Field work in Bermuda

Two researchers at the Centre Scientifique de Monaco (CSM), Drs Eric Tambutté and Alexander Venn, recently visited Bermuda at the invitation of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences "BIOS" to study the impact of ocean acidification on coral reefs.

This invitation is part of a collaboration between the two organizations to pool their knowledge to gain a better understanding of the effect of global warming and particularly the effect of ocean acidification on tropical corals.

For two weeks, the researchers participated in field trips to collect different species of corals from four sites,  with different environmental characteristics that mimic the seawater conditions expected in the next century.

Samples were transported to Monaco, where some will be observed by scanning electron microscopy, while other specimens were brought back alive to be maintained in the laboratories of the CSM.  After a long period of transportation via the UK,  these specimens arrived in good health at the laboratory where they quickly flourished in Monegasque seawater!

The health of these corals will be followed long term to encourage the optimum growth necessary for experimentation. Samples examined by microscopy will be used to study the impact of climate change on calcification. The results can then be interpreted in terms of ongoing physical and chemical parameters measured in the field in Bermuda.

Indeed, as part of a larger project funded by the National Science Foundation U.S. (NSF), Dr. Andreas Anderson  who hosted the Monaco researchers at BIOS, has deployed several “monitoring buoys", equipped with measuring devices that continuously record salinity, temperature and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide.

The preliminary data obtained in collaboration between BIOS and the Monegasque team  forms the base of a new large-scale project to better understand the impact of climate change on the biology of corals. Every day in the scientific literature, new studies address the effect of ocean acidification on marine organisms, but the physiological mechanisms underlying the response of corals to climate change remain obscure. The collaboration between BIOS and the CSM aims to fill this knowledge gap.

For more information visit the website of our partners (http://www.bios.edu/research/beacon.html) or contact Dr. Sylvie Tambutté (stambutte @ centrescientifique.mc).