Biodiversity Conservation
A team of researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography were in Samoa last month on an expedition as part of the 100 Island Challenge.
The challenge is a large-scale natural experiment, investigating the independent and interacting effects of oceanography, geography, and human activities in affecting the structure and growth of coral reef communities.
It combines classical field surveys with innovative imaging and data technologies to archive reefs digitally and watch how coral reef populations change through time.
The team from the 100 Islands Challenge during their presentation to SPREP staff. Photo: SPREP
Mr. Chris Sullivan, Ms. Nicole Pedersen Ms. Lindsay Bonito, and Ms. Alice Lawrence, researchers who were part of the team in Samoa for the expedition, visited the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) on Thursday, 7th December 2017, where they gave a presentation to staff members about the 100 Island Challenge.
"The 100 Island Challenge is excited to include Upolu and Savai'i in the project and is thankful to all the local collaborators that have made these surveys possible. We are looking forward to return in the future to see how these reefs are changing through time," says Mr Chris Sullivan.
The experiment targets a collection of islands focused on the tropical Pacific, which span a range of conditions such as islands with high and low oceanic productivity and islands with high and low human population sizes.
The team was in Samoa carrying out surveys of the coral reef communities around both Upolu and Savaii from 7th- 20th December.
For more information please visit their website at www.100IslandChallenge.org or contact the project coordinator Brian Zgliczynski at bzgliczy@ucsd.edu.
The challenge is a large-scale natural experiment, investigating the independent and interacting effects of oceanography, geography, and human activities in affecting the structure and growth of coral reef communities.
It combines classical field surveys with innovative imaging and data technologies to archive reefs digitally and watch how coral reef populations change through time.
The team from the 100 Islands Challenge during their presentation to SPREP staff. Photo: SPREP
Mr. Chris Sullivan, Ms. Nicole Pedersen Ms. Lindsay Bonito, and Ms. Alice Lawrence, researchers who were part of the team in Samoa for the expedition, visited the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) on Thursday, 7th December 2017, where they gave a presentation to staff members about the 100 Island Challenge.
"The 100 Island Challenge is excited to include Upolu and Savai'i in the project and is thankful to all the local collaborators that have made these surveys possible. We are looking forward to return in the future to see how these reefs are changing through time," says Mr Chris Sullivan.
The experiment targets a collection of islands focused on the tropical Pacific, which span a range of conditions such as islands with high and low oceanic productivity and islands with high and low human population sizes.
The team was in Samoa carrying out surveys of the coral reef communities around both Upolu and Savaii from 7th- 20th December.
For more information please visit their website at www.100IslandChallenge.org or contact the project coordinator Brian Zgliczynski at bzgliczy@ucsd.edu.
