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Quantifying Ecological Changes in Reef-Building Corals over Historical Timescales
Coral reefs are declining worldwide but we do not know what a natural reef should look like because their degradation appears to have begun long before
scientists began to survey reefs. Focusing on Bocas del Toro, Panama, this project aims to quantify the differences in the ecological structure of reef-building corals from a 7000 year old fossil reef versus a modern reefs. The fossil reef and modern reefs respectively developed before and during the period when human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. Understanding how reef-building corals have changed over historical timescales can help marine managers to assess the decline of Caribbean reefs relative to their condition before the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
O'Dea Lab 
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