RESEARCH

GOAL
At the Little Cayman Research Center, we are working to better understand what is causing the decline in the health of our reefs and what could contribute to a more resilient reef. Our goal is to establish the best protective strategies and to promote realistic solutions that will reduce the major threats by humans, so that reefs may be more resilient to the stresses caused by global warming and climate change. In addition, our goal is to communicate the knowledge we have gained to public and private entities and to help make the changes that will reduce the reef's decline. We have established a goal to become the Center of Excellence for Climate Change and Coral Reef Stress.

RESULTS FROM RESEARCH ON OUR REEFS
CCMI and visiting scientists are revealing new species and higher biodiversity than previously known on our reefs. Work on the Early History of Coral Reefs is showing that, while adult corals have been reduced by 40%, juvenile corals (of every major species important on Caribbean reefs) are re-populating the reefs. We have documented that a deadly disease called White Plague is the leading cause of mortality of corals in the region.

RESEARCH THEMES
At the Little Cayman Research Center, we promote an engaging research environment that will address two overarching scientific themes of significant importance to coral reef ecosystems, "Coral Reef Connectivity" and "Response of Reef Organisms to Environmental Stress". Understanding these connections and responses will help park managers establish the best protective strategies for coral reefs, and will aid educators, reef scientists, modelers, and social scientists to promote realistic solutions for the current problem of coral reef decline.

What is the Coral Reef Connectivity Research Theme?
With major declines to shallow coral reef communities being reported globally, scientists still need a better understanding of the fundamental biological, ecological, geological, chemical, and physical processes that underpin a resilient coral reef system. Questions that we are asking include: How are reefs organisms ecologically connected between different depths, between the different islands, and within the region over time? Understanding these connections will help environmental managers establish the best protective strategies for coral reefs, and will aid educators, reef scientists, modelers, and social scientists to promote realistic solutions to the current problem of coral reef decline.

Current Examples:

A NOAA Ocean Exploration project called Cayman's Twilight Zone is examining the molecular and ecological biodiversity at different depth profiles of the reef (down to 100m) under the direction of Dr. Marc Slattery and Dr. Michael Lesser using Little Cayman as a reference site. They will compare community connectivity between the well-studied shallow reefs and the relatively unexplored deep reef.
The CCMI-NOAA ICON station (slated for installation in 2008) will allow us to make global connections between ecological change and oceanographic conditions. Correlating between real-time oceanographic state and the coral reef ecosystem is especially important to directly connecting mass mortalities, disease outbreaks, and incidences of coral bleaching, and is under the direction of Dr. Carrie Manfrino. NOAA's Dr. Jim Hendee is directing the NOAA-ICON international program.
How climate change is affecting coral reefs is another area of investigation under the Connectivity theme. Ocean acidification is one theme that will be discussed during a NOAA-CCMI Think Tank meeting at the Little Cayman Research Center. Outcomes will include establishing a research program at LCRC to measure the effect of changing ocean chemistry on coral communities.

What is the Environmental Stress Research Theme?
Under this theme, multidisciplinary scientists are being assembled to understand the stress responses of coral reefs at the ecosystem and molecular level. We need to increase our knowledge of the causes leading to coral disease syndromes and increased mortality in the Caribbean. We will encourage innovative solutions to reduce the declines in coral reefs, restore reefs, and improve their survival. We need to understand the role of warming and bleaching events on disease occurrence. We need to understand the relationship between global environmental change, rising carbon dioxide and ocean acidification and coral reefs.

Current Examples:

Coral Disease Modeling project of CCMI fellow and University of Miami Ph.D. candidate, Marilyn Brandt, which combines computer modeling with quantitative field sampling in an investigation of coral disease and its significance in the coral reef environment.
The Center for Coral Reef Molecular and Evolutionary Biology initiative under the direction of Dr. Paul Falkowski of Rutgers University's Environmental Biophysics and Molecular Ecology Program (EBME). The initiative will deploy the instruments capable of monitoring coral stress indicators continuously in-situ at a molecular level using an underwater Fluorescence Induction and Relaxation Experiment (FIRe) system.

LITTLE CAYMAN RESEARCH CENTER'S UNIQUE POSITION
Little Cayman Research Center is in a unique isolated oceanic location in the Caribbean basin with a low human population size (~150 people) and anthropogenic pressures, and with easy access to both shallow and adjacent deep coral reefs that have been part of a marine protected area for over 25 years. There is increased understanding that deep reefs are a source of commercially and ecologically important organisms that could re-seed shallow reefs and have potential biotechnological importance. For these reasons, we are an important reference site for coral reef research and we will continue to be relevant in understanding the effects of stressors on these ecosystems.

In addition, as one of the few international sites for a NOAA ICON (Integrated Coral Observing Network) oceanographic and weather station, and a robust database of fish and benthic communities collected since 1999, we are actively assembling a team of scientists who can be innovative in their approach to addressing specific research objectives of stress and connectivity at all scales (molecular, ecosystem, and evolutionary).

STRATEGIES
To continue our role as a leader in reef research, our strategic research plan is to:

1) improve the technical capacity for research and education at LCRC by completing a wet laboratory;

2) archive data as a systemic process at LCRC and make it available for public access;

3) install NOAA ICON environmental monitoring instruments;

4) attract lead scientists and scientific teams that will develop research programs and bring overhead to support LCRC and the ICON station;

5) establish a Research Associates Program that provides small grants for new research.

For more information contact us at info@reefresearch.org