Research
View detailed descriptions of the Expedition's Goals and Objectives and Methodologies.
There were seven main Goals of our work:
1. Complete habitat maps for the Farasan Banks, south of Jeddah.
2. Characterize the population structure of key food fishes (e.g., groupers and snappers), ornamental (aquarium) fishes, and major functional groups (e.g., herbivores and corallivores).
3. Photographic documentation of benthic communities
4. Characterize coral community structure
5. Identify factors conferring ecological resilience in coral reef ecosystems, and how they vary within habitat types and across large spatial scales.
6. Collect coral tissue samples. We will characterize the health of corals and the types of diseases affecting these corals using visual observations of tissue loss, and tissue samples for microscopic (histological) examination.
7. Characterize deep reef environments
The goals and objectives were achieved through scientifically rigorous Methodologies, such as:
1. Creating habitat maps vis ground-truthing, bathymetric analysis, and sediment profiling,
2. Surveying fish community structure,
3. Surveying coral community structure,
4. Assessing benthic phototransects,
5. Assessing resilience, and
6. Sampling coral tissue.
