RESEARCH THEMES

1. 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) 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.

(b) 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.

(c) 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.

2. 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:

(a) 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.

(b) 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.