UROP Project

Evaluating the effects of climate change and disease on coral reefs in Bonaire, southern Caribbean

Coral reef, ecology, coral bleaching, marine conservation, marine biology

Research Mentor: Laurel Field, she, her, hers
Department, College, Affiliation: Biological Science, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: Lfield@bio.fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Environmental science, biological science, oceanography
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 6, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Not participating in the roundtable

Project Description

This project seeks to understand the impacts of coral bleaching and disease to coral reefs in Bonaire, an island in the southern Caribbean. Photographic surveys of the reef at 19 sites from 80ft up to 15ft will be analyzed to determine the severity and prevalence of coral bleaching and disease by species, depth, and coral colony size. These changes over time will be compared to stressors like temperature, intensity of recreational use, and water quality to understand the drivers of coral reef health. The goal of this research is to identify where the reef is more and less healthy under increasingly stressful environmental conditions to help inform management actions and ongoing scientific monitoring programs.

Research Tasks: Analysis of photos to identify coral to genus or species, size, and health. Working with large datasets, cleaning files and doing basic analyses in R.


Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Interest in learning to identify coral species, attention to detail, and good time management.