Last month I wrote a post detailing what a reef is and why they should matter to you regardless of where you live. This month I am building off of that idea and talking about something that I get a lot of questions about. Artificial reefs and reef restoration. What is a reef? For review, … Continue reading
Reefs keep you and the people/places you care about safe. They also provide you and many others globally with food and money. Reefs are vital for life on this planet. Losing them would be a serious blow to global health and economics. Protecting them on a global scale is hard, but you can do your part with small lifestyle changes (eat sustainable seafood, lower your carbon footprint, and ditch single use items for reusable alternatives. Continue reading
If you’ve been reading UNdertheC for while, then you know that I study coral reefs (specifically those in the Caribbean). If this is your first time here, welcome! Tell your friends 🙂 As the 4th year of my PhD dawns here at UNC, the first chapter of my dissertation work has finally been published in … Continue reading
Can corals survive climate change? This is a question on the minds of many environmentalists and researchers these days. The short answer is: probably, but coral reefs as we know them likely cannot. Every coral may not go extinct, but reefs are degrading and will continue to do so if the status quo is not … Continue reading
Guest post by Sarah W. Davies Ph.D. In 2012 I spent a month on Orpheus Island on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) in Australia. It was here that my Ph.D. advisor Mikhail V. Matz, Line Bay from the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences (AIMS), and myself embarked on a research project that would end up … Continue reading
As those of you who follow myself (@jbaumann3), the blog (@underthecblog), or my lab (@castillocorals) on social media may know, our lab has spent the better part of our summer in field collecting coral cores. The coral cores in the image above were extracted from various reefs across the Florida Keys. Before I tell you … Continue reading
Recent headlines have reported that a mass coral bleaching event is currently threatening coral reefs throughout the Hawaiian Islands. But what exactly does that mean? Corals turn white.. so what? Why does that matter? Here are a few things you need to know about coral bleaching and how it is like a bad break-up: What exactly is a coral? … Continue reading
The International Coral Reef Initiative recently released a report detailing the status of Caribbean coral reefs from 1970-2012. Based on data from 88 location around the Caribbean, the report found that average coral cover declined by over 50% while algal cover is over three times higher. This pair of opposite trends is called a “phase-shift” where the … Continue reading
Marine conservation has gotten a lot of press lately with President Obama’s plan to extend Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, the release of a new study on seafood fraud, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s pledge to support ocean conservation (Hey Leo, let me know if you are looking for a marine scientist partner!). Here are a … Continue reading
Coral reefs are more than “just a pretty face.” Why should we care about coral reefs? If you don’t often interact with coral reefs, or even if you do, you might have trouble answering that question. You probably know that coal reefs are beautiful marine ecosystems. But they only really matter to people who want to … Continue reading
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