WEBVTT

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<v ->Good evening everyone.</v>

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We're pleased to have you join us

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for our annual Seaside Chat speaker series

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about ocean topics associated

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with Flower Garden Banks

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National Marine Sanctuary,

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and the surrounding Gulf habitats.

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We're also part of the National Marine Sanctuary's

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webinar series and the NOAA Science Seminar series.

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During the presentation,

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all attendees will be in listen-only mode.

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You're welcome to type questions

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for the presenter into the questions box at the bottom

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of the control panel on the right hand side of your screen.

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You may also let us know about any technical issues

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by typing into that box.

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We will be monitoring incoming questions

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and technical issues

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and we'll respond to them as soon as we can.

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In addition, we encourage you

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to close all other programs you may have open

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on your computer or any non webinar tabs

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on your internet browser.

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This will ensure the best viewing quality for the webinar.

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We are recording this session

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and we'll post the recording

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to the National Marine Sanctuaries

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and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary websites

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within a few weeks.

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We will notify registered participants via email

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when these recordings are available.

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And for those of you who are interested,

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we have a document of links to additional resources

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on today's topic.

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And this is available in the handout pane

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of the control panel.

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Simply click on this item to download it.

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My name is Kelly Drinnen,

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and I'm acting education coordinator

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for Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

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I'll be facilitating today's webinar from Dickinson, Texas.

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Also with me today is Taylor Gallabise,

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our constituent engagement specialist.

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She will be helping me with backend administration

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of this webinar and monitoring all those questions,

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and answer them in the chat box for me.

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In 1972, the United States ushered in a new era

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of ocean conservation

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by creating a national marine sanctuary system.

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Since then, we've grown into a nationwide network

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of 18 national marine sanctuaries

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and two marine national monuments.

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Together these conserve more than 629,000 square miles

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of spectacular ocean and great lake waters.

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These marine-protected areas are similar

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to national parks, but underwater.

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The National Marine Sanctuaries Act

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gives NOAA the authority to designate special areas

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of the marine environment

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as national Marine sanctuaries.

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It also mandates that the Office

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of National Marine Sanctuaries

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conduct research, monitoring,

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resource protection, education, outreach

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and management of America's underwater treasures

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in order to preserve them for future generations.

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In addition to being places for recreation and research,

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national marine sanctuaries are also living classrooms

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where people can see, touch, and learn

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about the nation's great lakes and ocean treasures.

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This webinar series is just one part

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of that national education and outreach effort.

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The Seaside Chat series is hosted

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by Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary,

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the only national marine sanctuary in the Gulf.

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This sanctuary consists of 17 banks

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or small underwater mountains that are home

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to some of the healthiest coral reefs in the world.

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Amazing algal sponge communities

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and deeper mesophotic reef habitats,

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featuring an abundance of black coral and gorgonians.

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We invite you to learn more about us

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by visiting the sanctuary website

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at flowergarden.noaa.gov.

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Today's presentation is Coral Reef Revival,

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new solutions for a changing ocean.

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Tonight you'll hear about coral reefs and crisis

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and what's being done to help them.

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From citizen science tools to ocean alkalinity solutions,

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people are tackling the challenges head on.

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They're not giving up.

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Dr. Keisha Bahr will share

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some of the exciting new techniques

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she and others are exploring

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to help slow the decline of these vital ecosystems.

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Dr. Keisha Bahr is the chair for Coral Reef

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and Ocean Health at the Heart Research Institute

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and an assistant professor of marine biology

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at Texas A&amp;M University-Corpus Christi.

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She completed her Bachelor of Science and Marine Biology

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and her PhD in zoology

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from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

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She's a classically trained marine ecologist

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with a specialized focus on the physiological response

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of calcifying organisms to multiple stressors.

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She has over a decade of experience,

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collaborating with academic government

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and non-governmental institutions

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to develop the knowledge and tools to restore,

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preserve, and manage our marine ecosystems.

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Dr. Bahr is a first generation student

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and understands the importance of community.

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Therefore, she's committed to cultivating a productive

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and supportive environment

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where her team can work collaboratively

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to solve the problems facing our valuable marine ecosystems.

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Welcome Keisha.

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<v ->Thanks, Kelly. Thanks for having me, I'm happy to be here.</v>

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<v ->Oh, we're so happy to have you tonight.</v>

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I've just handed over screen control.

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There we go, looks good. You're ready to go.

