Update from our Maldives coral reef and whale shark expedition
Group 1 has checked all the reefs on its schedule, well done!
All were repeat surveys to track reef health and development over the years, one of the great advantages of citizen-scientist-funded expeditions, which can fund projects sustainably and reliably for many years (since 2011 in the case of the Maldives), generating long-term datasets that result in many insights and scientific publications.
None of this would happen without the many, many citizen scientists over the years who come to fund and help with this research and conservation work. Thank you!
The story this year is one of stable recovery. Coral cover has remained the same or increased within accepted error margins. Even a site – which had phase-shifted away from a coral reef underwater rainforest to a brown corralimorph desert – has shown some signs of coral recovery; a surprising result, which may warrant a scientific paper.
Overall – and we have known this for some years – the reefs in the warmer waters of lagoons and inner sites are doing much worse as the climate warms and breaks down.
Outer reefs – fed by colder oceanic upwellings – are having an easier time and are doing better. Until the next mass bleaching event, that is, which is sure to come, the question is when. Climate breakdown is making these heat/bleach events much more frequent and severe.
Reefs can recover, as we are showing here, but only if they are given enough time between these impacts. There used to be decades in between. Our wanton disregard for the stable conditions that our species has evolved in and needs for civilisation as we know it to survive, has pushed this down to years, instead of decades, between bleaching events. But this is another story…
What remains for me to say is thank you to group 1 for your hard work and dedication, good humour, silly questions (there are none), interest, work/play ethic, and good company. It’s been a pleasure. Come back again.
Over to you group 2…
This is an update from our Maldives volunteer expedition encompassing volunteer scuba diving and marine biology volunteering. Join us on one of our future expeditions! You can find an overview of all our upcoming expeditions here.