|
I've been diving since I was 13 years old, worked at a dive shop as an instructor for four years, and currently have over 1000 dives! Because of my love for SCUBA diving and coral reefs, it was only fitting that my research would combine these two. After a little bit of soul searching, talking to different people, and figuring out current gaps in research, I settled on studying coral predators, also known as corallivores. Corallivores can be fish or invertebrates, such as snails and sea stars. Depending on the species, some will eat only the polyps of the coral, while others will munch away on the coral polyps AND the skeleton. Corallivores can be really important to coral reef health affecting coral growth rates and reproduction, and in some cases even causing mass mortality. For example, in Australia, coral predation by the crown-of-thorns sea star was the leading source of mortality for coral reefs after coral bleaching. My research specifically focuses on cushion stars, which are a common predator around Hawaiʻi, and ways in which we can better monitor coral predation. Check out all the subheadings for more details about my research!
|