Coral restoration, tropical fish species, reef ecosystems, native plants, and pollinators.
I love to take any opportunity I get to learn more about coral. Recently I got a chance to really deep dive into the symbiotic organisms (Symbiodinium) responsible for coral photosynthesis. I used my Biology class phylogeny paper to learn about these amazing organisms and their relationship with coral. The results of the phylogeny paper… Continue reading Learning about Symbiodinium
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
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?
Erica Lauer Vose 