Palmyra Trip is on for summer of 2016

Just a quick note to let you know the third and final field season for the coral settlement project has finally been scheduled.  I will be going to Palmya Atoll from July 19 through August 12.  I am bummed that Professor Fio Micheli won't be able to go, but I have two very experienced graduate students who will accompany me, Tim White and Ana Guerra.  More about them later.

In addition to the coral settlement tile work, we will be replacing the battery on one of the Block lab sensors that is attached to a buoy near the mouth of the channel that connects the main lagoon to the outer reef.  The primary purpose of the sensor is to detect tagged manta rays as the enter and exit the lagoon.  Of course if any of the tagged gray reef sharks swim by the sensory, their presence would also be recorded.  Of course right now nothing is being recorded since the battery died some time ago, and we haven't gotten out there to replace it.  

Tim has also received some grant money to study coconut crabs.  This means we will be doing some night field work since that is when they come out to forage.

I plan to resume daily blog entries once we are "on island" this summer.  Until then there may be an occasional entry when I have any interesting news to report.