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<v ->Okay, perfect.</v>

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All right, so welcome everyone.

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I'm really happy to be here for my first seaside chat

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to talk more about the work that we're doing in the Gulf

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and across the world to really understand

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what's going on with our coral reefs.

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So today I'm gonna talk about a variety of different topics.

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First, I'm gonna talk about what exactly are corals,

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they're tiny creatures,

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that they have a huge impact on our ocean,

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and you can even see them from space.

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We're gonna talk about some trouble

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that's happening with our reefs

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and what we can do to slow that decline.

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And I'm gonna talk about some of the really unique corals

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that we have in the Gulf that you might not know about.

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And then I'm gonna wrap up talking about some of the science

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that we're doing and others are doing

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to help advance and slow the decline of corals

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and how you can get involved

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and help make sure that these reefs are here

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for future generations.

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So I have been extremely fortunate to be able

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to study coral reefs for almost two decades now,

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and I've been able to see some

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of the most pristine coral reefs in the world,

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such as this one that you see in front of you.

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And the way that I like to describe a coral reef

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is essentially they're like an underwater rainforest.

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Where very bright colors, very loud, and tons of fish

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and different shapes of corals,

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all supporting about a quarter of our marine life.

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And very, very dependent on how the ocean might be changing.

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But the more I've learned about corals

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and watched them and studied them

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throughout the last few years,

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I've actually been able to see

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and witness the decline of these reefs

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that have occurred over time.

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So this reef is relatively pristine

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and located very, very far from any humans.

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And we've seen a decline in the corals

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and the fish communities associated

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with the reef over a one-year period.

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And what's really concerning about this

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is that we are seeing coral reefs throughout the world

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that are increasing in terms of their decline.

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And we're really concerned about why this is happening.

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So I'd like to show this figure here

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of all of the coral reefs that we have

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throughout the world.

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All these little tiny pink dots

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indicate where you might see a coral reef

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or you would see a coral reef.

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And that star that you see there in the middle is from the,

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that's where the reef was from the previous photo.

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So you can see it's very far

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from a lot of where we live here on land.

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But what we've discovered over time,

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the more that we document and look at coral reefs

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and try to assess how much coral cover there is

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across our world, we're seeing that as we move through time,

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we're starting to see that the corals are declining,

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whether we're in the Seychelles, the Great Barrier Reef.

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You've also may have heard

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that the Great Barrier Reef had an obituary release

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in 2016 where we saw a significant decline

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in the amount of corals that were there.

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We've seen this of course in Belize

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and also throughout the Caribbean.

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And we're really trying to understand

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why we're seeing such a rapid decline in corals,

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in coral reefs over this time period.

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And how can we stop or slow this decline that's happening.

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Right now-
<v Kelly>If we could</v>

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(indistinct) for a moment?

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<v ->Yeah, sorry.</v>

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<v Kelly>Can you, does your side screen show</v>

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that the audience is seeing your slides?

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<v ->Yes.</v>
<v Kelly>Okay.</v>

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We have one person who's not. Okay, thank you.

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<v ->Yeah, of course. No problem.</v>

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So it's currently estimated

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that we've lost about half of our coral reefs

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in the last three decades.

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And what's concerning about this

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is when we think about decline,

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we've heard about what's happening here on land,

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where we've lost a lot of our rainforest,

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but because we don't see coral reefs every day,

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'cause we don't live underwater, at least not yet,

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it's really alarming

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that we're losing these valuable reef ecosystems

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in such a fast period of time.

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And right now, current estimates

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that we could completely lose corals by 2070.

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So this is a huge concern regarding

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this loss of these underwater rainforests of the sea.

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And typically corals have been referred to

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as, "Canaries in the coal mine,"

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meaning that they can be an indicator of something

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that could go horribly wrong if we lose them.

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Similar to how coal miners would bring a canary down

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to indicate the oxygen levels

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so they knew when it was too late

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or when the oxygen level was too low,

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that they needed to evacuate the mine.

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We like to refer corals the same way here.

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If we lose corals, that could mean

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that we could lose a lot of other animals

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that are dependent on coral reefs.

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So we really need to understand

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this decline and help slow it

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before we lose about a quarter of our marine life.

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And also all the services

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that corals provide us here on land,

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including livelihoods, supporting our economy

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in terms of tourism and jobs associated with that.

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And also the protein that the fish provide

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for over 5 billion people.

