Busy summer ahead

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BREAM volunteer research associate Mike Colella,
checks out the reef between surveys.
(c)2005 T.Murdoch

Summer is here and BREAM is heading out into "the field"... well - the sea, really...

Next week DISL PhD student Matt Ajemian is returning to continue his BZS-supported research on Bermuda's eagle rays - link.

The week after, we are hosting a group of visiting scientists who are here on a field trip, sponsored by the Atlantic Conservation Partnership, the Tourism Department, the Department of Conservation Services, and the Bermuda Zoological Society, and supported by Triangle Divers and the Grotto Bay hotel, to learn about Bermuda's coral reefs and associated marine habitats - as part of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) - link.

The next week we all dash over to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to attend the ICRS. We are presenting 3 posters and 1 presentation on our research projects on Bermuda and Florida reef and fishes, with the following titles (* = presenter):

Presentation:
Testing A Novel Functional Group Approach For Caribbean Hard Corals By Comparing Their Rank Abundances Across The Florida Reef Tract Also Refutes The Unified Neutral Theory
Thaddeus MURDOCH*, Richard ARONSON

Posters:
Assessing And Mapping The Distribution Of Fish Species And Guilds Across The Bermuda Reef Platform And Identifying Critical Marine Habitats For Spatial Protection
Thaddeus MURDOCH, Matthew HAMMOND, Joanna PITT*, Mark OUTERBRIDGE, Judie CLEE, Mike COLELLA, Mandy SHAILER, Annie GLASSPOOL

The Results Of The First Comprehensive Benthic Assessment Of The Coral Reef Habitats Of Bermuda
Thaddeus MURDOCH*, Annie GLASSPOOL, Mike COLELLA

A Comparison Of The Permanent Marine Protected Areas Of Bermuda To Control Sites For Anchor And Diver Damage To Hard Corals
Thaddeus MURDOCH*, Mike COLELLA, Matthew HAMMOND, Annie GLASSPOOL

Then we return in mid-July, in time for 2 graduate interns, funded by the Atlantic Conservation Partnership and The Ernest E. Stempel Foundation to arrive and start research projects on fish-coral interactions on lagoonal patch reefs.

Jaret Bilewitch and Lyndsey Holland, a pair of octo-coral scientists, also arrive in July to initiate a BZS-funded survey the sea rods and sea fans across the lagoon.

And USC PhD student Gerardo Toro-Farmer returns to continue his NASA, DCS and BZS-supported research on suspended sediments across the North Lagoon - link.

Very exciting!!!

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