Our team spent three weeks on Kiritimati (Christmas island), Kiribati, the world’s largest land atoll, carrying out intensive fieldwork on its vibrant reefs. This expedition was part of the Baum Lab’s long-term research on coral reef resilience and recovery. It gave us the opportunity to study and monitor reef health across the island, from heavily impacted reefs affected by pollution and fishing to pristine, untouched reef systems. During our time there, we carried out Small Photo Quadrats (SPQs), Mega Photo Quadrats (MPQs), Structure-from-Motion (SfM) surveys, coral tissue sampling, photogrammetry and collected water samples to capture a detailed picture of reef structure, coral holobiont health, and the changes these ecosystems are undergoing.
I will be using the data collected during this expedition, together with data from the lab’s long-term dataset, for my PhD research on coral symbioses and resilience in the face of global change.
Learn more about the Baum lab's long-term Kiritimati research here.
Kiribati