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So I just wanna kind of back up

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and talk a little bit more about corals themselves

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because you'll hear me say corals and coral reefs.

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So a coral reef is built up of individual corals,

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which is its own organism here.

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And a colony of a coral can have thousands

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of these little polyps that are associated with it.

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And these are the mouth of the organism or the animal.

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So just imagine if you had thousands of mouths,

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you'd be able to eat a lot more food and acquire that.

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And when we zoom in and look at the polyp,

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you can see that this is part of the animal here

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and they're all genetically similar to each other.

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And inside of the coral itself, inside of its tissues,

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these corals are very unique

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00:10:53.520 --> 00:10:56.040
in terms that they have this sym-

258
00:10:56.040 --> 00:10:57.840
This algae that live inside of them

259
00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:00.090
that help provide a lot of the energy

260
00:11:00.090 --> 00:11:02.820
that corals need in order to survive.

261
00:11:02.820 --> 00:11:06.360
So corals in the algae, we refer to them as "zooxanthellae,"

262
00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:08.790
or the science name is symbiodinium.

263
00:11:08.790 --> 00:11:10.740
These are extremely important in order

264
00:11:10.740 --> 00:11:13.920
to continuously photosynthesize

265
00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:16.410
or obtain energy from the sun.

266
00:11:16.410 --> 00:11:19.211
And then that gives energy to the coral.

267
00:11:19.211 --> 00:11:22.920
So this symbiotic relationship has evolved over time

268
00:11:22.920 --> 00:11:25.575
and it allows corals to continuously thrive

269
00:11:25.575 --> 00:11:28.620
and build their calcium carbonate skeletons.

270
00:11:28.620 --> 00:11:31.200
And these skeletons then compose the reef

271
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.140
and provide this three-dimensional structure that fish

272
00:11:34.140 --> 00:11:36.840
and other animals are reliant on.

273
00:11:36.840 --> 00:11:37.920
And this three dimensional structure

274
00:11:37.920 --> 00:11:39.210
is really important for us here,

275
00:11:39.210 --> 00:11:41.580
'cause in coastal communities where there are coral reefs,

276
00:11:41.580 --> 00:11:44.730
that three-dimensional structure of the reef

277
00:11:44.730 --> 00:11:45.848
helps break down the waves

278
00:11:45.848 --> 00:11:49.050
and help reduce the amount of wave action

279
00:11:49.050 --> 00:11:50.253
that hits our shoreline.

280
00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:54.510
The problem is the corals and its algae

281
00:11:54.510 --> 00:11:57.090
have this really sensitive relationship.

282
00:11:57.090 --> 00:11:59.490
And if there's any changes in the environment,

283
00:11:59.490 --> 00:12:01.920
we will see that relationship will break down

284
00:12:01.920 --> 00:12:04.110
between the coral and the algae.

285
00:12:04.110 --> 00:12:05.670
And what happens there is

286
00:12:05.670 --> 00:12:08.790
that the algae are lost from the coral tissue

287
00:12:08.790 --> 00:12:11.310
and then the coral becomes pale in color

288
00:12:11.310 --> 00:12:13.920
or sometimes completely white.

289
00:12:13.920 --> 00:12:16.350
And this is what we call coral bleaching.

290
00:12:16.350 --> 00:12:17.550
The reason for this is

291
00:12:17.550 --> 00:12:20.370
because the tissue of the algae

292
00:12:20.370 --> 00:12:22.200
live inside the tissue of the coral.

293
00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.590
And without the algae present in the tissue of the coral,

294
00:12:25.590 --> 00:12:27.930
the tissue itself is essentially transparent

295
00:12:27.930 --> 00:12:30.600
and you're seeing the white skeleton of the coral,

296
00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:31.923
hence the white color.

297
00:12:32.790 --> 00:12:33.750
So you might be wondering

298
00:12:33.750 --> 00:12:37.260
what are some different environmental factors

299
00:12:37.260 --> 00:12:39.420
that might be influencing the breakdown

300
00:12:39.420 --> 00:12:41.160
of this relationship.

301
00:12:41.160 --> 00:12:43.950
There's a lot of different changes that occur in our ocean

302
00:12:43.950 --> 00:12:46.260
that can cause coral bleaching;

303
00:12:46.260 --> 00:12:49.530
whether it's from sediment, nutrients in the water,

304
00:12:49.530 --> 00:12:53.220
there can be invasive algae that overgrow and suffocate

305
00:12:53.220 --> 00:12:54.690
or smother the coral,

306
00:12:54.690 --> 00:12:57.810
and also ocean warming and ocean acidification

307
00:12:57.810 --> 00:12:59.403
can contribute to this.

