Exploring Marine Ecosystems and Native Plants: Insights from Coral Reefs to Backyard Gardens
This blog category features posts focused on coral reef organisms and the ecological relationships that sustain reef systems. Through these posts, I explore species interactions, reef dynamics, and the factors that influence coral health and resilience.
My six-year-old niece is coming to visit and we are going snorkeling! I'm very excited! Not only because she's a fun kid to hang out with, but also because she shares my love of fish and learning about the ocean. So, I've been thinking about all the things we could do together and how I might need to adapt them a bit for a tiny person.
Five years after I first learned about CRF and their volunteer & dive programs, I was finally able to join them for a dive! The morning session was great - we learned about the economic and environmental cost of losing coral reefs as well as CRF restoration methods and techniques. There was a good deal… Continue reading Diving with The Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF)
One of the many reasons coral reefs are so remarkable is the symbiotic relationship between the heterotrophic coral species and the unicellular algae most commonly known as "zooxanthellae". The term "zooxanthellae" is used to refer to an enormous and incredibly diverse group of endo-symbionts including many diatoms and dinoflagellates. This is confusing as it generalizes taxonomically diverse symbiotic relationships. The Symbiodinium are part of the Phylum Dinophyta (Dinoflagellates) and the clade Alveolates. Because of the diversity of species and the complexity of clades and taxonomic groupings for these organisms, they are better and more accurately referred to by their genus “Symbiodinium” which encompasses an enormous group of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates.
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.
Erica Lauer Vose 