Current clients, funders and project co-leaders:
Where We Work
Current Projects
US Coral Reef Monitoring Data Summary 2018 – National Coral Reef Monitoring Program
Past and projected future bleaching impacts in Vanuatu
Community conservation planning in American Samoa
US Coral Reef Monitoring Data Summary 2018 – National Coral Reef Monitoring Program
Recently Completed Projects
Conservation planning in Indonesia with focus on the Forgotten Islands
Objective: Combine information on historic and projected future exposure to coral bleaching conditions to identify priority conservation areas that are refugia or may have resilience characteristics.
Funders and Partners: WWF
Coral reef vulnerability assessments for the Florida Reef Tract
Objective: Identify conservation priority areas by combining ecological resilience assessments with information on historic and projected future exposure to thermal stress.
Funders and Partners: NOAA CRCP, The Nature Conservancy, Florida Reef Resilience Program, NOAA, RSMAS at University of Miami, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
Reef resilience and coastal management in Guam and US Virgin Islands
Objective: Assess spatial variation in reef resilience and anthropogenic stress in Guam and US Virgin Islands to inform resilience-based management and planning.
Funders and Partners: NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, The Nature Conservancy, University of Guam
Outlook reporting in Guam, CNMI and American Samoa
Objective: Develop outlook reports for US coral reef jurisdictions via a cooperative agreement wit the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program.
Funders and Partners: NOAA, NOAA CRCP, US Department of the Interior
Sustainability forecasts for CNMI and Guam
Objective: Develop sustainability forecasts or 'outlooks' for culturally important marine sites in CNMI and Guam inclusive of downscaled projections for coral bleaching.
Funders and Partners: PICSC, PICCC, University of Guam, NOAA, RSMAS at University of Miami, CNMI BECQ
Guidance handbook for reef resilience assessments
Objective: Develop guidance for coral reef managers on undertaking ecological resilience assessments and using results to inform resilience-based management and planning.
Funders and Partners: UNEP, The Nature Conservancy, NOAA CRMP, GBRMPA
Downscaling climate model projections for coral bleaching
Stewardship and participatory monitoring in the Caribbean
Objective: Build capacity among managers in Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to establish and maintain stewardship and participatory monitoring programs.
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Funders and Partners: NFWF, Australian Aid, Grenada Division of Marine Fisheries
Strategic frameworks for responding to reef health disturbances
Objective: Develop response plans for GBR managers for coral bleaching, coral disease, tropical cyclones, and crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks inclusive of early warning systems, targeted monitoring, and reviews of management action options.
Funder and Partner: GBRMPA
Projections of climate conditions that increase coral disease
Objective: Increase understanding of how rising sea temperatures will affect the frequency of disease outbreaks affecting reef-building corals through impacts on hosts and pathogens.
Funders and Partners: Cornell University EEB, NOAA Climate Program Office, NOAA AOML, RSMAS at University of Miami
Assessing relative resilience potential of coral reefs to inform management in the CNMI
Objective: Assess spatial variation in ecological resilience potential and anthropogenic stress and combine with connectivity information to create a resilience-based management decision-support framework.
Partners and Funders: NOAA CRCP, USGS-PICSC, CNMI BECQ, NOAA PIRO, TNC Reef Resilience, PMRI, University of Guam, MINA
Disturbance regimes within Great Barrier Reef no-take areas
Objective: Assess whether no-take areas in the Great Barrier Reef include a range of disturbance regimes and identify coral reef areas with lower relative exposure.
Funders and Partners: GBRMPA, JCU, AIMS, NOAA CRW, NOAA AOML, RSMAS at University of Miami, C2O Consulting, University of Victoria
Using proxy indicators of sand temperature to project global warming impacts on sea turtles in northern Australia
Objective: Correlate sea and sand temperatures to project modeled sand temperatures and understand possible future gender ratios for sea turtle nests under various emissions scenarios.
Funder and Partner: JCU
Assessing impacts and recovery from severe tropical cyclone Yasi on the Great Barrier Reef
Objective: Assess spatial variation in the severity of impacts caused by Tropical Cyclone Yasi and the subsequent recovery of reef-building corals.
Funders and Partners: GBRMPA, AIMS, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Model-resolution projections of coral bleaching and ocean acidification for IPCC AR5
Assessing the relative risk of degraded water quality to ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef
Objective: Provide knowledge about the relative exposure to and effects of pollutants to guide effective prioritisation of the management of pollutant sources.
Funders and Partners: TropWater, JCU, AIMS, Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection
Guide to critical issues for coral reef managers of Indonesia
Objective: Provide guidance to Indonesian reef managers of how to support transitioning livelihoods using education and engagement and address threats to reefs posed by destructive fishing and overfishing, water quality, coastal development and waste management, climate change.
Funders and Partners: Packard Foundation, The University of Queensland
Maldives National Coral Reef Monitoring Framework
Objective: Develop training materials and a training program that certifies resort staff in the Maldives to participate in a National Coral Reef Monitoring Framework.
Partners and Funders: World Bank, IUCN Maldives, AusAID, Republic of Maldives Ministry of Environment and Energy, Maldives Marine Research Center, Maldives EPA