308
00:13:00.780 --> 00:13:04.290
What we see in terms of our warming of our planet

309
00:13:04.290 --> 00:13:09.180
is with the emission of more gases into our atmosphere,

310
00:13:09.180 --> 00:13:10.740
we're seeing that more and more heat

311
00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:13.710
is being trapped into our oceans.

312
00:13:13.710 --> 00:13:17.550
So about 93% of the warming that we see

313
00:13:17.550 --> 00:13:20.430
that's excessive is being absorbed into our ocean.

314
00:13:20.430 --> 00:13:23.460
And this is increasing the temperature of the water.

315
00:13:23.460 --> 00:13:25.680
And you can think about this when you heat water.

316
00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:28.140
Water is very great at absorbing heat.

317
00:13:28.140 --> 00:13:30.030
And we see the same thing with our ocean.

318
00:13:30.030 --> 00:13:33.090
Our ocean is very great at absorbing excessive heat.

319
00:13:33.090 --> 00:13:36.720
So that's why we see a lot of the warming go into our ocean.

320
00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:39.570
Alongside of that, if there's any carbon dioxide

321
00:13:39.570 --> 00:13:41.490
that goes into the atmosphere

322
00:13:41.490 --> 00:13:43.517
or there's excessive carbon dioxide

323
00:13:43.517 --> 00:13:46.140
that is also dissolving into our ocean

324
00:13:46.140 --> 00:13:47.671
and it's changing the pH

325
00:13:47.671 --> 00:13:50.157
or the chemistry of the ocean as well.

326
00:13:50.157 --> 00:13:53.610
And this is what we refer to as, "Ocean acidification."

327
00:13:53.610 --> 00:13:54.900
So right now a lot of the work

328
00:13:54.900 --> 00:13:56.730
that's being done is really trying to understand

329
00:13:56.730 --> 00:14:00.360
how these variety of factors are impacting corals.

330
00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:02.250
And what we're seeing is that warming

331
00:14:02.250 --> 00:14:04.320
is really driving a huge decline

332
00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:07.620
of the bleaching or is increasing bleaching

333
00:14:07.620 --> 00:14:09.933
and causing a decline of our corals.

334
00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:13.290
So the thing I like to refer to myself,

335
00:14:13.290 --> 00:14:14.310
typically as a coral,

336
00:14:14.310 --> 00:14:16.890
'cause I'm kind of like the goldilocks syndrome,

337
00:14:16.890 --> 00:14:19.530
just like corals, they have this range where they,

338
00:14:19.530 --> 00:14:22.890
they don't like it too hot and they don't like it too cold.

339
00:14:22.890 --> 00:14:25.467
So in between is this really great in-between temperature

340
00:14:25.467 --> 00:14:30.210
that is not too warm or not too cold for corals.

341
00:14:30.210 --> 00:14:31.710
But what we're seeing over time,

342
00:14:31.710 --> 00:14:33.570
as we're having more and more heat

343
00:14:33.570 --> 00:14:34.920
going into our atmosphere,

344
00:14:34.920 --> 00:14:37.470
that's being absorbed into our oceans

345
00:14:37.470 --> 00:14:39.870
and it's starting to cause the temperature of the ocean

346
00:14:39.870 --> 00:14:44.870
to increase pushing corals into this too-hot area.

347
00:14:45.300 --> 00:14:47.790
And as we're getting warmer and hotter,

348
00:14:47.790 --> 00:14:49.562
we're starting to see that there's massive

349
00:14:49.562 --> 00:14:52.260
global bleaching events that happen.

350
00:14:52.260 --> 00:14:54.390
And we describe a massive bleaching event

351
00:14:54.390 --> 00:14:56.720
as occurring when we see bleaching happening

352
00:14:56.720 --> 00:14:59.340
in all the different areas of our ocean.

353
00:14:59.340 --> 00:15:02.730
So the first one happening in 1998

354
00:15:02.730 --> 00:15:05.010
and then also we had one in 2010

355
00:15:05.010 --> 00:15:07.068
and then we, our last global one,

356
00:15:07.068 --> 00:15:09.060
we've actually had four now,

357
00:15:09.060 --> 00:15:12.240
but the third global one, we lasted for three years.

