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University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
October 5, 2000 |
Contact: Celia Smith, Professor, Department of Botany, University of
Hawaii at Manoa, 956-6946; celia@hawaii.edu
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| UH botany professor completes 10-day underwater study of reef algal ecology in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary |
Celia Smith, professor of botany at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, recently led a 10-day underwater mission to study the field biology and ecology of the reef alga Halimeda in the Florida reef tract. The mission is part of a major research effort started by Smith in 1994, and it is the longest-running and most thorough Halimeda study in the Florida Keys. The goal of this work is understanding the growth dynamics of Halimeda, a widespread calcareous green alga, in Florida reefs.
Halimeda is known for its ability to become sand and to stabilize sediments in many reef environments as well as making important contributions to coral reef communities as food for many species of fish. From this work, the contributions by Halimeda to this reef system appear largely positive.
During the 10-day study, the team lived and worked on the bottom of the ocean in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory. The research facility is owned by the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration and is operated by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Aquarius rests on the seafloor, 60 feet beneath the surface and 3.5 miles offshore near Key Largo in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Aquarius provides a unique opportunity for researchers to observe the state's deep coral reefs.
"A lot of people ask, 'Why do you come all the way from Hawai'i to dive here in Florida?'" says Smith, who has been teaching at UH since 1988. "The answer is simple: Aquarius allows us to accomplish studies that we could never complete at home."
The objective of this continuing program is to examine how features of the ecology and biology of Halimeda varies across a depth gradient. The research team looked at how depth and nutrients affected the growth and photosynthetic performance of this plant, how this alga reproduces and how different reproductive processes affect its population genetics.
Smith's "Team Halimeda" was formed as an integrated, multi-disciplinary group of scientists from the College of Natural Sciences and the UH Waikiki Aquarium as well as the Netherlands, Florida, California and Alaska.
"We've gained great insight into how these plants grow and respond
to their environment," Smith wrote in the team's mission journal near
the completion of the underwater study. "We've already begun to ask
questions that we could not have formulated last month."
