Final Reports
These reports are the final reports we create following an ocean research expedition. They include coral reef site descriptions, relevant data and observations, research images, ocean pictures, survey method details, and data analysis. Please download these reports and share them freely.
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2012
Bruckner, A. and Williams, A. (2012) Assessment of the Community Structure, Status, Health and Resilience of Coral Reefs off St. Kitts and Nevis. June 2011. Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, Landover MD, pp.64
When we first began this mission in early June, several of the researchers had their first exposure to the rapid assessment protocol we were applying to assess the resilience of these reefs. They received a compressed one day training workshop with classroom lectures, demonstrations, and field practice. Over the next 10 days, they were able to practice different aspects of the survey: benthic assessments, coral surveys, and fish assessments. By the end of the mission, most members of the research team had become experts in at least one aspect of the survey protocol. The number of transects they we able...
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2012
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) completed three research missions in the Bahamas during 2011: Cay Sal Bank (4/26/11-5/18/11), Great Inagua, Little Inagua and Hogsty Reef (8/1/11-8/24/11) and Andros Island (10/1/11-10/6/11). Research was undertaken by scientists from KSLOF, the National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI), University of Queensland, University of Miami (RSMAS), Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment Program (AGRRA), Florida Aquarium, University of Michigan, the Bahamas Department of Marine Resources (Fisheries), the Bahamas National Trust, the Nature Conservancy, Bahamas, and College of the Bahamas (Appendix I). Professional videographers accompanied the Science Team on the Cay Sal...
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2012
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF), in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, conducted a research mission to Pedro Bank, Jamaica between March 10-20, 2012 as part of the Global Reef Expedition...
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2011
Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation 2011 Coral Reef Assessment Cay Sal Bank, Bahamas
Bruckner, A. (2011) Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation 2011 Coral Reef Assessment Cay Sal, April 2011. Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, Landover MD, 52 pp.
The Bahamas contains three major shallow (<10 m) carbonate platforms or banks, each separated by deep ocean passages, along with a number of smaller emergent land masses. The archipelago encompasses close to 15% of all shallow water coral habitats in the Tropical Western Atlantic and contains more than 700 islands overall. It extends approximately 1600 km from the Little Bahamas Bank in the northwest to Navidad Bank in the southeast, covering an area of approximately 122,000 kmÇ (Trumbull 1988, Banks 1999, Sullivan Sealey and Bustamante 1999). It covers 6 degrees of latitude and 9 degrees of longitude, representing the largest shallow water...
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2010
Terrestrial and Marine Ecology of Etoile, Amirantes, Seychelles
The Amirantes group, Seychelles, comprises 24 islands and islets lying between 5° and 6° south of the equator on the Amirantes Bank, western Indian Ocean. The islands were discovered by the Portuguese navigator Vasco de Gama on his second voyage to India in 1502, soon after acceding to the rank of Admiral, and the islands were subsequently named Ilhas do Almirante or Admiral’s Islands (Lionnet, 1970). The group extends over a distance of 138 km, from African Banks in the north to Desnoeufs in the south. Etoile is one of the two sand cays which rises up from the Banc de la Boudeuse...
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2010
Field Guide to Western Atlantic Coral Diseases
Western Atlantic Coral Disease Identification Field Guide uses standardized nomenclature and diagnostic criteria for coral diseases developed by the Coral Disease and Health Consortium (CDHC). This involves a three-tiered approach to naming diseases and a decision tree that would help unify disease names. Through application of a series of steps, a researcher can determine a common field name for a disease which can be further refined based on a morphologic diagnosis and an etiologic diagnosis. This is based on techniques applied to the study of other terrestrial and marine animal diseases that include 1) detection of disease, 2) description...
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2010
Field Guide to Western Atlantic Stony Corals
This Field Guide to Western Atlantic Stony Corals is a compilation of photographs of the dominant scleractinian and hydrozoan corals observed on reefs throughout the region. Depending on taxonomic sources, between 65‐75 species have been identified. This guide identifies all known genera and the 49 dominant coral species common throughout shallow Caribbean reefs. Rare coral species are not included. Taxa that have been divided into multiple species (e.g. Colpophyllia, Meandrina, Dichocoenia, Agaricia agaricites, Stephanocoenia) are reported as single species due to taxonomic uncertainty. Common names appearing in this guide follow the nomenclature used in Reef Coral Identification (Humann and Deloach 2002). Whenever possible, taxa with similar growth forms or corallite arrangements are placed together to facilitate identification.