358
00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.340
So we're seeing that there's more and more warming,

359
00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:15.930
there's more and more bleaching.

360
00:15:15.930 --> 00:15:18.480
And when we have corals that are experiencing bleaching,

361
00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.230
usually we would see them have this nice dark pigmentation,

362
00:15:22.230 --> 00:15:25.740
meaning they have a lot of algae inside of their tissue.

363
00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:29.340
And then we're seeing that they're losing the the algae

364
00:15:29.340 --> 00:15:32.160
because the warm water that's happening.

365
00:15:32.160 --> 00:15:33.780
Now here, the coral is still alive.

366
00:15:33.780 --> 00:15:35.790
And you can see all these little tiny dots with,

367
00:15:35.790 --> 00:15:37.891
that's the algae inside the coral.

368
00:15:37.891 --> 00:15:39.450
But what's happening is

369
00:15:39.450 --> 00:15:41.910
because a lot of the energy that the coral requires

370
00:15:41.910 --> 00:15:44.880
comes from the algae that live inside its tissues,

371
00:15:44.880 --> 00:15:46.230
or the zooxanthellae,

372
00:15:46.230 --> 00:15:48.990
without it, the coral is essentially starving.

373
00:15:48.990 --> 00:15:52.200
And if the temperatures do not come back to normal,

374
00:15:52.200 --> 00:15:54.968
what happens is that the coral can die.

375
00:15:54.968 --> 00:15:57.359
And these are some examples of some videos,

376
00:15:57.359 --> 00:15:59.635
if they're lagging on your side, I apologize.

377
00:15:59.635 --> 00:16:02.912
But there's some really great images from the video,

378
00:16:02.912 --> 00:16:05.310
the documentary, "Chasing Coral,"

379
00:16:05.310 --> 00:16:07.920
where they're illustrating the amount of bleaching

380
00:16:07.920 --> 00:16:09.798
that's happening across our ocean.

381
00:16:09.798 --> 00:16:12.630
And you'll see that a coral will be bleached,

382
00:16:12.630 --> 00:16:13.800
meaning it's still alive.

383
00:16:13.800 --> 00:16:16.140
And then they'll come back a few weeks later

384
00:16:16.140 --> 00:16:18.570
and they see that that coral has succumbed

385
00:16:18.570 --> 00:16:19.710
and had actually died

386
00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:22.710
because the temperatures have not subsided.

387
00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:23.730
And what happens here

388
00:16:23.730 --> 00:16:26.580
is this is why we're losing the coral cover.

389
00:16:26.580 --> 00:16:29.370
We're losing coral at very, very fast rates

390
00:16:29.370 --> 00:16:30.990
when we're seeing this loss.

391
00:16:30.990 --> 00:16:34.920
Very, very scary happening across acres of coral reefs.

392
00:16:34.920 --> 00:16:37.440
And these take hundreds of years

393
00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:40.234
in order to grow back to this size.

394
00:16:40.234 --> 00:16:43.110
So what we're doing in the Coral Reef

395
00:16:43.110 --> 00:16:45.240
and Ocean Health Lab at the Heart Research Institute

396
00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:47.220
is we're really trying to understand

397
00:16:47.220 --> 00:16:49.080
what these impacts are

398
00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:50.580
and what we can do about it

399
00:16:50.580 --> 00:16:53.790
in order to help like alleviate some of the changes

400
00:16:53.790 --> 00:16:55.290
that are occurring in our ocean

401
00:16:55.290 --> 00:16:57.690
and slow down the decline of the corals.

402
00:16:57.690 --> 00:16:58.830
So we take this approach

403
00:16:58.830 --> 00:17:00.510
where we're looking at these mechanisms

404
00:17:00.510 --> 00:17:03.974
of causing coral bleaching and impacting the coral growth

405
00:17:03.974 --> 00:17:06.660
and also taking an applied approach where we're working

406
00:17:06.660 --> 00:17:08.962
with different partners in order to understand

407
00:17:08.962 --> 00:17:13.260
how do we create socia, economic and environmental policies

408
00:17:13.260 --> 00:17:16.590
to help reduce the amount of impact we have on the reefs.

