Field research in Papua New Guinea



At the invitation of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), and with funding from the Australian Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Dr Stephanie Reynaud a senior scientist at the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, recently participated in a field trip of 15 days to Papua New Guinea.

This trip, conducted in the region of Milne Bay, was to study corals exposed to natural sources of carbon dioxide. Every day, 25 million tons of carbon dioxide, one third of emissions from human activities, is absorbed by the world’s oceans, causing an increase in water acidity, a phenomenon known as ocean acidification. This acidification is a threat to coral reefs, a habitat for many species of fish, which are both ecologically and economically important. Corals are particularly sensitive to ocean acidification because they deposit a calcium carbonate (limestone)skeleton that is susceptible to dissolution in seawater with increased acidity  (a phenomenon first investigated at CSM nearly 20 years ago). But what happens to corals that are submitted regularly to the CO2 emissions, like those in Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea? Are there any resistant species found there?

These were the questions that the international team of researchers (5 Australians, one German, one British and one Monegasque) tried to answer during the 2 week-long field trip in one of the few sites in the world in tropical areas subject to natural acidification caused by volcanic sources of CO2.   Research was performed via a number of approaches: water withdrawals for the chemistry of seawater, oxygen production and consumption to assess the health of the algae and corals, and sampling of tissue and skeleton to investigate the impact of acidified water on skeleton formation.

Now back in Monaco, Dr. Stephanie Reynaud is now analyzing the data she collected.