Coral Math!

Hi Mr. Diehl’s CJA students!

Mr. Diehl has probably already told you that I am in the Bahamas helping scientists study the coral. We are snorkeling almost every day and collecting data. We are trying to determine how much coral dies each season and if any of it is growing back. The scientists here are particularly interesting in something called “coral bleaching.” When a coral is bleached, it looks like part of it is becoming bright white. Maybe you can find a picture of it on the internet. Google “coral bleaching” and check under “images.”

When a coral is bleached, that means that something is seriously wrong. The scientists here believe that bleaching is caused by the affects of global warming. The coral is being stressed and starts to bleach. When bleaching occurs, the coral has a good chance of dying.

Now you know why we are doing our research, but you don’t know how. This is where math becomes important. We are going to check out three places where coral grows and count how much bleaching we see. However, the places we are researching are 40 meters wide and 200 meters in length. If we looked at every coral it would be very inefficient. Scientists have to use math to help them.

Researchers have found that an efficient way to collect data on a large area of land or water is to collect data only over designated transects. A “transect” is a small area that represents the entire area. It takes us about 1-2 hours to collect data on one transect. We work in teams to count all the bleaching of coral we see in three transects. The scientists say that, by collecting data on only these three transects, they can determine the amount of bleaching over the entire 40 m by 200 m area.

Now, Mr. Diehl told me that you students were very smart mathematicians. You are probably a lot better than me at math. I have a math question for you that I just can’t figure out:

If each transect is 10 m by 1 m and we study three transects. What percentage of the area did we study?

Also, do you think this is a good representation for the entire 40 m by 200 m area? Why or why not?

Send me your comments. I would love to hear what some smart students think!