Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 24 While traveling from one survey site to another, the ground-truthing team came across two sea turtles mating. They appeared to be green turtles (Chelonia mydas), currently most abundant of the sea turtle species. Green
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 23 Seagrass beds are found in many tropical coral reef lagoons around they world. They provide important ecosystem services, including sediment retention, juvenile fish habitat, and coastal protection. Historically, seagrasses have also been used as
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 22 The grim reaper comes quickly if you are a coral. Superbly adapted to their life in the shallow ocean and so successful that they can build some of the biggest structures created by living
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 20 For some divers, sponges are just unspectacular filter feeders hidden among corals, algae and other organisms but for others, including me, they are fascinating organisms. On many tropical Pacific reefs they are relatively uncommon,
Written by Chris Mirbach Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 19 On a single dive on Victory Bank in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), I saw the greatest abundance of fish I have ever witnessed, after having completed nearly 1000
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 18 I’m spending the week walking the coastlines of as many of the islands of Peros Banhos atoll as I can with an accurate global positioning system (GPS). The challenge we face when extracting the
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 17 Every marine biologist has a bucket list of creatures they want to see during their life underwater. I am no exception and during the BIOT missions I seemed to have amazing luck, with the
Expedition Log – BIOT Day 16 We’ve been seeing a great diversity of butterflyfishes here in BIOT, around 18 different species. Butterflyfish belong to the family Chaetodontidae and are consequently known as chaets by their most avid fans and researchers.
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 15 The science team is always eager to see rays during any dive, and diving in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) hasn’t disappointed us when it comes to majestic ray encounters. During our first
Expedition Log: BIOT – Day 14 Scientific breakthroughs are made every day, though the vast majority go unnoticed by the general public. Particularly important are discoveries that can lead to improvements in human well-being, such as those culminating in novel
