Collecting Data on the Health of Coral Reefs

Last minute preparation~
As you have read, our last two days spent training for the project: familiarizing ourselves learning how to identify the corals we will be studying, brushing up on our snorkeling and diving techniques, conditioning ourselves for the 5+ hours per day of ocean swimming. Today was the big day we started really collecting data. We headed for Rocky Point, to review our research procedures (scientists call these 'protocols') and to take our final test on identifying plants and animals found in the reef zone.

Here is a typical view of the reef zone taken by Annette Pennock, an environmental consultant working on this project:

And here I am, coming out of the water at Rocky Point, in a photo taken by my roomie, Heather Brown, who teaches in Massachusetts. It has been a blast getting to know the other six teachers on this project!

The Real Work Begins~

After lunch, we went to another reef area of Rice Beach, and began our data collection. These are the three basic tasks that we will be doing all week:

1. Point intercept analyses: Identifying hard corals, gorgonians (soft sponges), sponges, algae, rock and sand under marked underwater points within the one-square-meter survey frame.



2. Basic transect data: Collecting temperature data and water samples and conducting visibilityand bleaching surveys underwater.



3. Shoreline and nearshore environments physical changes analysis: Beach profiles consist of
   observers measuring the change in beach elevation every two meters along set lines. This task is accomplished by the use of survey (stadia) rods, a two-meter survey line and a line level. The survey rods are placed every two meters from the top of the beach to the low tide mark. The drop or the rise in elevation is recorded.

Here is a NOAA photo you may recognize from my website. This is what it looks like when we do the point-intercept analysis. Mrs. Hemsley’s class had a question about what this was. We look to see what is under each one of the points where the grid lines cross: hard corals, gorgonians (soft coral), sponges, algae, rock, sand and other (anything else), and tally how many times we see each item. Each team drops the frame and tallies the data about 20 times. At the end of the day, we total up all the data we collected this way, and it gives us a pretty good idea of what percentage hard corals, gorgonians (soft coral), sponges, algae, rock, sand and other (anything else) that a particular reef contains.

This one is a photo of some of the members of our team doing the kind of beach profiles I described above. They are collecting data on changes in the width and steepness of the sandy part of the beach.

It Was Great Teleconferencing With Mrs. Hemsley's Class~

The last thing I want to report on is that I was really happy to talk with Mrs. Hemsley’s class today. We did a teleconference over the internet, and I’m happy to say everything worked very well. Mrs. Hemsley’s students had excellent questions about the project here, and I want to thank them for taking the time to share this experience with me,

Tomorrow, I will have a chance to teleconference with Mr. Kelly’s class and Ms. Hudson's class, and on Thursday with Mrs.Becker’s class.