Evaluating the efficacy of two MPAs in the USVI: St. Thomas East End Reserves and St. Croix East End Marine Park
PROJECT OBJECTIVESThe objectives of this MPA efficacy project are to: (1) evaluate sample size requirements for coral target reef fish species to obtain a desired level of survey precision (e.g. 15% CV) to compare MPAs and open areas; (2) develop an optim...
The US Virgin Islands Coral Reef Restoration Plan (2023) provides a benchmark of stated goals and targets to track coral restoration success at 6 sites on St. Croix (4 sites) and St. Thomas (2 sites). The restorations are and will be implemented by multip...
Development of Water Quality Monitoring Plan for USVI
This project was specifically request by the jurisdiction in the priorities document ("Develop a water quality sampling plan for major ghuts in the USVI with recommendations on how to incorporate or add this sampling plan to existing Division of Environme...
Comprehensive Coral Reef Restoration for a Demonstration Site in St. Thomas, USVI
This project will conduct coral restoration at two important coral reef site in St. Thomas, USVI that were selected in collaboration with USVI's Department of Planning and Natural Resources, NOAA, and local stakeholders in development of the USVI Coral Re...
Local resource managers, operating with limited funds, often require reliable access to current, spatially-explicit and easily interpretable data to help prioritize coral reef sites for risk assessments and conservation actions. In the past decade, NOAA a...
Little is known about the life history parameters of redtail parrotfish and hogfish from the Caribbean. Reproductive biology, age, and growth research is crucial for these specific stocks because these data are missing completely for redtail parrotfish an...
Reducing LBSP threats in USVI's St Croix East End Marine Park
The St. Croix East End Marine Park (STXEEMP) is over 60 square miles and contains a variety of important habitat types including linear and patch coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves. St. Croix reefs are dominated by elkhorn and staghorn corals, and ...
Guiding restoration of Virgin Island reefs: Are hybrids more resilient?
The acroporids contribute to the 3-dimensional structure of the reef and form important habitat for reef fishes and other reef organism. They reproduce sexually and asexually, being adapted to occasional fragmenting events in which new (clonal) colonies a...
Assessment of contaminants and bioeffects in the East End Marine Park
The project will involve the collection and subsequent analysis of sediments for toxicity (two bioassays) and an assessment of the benthic infaunal community (sieving of samples and identification of organisms living in the sediments). In addition, enough...
Bleaching VI