID books) that I really began to understand the importance of cleaning stations and the amazing relationships that play out there.
I was deep in a research rabbit hole because I had read that there are some concerns around the idea of coral restoration through nurseries alone. The nurseries often rely on coral organism’s’ ability to reproduce through cloning. A single fragment off of a larger coral can be replanted where it will grow into a new coral individual that is genetically identical to the original coral. If a majority of coral is being raised in nurseries and out-planted from only a few genetic strains, coral populations lose genetic diversity causes all sorts of problems. All this had me wondering, how do coral reproduce?
Reef Renewal Foundation Bonaire is a non-profit organization founded in 2012 and is dedicated to preserving Bonaire’s coral reefs. They partnered with the Bonaire National Marine Park and launched a reef restoration pilot project. The project focused on restoration of the shallow reefs by establishing staghorn and elkhorn coral nurseries and restoration sites and still… Continue reading Reef Renewal Bonaire
I didn’t know at the time what I was seeing or how hard it would be to get another great picture of this fish. I’ve seen them in Bonaire and Belize but never been able to get another picture good enough to share. I do know that the first time I saw it, I thought, “the reef is a truly astonishing and beautiful place!”
Erica Lauer Vose 