Expeditions

Darwin Research Expedition

Field of study

Coral cover, temperature loggers,

Vessel(s)

BPV Pacific Marlin

Funder(s)

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Darwin Programme

Start

3/2014

End

15/4/2014

Description

This expedition formed part of the three year Darwin funded project which aimed to gather scieintific data to strengthen the marine protected area. This expedition concentrated on the following research initiatives: Video archive for long-term monitoring of coral reef benthic communities, Understanding coral reef structure, Assessment of coral cover, Coral species diversity and abundance, Assessing coral disease prevalence, severity and susceptibility, Scleractinian coral functional diversity surveys, Documenting sea temperature, Diversity and population abundance of reef fishes, Assessing the contribution of parrot fish in reef erosion, Long-term monitoring of sea cucumber populations, Population assessment of the Coconut Crab, Birgus latro, Long-term monitoring of Important Breeding Areas for seabirds.

Expedition leader

Dr Heather Koldeway

Expedition leader email

Heather.Koldewey@zsl.org

Members

• Melita Samoilys
• Pete Carr
• Courtney Couch
• David Curnick
• Dave Fenner
• Heather Koldewey
• Ronan Roche
• Anne Sheppard
• Elizabeth Widman
• L Elyse
• John Turner

Publications

• Strengthening the world’s largest Marine Protected Area: Chagos Archipelago - 2015

Sites