giving coral reefs a future

In the afternoon, Mitch teaches us how to plumb the life support system for rearing the larvae. Manifolds are installed in order to enable water motion within the kreisels. And then, the kreisels themselves are installed! Within the kreisels a relatively high concentration of larvae can be reared. The kreisels are nestled in a flow through tank, sustaining smooth water motion without harming the delicate larvae.
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Coral reefs have evolved for million of years, without mankind, nevertheless, we are now players in the coral reef ecosystem―so we should know more what it is all about! Dave Burdick gives an extensive overview on coral reef ecology of Guam. A big, and sad, topic are the chronic crown of thorn threats in Guam's reefs. Even though there are no huge outbreaks, there are enough of these predatory starfish around that eat up re-appearing recruits and prevent some species, such as Acropora, to re-establish on the reefs. Generally, an intact ecosystem has significantly fewer crown of thorn attacks, presumably due to the healthy invertebrate fauna feeding on juvenile starfish.
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Tonight will be the first night dive. Spawning will most likely happen either on Monday or Tuesday night, but we want to make sure not to miss anything, and sometimes there could be a little 'dribble' in advance.