by Dr. Pete Edmunds (Cal State, Northridge)

About the talk:

The coral reef crisis describes 50+ years of degradation that has caused coral abundance to decline throughout the world. In light of the threats posed by climate change, ocean acidification, and local disturbances, some fear that these “rainforests of the sea” will disappear within a century. Coral reefs in the South Pacific and US Virgin Islands illustrate aspects of this crisis, but they also contain clues to the form in which reefs might persist in the future. This lecture reveals what we have lost, what we are losing, and why it is worth fighting to protect what is left.

About the speaker:

Dr. Peter J. Edmunds is the William R. and Lenore Mote Eminent Scholar in Marine Biology at Florida State University. Dr. Edmunds is currently a professor in the Deptartment of Biology at California State University, Northridge. He has been researching thSe ecology of tropical coral reefs for over 30 years in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands and Moorea, French Polynesia. He has worked closely with the Virgin Islands National Park to study long-term changes in coral reef communities. You can view his webpage here: http://www.csun.edu/science-mathematics/biology/peter-j-edmunds