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Ocean Health Home | Robertson Coral Reef Program
Project Team
Project Description
Our world's coral reef communities are not only areas of exquisite beauty, but also ecologically and economically important. Like tropical rain forests, coral reefs demonstrate high biological productivity and vast biodiversity. Corals protect our coastlines from erosion, provide habitat for fisheries and countless additional organisms, and are integral in global nutrient cycling. In addition corals support a worldwide multi-billion dollar diving and tourism industry.
However, the ecological and societal benefits imparted by these reefs are seriously threatened. Coral reefs are experiencing a recent period of severe decline with losses of coral cover estimated to be 27% worldwide and 80% in the wider Caribbean. Factors such as emerging coral diseases, rising temperatures, fisheries exploitation, and land-based sources of pollution all jeopardize coral survival.
Harbor Branch is carrying out research to understand and reverse these trends through the Robertson Coral Reef Program. The Banbury Foundation supports Harbor Branch's efforts to:
- Identify the links among environment conditions, coral stress, and diseases.
- Create diagnostic tools and protocols that can be used to assess coral health.
- Track and predict the impacts of coral diseases on reef ecosystems in the near and long-term.
- Train researchers and managers in advanced molecular techniques for quantifying coral health.
Coral researchers worldwide are working to understanding conditions that cause shifts in the delicate balance between corals, their symbiotic algae and bacteria, and the environment. The Harbor Branch coral research team uses both newly developed molecular technologies and traditional field ecology approaches to pursue the urgent goal of reversing coral reef decline.
This project is funded in part by a grant from the Mote Marine Laboratory Protect Our Reefs Grant Program, which is funded by proceeds from the Protect Our Reefs specialty license plate. Learn more at www.mote.org/4reef.
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