Researchers and students at the have launched a pair of websites providing information on the health of various coral reefs around Â鶹´«Ã½ Island.
The health of corals is considered to be fundamental to Â鶹´«Ã½’s ocean life with direct cultural, environmental and economic significance.
Researchers hope that the websites will help Â鶹´«Ã½ residents understand the importance of a healthy coral community and the state of its health at various reefs around the island.
A research team led by Misaki Takabayashi, UH Hilo associate professor in marine science, spent the past seven years conducting investigations. The team’s findings are available online with easy-to-follow formats.
An interactive Waiʻopae long-term monitoring website displays time-series photographs that tracks changes in 48 coral colonies that were observed every month for the last four–five years at Waiʻopae tide pools in Puna.
The Coral Health Atlas website provides basic information about coral health and diseases along with the researchers’ data on coral disease prevalence at several sites around Â鶹´«Ã½ Island.
Takabayashi’s team included doctoral student John Burns, master’s students Makani Gregg and Monika Frazier, and undergraduates Niegel Rozet, Eva Farah, Lauren Kapono and Danielle Claar.
Photo credit for images associated with this article: Burns JHR, Takabayashi M, Gates RD, Gregg TM, Frazier M, Turner N, Best M, Miyagi K, and Delparte D (2012) The Coral Health Atlas of Â鶹´«Ã½.
—Adapted from a