\^ TOP: Star coral 



release thousands of 



gamete bundles. 



MIDDLE: This 

 massive spawn of 

 gamete bundles 

 occurred in the 

 Florida Keys National 

 Marine Sanctuary. 



BOTTOM: Margaret 

 Miller and other 

 divers capture the 

 spawn to nuturefor 

 later release. 



brand new avenues of research," Capo 

 reflects. 



The researchers will take a cautious 

 approach to releasing both the urchins and 

 the coral larvae into the reef habitat. 



At first, they will evaluate the types of 

 habitats that allow urchins to escape 

 predation. By late spring, Miller and 

 Szmant will have conducted more exten- 

 sive transplant experiments, stocking 

 urchins in certain experimental sites to see 

 what effect they have on each benthic 

 community. 



"Hopefully the weather and the corals 

 will cooperate this August, and we will be 

 able to raise and seed the coral larvae in 

 these urchin-enhanced sites, as well as 

 control sites, to see if the juvenile coral 

 survival improves," Miller says. 



The ultimate measure for success of 

 the project, Szmant, Miller and Capo agree, 

 will come in June 2002 with baby star and 

 elkhorn corals surviving and growing on 

 urchin-enhanced sites in the sanctuary. 



"If this two-step approach has the 

 beneficial effects in the sanctuary we think 

 it will, it could change the face of Carib- 

 bean reefs in general," Miller says. 



A welcome celebration 



No one will be ready to celebrate 

 success more than Billy Causey, superin- 

 tendent of the Florida Keys National 

 Marine Sanctuary. 



Coral colonies grow slowly, building 

 in stages over millennia. Yet, in just a few 

 recent decades, the cumulative effects of 

 natural and human activities have taken 

 their toll on corals around the world. 



Natural forces such as global warm- 

 ing, El Nino and La Nina are impacting 

 coral beds globally, Causey says. 



In the sanctuary, he has seen tens of 

 thousands of fish die during what he calls 

 "warm water events" marked by doldrum 

 conditions — no movement, no oxygen. 



Damaging ocean storms, the loss of 

 sea urchins and serious coral disease 

 outbreaks have been devastating to corals. 



On top of that, overfishing of coral 



10 SUMMER 2001 



