[Coral-List] Philippines MPA study

Blue Water Volunteers bluewatervolunteers at yahoo.com
Wed Mar 29 20:48:25 EST 2006


Hi Amanda,

Nice to know that you have a project going in this
part of the world! Yup, the number and diversity of
hard coral species can be daunting, but that said, the
Philippine researchers are pretty familiar with their
own corals, so they should be able to help you out
there!

What aspects are you studying with regards to MPAs?
Their overall effectiveness, effectiveness of zoning,
enforcement, etc.? I guess this would help to narrow
down the scope somewhat. You might want to try
reviewing the major impacts outside the MPA that are
excluded (theorectically or not) by the formation of
the MPA. Some examples would be harvesting (both fish
and invertebrates), destructive fishing methods,
construction of resident or tourist dwellings (all
resorts recently torn down at Pulau Sipadan, Sabah, as
they were deemed to have negative impacts on the
surrounding reef), and more, depending on the area.

To get around the 500+ scleractinian species and
hundreds of thousands of other reef species, just do a
recce of the proposed study locations, you might find
some dominant species (coral or otherwise), that you
can use for comparisons. Some have also looked at the
diversity of hard coral growth forms in addition to
live coral cover to link to reef status.

All the best for your research!

Cheers,
Tse-Lynn
_____________
Loh Tse-Lynn
Chairperson
Blue Water Volunteers
Conservation.Awareness.Education

www.bluewatervolunteers.org


> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <willi3ac at aol.com>
> To: <psr at coralcay.org>;
> <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 9:53 AM
> Subject: Re: [Coral-List] Philippines Interest
> 
> 
> > Hi Pete (and coral-listers)!
> > Funny you should mention the Philippines.  I am in
> my first semester at 
> > the University of North Carolina, Wilmington,
> doing Graduate studies in 
> > Marine Science.  I will actually be traveling to
> the Philippines both this 
> > summer and next summer to do thesis research.  I
> would love to learn more 
> > about what information you have to share, as it
> could most likely assist 
> > in my thesis research!!  Originally, I had planned
> to do a biodiversity 
> > study inside VS outside an MPA in the Philippines,
> but, with nearly 500 
> > species of coral to memorize in the next month or
> so, it seems to be a 
> > far-fetched idea.  I am familiar with Caribbean
> corals, naturally, but I 
> > want to expand my coral knowledge and have an
> opportunity to study in the 
> > Philippines.  Now, I'm trying to figure out a way
> to do a study on the 
> > general health of the coral/marine ecosystem
> because memorizing 500-some 
> > species seems like too much for my particular
> study.  I am open to any and 
> > all suggestions about a good way to approac
> > h this research (this is an open suggestion to
> anyone, please!).  I like 
> > to hear new/new-fangled ideas about doing unique
> research, though I know I 
> > should be building upon someone else's research. 
> I will most likely piece 
> > together bits here and there.
> > Thank you!
> > Cheers
> > Amanda W.


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