Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
Providing science-based solutions to protect and restore ocean health
New evidence suggests that reef sharks exert weak control over coral reef food webs Shark populations are dwindling worldwide, and scientists are concerned that the decline could trigger a cascade of impacts that hurt coral reefs. But a new paper published …
There is still time to participate in our international student art competition, the Science Without Borders® Challenge! Submit your artwork by Monday, April 20 for your chance to win up to $500.
This year the theme for the Science Without Borders® Challenge is “The Magic of Mangroves.” Mangroves are extremely important ecosystems that provide many benefits, such as coastal protection, nursery grounds, and habitat. For this year’s theme, we are asking students to create a piece of art that illustrates how mangroves are important.
The Living Ocean Foundation’s mangrove education and restoration programs in Jamaica and The Bahamas are profiled in the Winter 2020 issue of Saving Earth Magazine.
There is a decline in out-of-school science learning around the world, especially outdoor environmental education experiences. Through the Bahamas Awareness of Mangroves (B.A.M.) program, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation takes students out of the traditional classroom setting and provides …
The Conversation December 14, 2018 By Anderson Mayfield Climate change threatens coral reefs around the globe. The high temperatures associated with this phenomenon can lead to “bleaching,” the breakdown of the symbiosis between corals and the algae that live within their cells. Since corals are nourished by these photosynthetically active algal …
In honor of International Education Week, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation has chosen to profile Lianna Burrows at Friends of the Environment (FRIENDS). Lianna works with us on our Bahamas Awareness of Mangroves (B.A.M.) program, which teaches students about mangrove forests while helping them restore this vital ecosystem.
SevenSeas Magazine By Liz Thompson and Renée Carlton Issue 62, July 2020 Scientists on the Global Reef Expedition explored New Caledonia’s remote coral reefs, some for the first time. In the South Pacific Ocean, at the edge of the Coral …
ECO Magazine 2020 Special Issue on Coral Reefs by Liz Thompson The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation sailed around the world to study coral reefs, returning with maps and data on the status of some of the most remote …
On our Global Reef Expedition mission to Palau in January 2015, our team of scientists surveyed 85 different coral reefs, stretching from Angaur in the south, through the majestic reefs of the Rock Islands UNESCO World Heritage Site, all the way to Kayangel Atoll and Ngeruangel Reef in the north. The team explored barrier reefs, atolls, fringing reefs, reef channels, back reef environments and lagoonal patch reefs assessing the community dynamics and health of corals, fish and other benthic organisms.
Perhaps one of the more striking takeaways from this mission was the incredible coral cover and diversity. Palau boasted over 40% live coral cover across all sites surveyed—the highest overall average live cover observed on the Global Reef Expedition. To put that number into perspective, when the GRE visited reefs in Fiji we recorded an average of just over 30% live coral cover. Even when compared to other locations that are well known coral hot spots, like French Polynesia and areas of the Great Barrier Reef, Palau’s live coral cover still appears to be unrivaled.
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is proud to release our findings on the state of coral reefs in Palau. Our research, based on extensive underwater surveys, found Palau’s reefs had the highest live coral cover of all the reefs studied on the Global Reef Expedition, a scientific research mission to assess the health and resiliency of coral reefs around the world.
Published today, the Global Reef Expedition: The Republic of Palau Final Report summarizes the Foundation’s research on the status of coral reefs and reef fish in Palau and provides conservation recommendations that can help preserve these outstanding coral reefs for generations to come.