Dr. Andrew Bruckner
Role in the Farasan Banks Project: Andy conducted benthic reef assessments to assess the size structure and health of reef building corals. One aspect of his work involved the collection of tissue samples from diseased corals to better understand the potential causes and impacts of disease.
Bio Summary: Andy is a coral reef ecologist conducting field research in the Caribbean, IndoPacific and Red Sea that is applied towards the development of management and conservation actions. He received his B.Sc. from University of Oregon, a M.Sc, from Northeastern University in Boston and his Ph.D. from the University of Puerto Rico. His research interests include understanding the extent and impacts of human and natural threats on reef building corals, with emphasis on coral diseases and bleaching, hurricane impacts, and coral predators.
Andy is working to understand factors and processes that enhance coral reef recovery and improve reef resilience, thereby enhancing their survival under periods of global climate change. For the last ten years, he worked within the U.S. government (as part of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force) to develop a National Action Strategy for the Conservation of Reefs and has been implementing coral reef research, capacity building projects and training through NOAA Fisheries and NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program. Andy is also leading U.S. efforts to address unsustainable harvest of coral reef species, with emphasis on species that are in international trade for home aquaria, curios, luxury food items and jewelry. Through the Living Oceans Foundation he is developing and implementing a multi-year Global Coral Reef Research Expedition and he is the Chief Scientist for the April Red Sea mission.