409
00:17:16.590 --> 00:17:18.720
So we study a lot of the impacts

410
00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:20.928
that corals are being influenced by

411
00:17:20.928 --> 00:17:23.220
and we'll look at the response of those impacts

412
00:17:23.220 --> 00:17:24.780
and try to develop solutions

413
00:17:24.780 --> 00:17:27.750
and engage with our partners in order to help implement

414
00:17:27.750 --> 00:17:30.750
or adjust the solutions that we're coming up with,

415
00:17:30.750 --> 00:17:31.650
because we wanna make sure

416
00:17:31.650 --> 00:17:33.049
that the solutions we're developing

417
00:17:33.049 --> 00:17:36.570
are actually helpful and are impactful to the work

418
00:17:36.570 --> 00:17:38.250
that's happening all across the world.

419
00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:39.813
And of course through our gulf.

420
00:17:41.490 --> 00:17:43.950
Which brings us to the amazing reefs

421
00:17:43.950 --> 00:17:46.128
that we have in the Gulf.

422
00:17:46.128 --> 00:17:51.000
I did all of my work in studies on corals in Hawaii,

423
00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:52.890
and so I got to experience some beautiful reefs

424
00:17:52.890 --> 00:17:54.180
throughout the Pacific.

425
00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:56.216
And when I moved to Texas, I actually had no idea

426
00:17:56.216 --> 00:17:58.518
that the Flower Garden Banks

427
00:17:58.518 --> 00:18:01.753
were just about a hundred miles off offshore.

428
00:18:01.753 --> 00:18:04.350
So I immediately jumped at the opportunity

429
00:18:04.350 --> 00:18:06.690
to go and experience this beautiful sanctuary.

430
00:18:06.690 --> 00:18:09.870
And I have a photo here of me after my first dive.

431
00:18:09.870 --> 00:18:11.520
I was just smiling from ear to ear

432
00:18:11.520 --> 00:18:15.030
because I've never seen such a beautiful reef

433
00:18:15.030 --> 00:18:17.940
with these brain corals that are so massive in size

434
00:18:17.940 --> 00:18:20.820
and they require so much time to get to that size.

435
00:18:20.820 --> 00:18:23.040
I was just, I was in shock.

436
00:18:23.040 --> 00:18:24.840
So if you ever have the opportunity,

437
00:18:24.840 --> 00:18:26.820
I highly recommend to go check out

438
00:18:26.820 --> 00:18:28.110
the Flower Garden Bank sanctuary.

439
00:18:28.110 --> 00:18:31.387
It's a beautiful place with amazing people.

440
00:18:31.387 --> 00:18:35.490
Also in the Gulf, on the left hand side here,

441
00:18:35.490 --> 00:18:38.520
I have this map of all the different reefs,

442
00:18:38.520 --> 00:18:40.200
and located in red.

443
00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:41.460
I've also had the opportunities

444
00:18:41.460 --> 00:18:43.560
to check out a lot of the amazing reefs

445
00:18:43.560 --> 00:18:45.690
that are off the shore of Mexico.

446
00:18:45.690 --> 00:18:49.320
So this is a snapshot of Alacrane's reef

447
00:18:49.320 --> 00:18:51.510
and the first time I saw a hammerhead underwater,

448
00:18:51.510 --> 00:18:52.800
which was really amazing.

449
00:18:52.800 --> 00:18:56.160
So also beautiful reefs off the coast of Mexico,

450
00:18:56.160 --> 00:18:59.460
the Campeche reefs in Veracruz as well.

451
00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:01.500
And of course there's a beautiful reefs

452
00:19:01.500 --> 00:19:02.910
off of the coast of Cuba.

453
00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:05.040
And we also have reefs that are associated

454
00:19:05.040 --> 00:19:07.920
with the United States alpha off of the Florida Keys.

455
00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:10.710
So understanding the amount of the different reefs

456
00:19:10.710 --> 00:19:13.350
that we have here in the Gulf is extremely important

457
00:19:13.350 --> 00:19:15.600
to understand how are they all connected

458
00:19:15.600 --> 00:19:18.390
and how do we make sure that they maintain this high level

459
00:19:18.390 --> 00:19:21.180
of coral cover, such as the Flower Garden Banks

460
00:19:21.180 --> 00:19:22.773
for future generations.

461
00:19:23.910 --> 00:19:27.840
Another thing when I moved to Texas is we learned quickly

462
00:19:27.840 --> 00:19:30.270
that there was also this really unique coral

463
00:19:30.270 --> 00:19:34.080
that lived near shore or right on our jetties here

464
00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:37.380
in Port Aransas and near Packery channel.

465
00:19:37.380 --> 00:19:38.760
And this became a surprise to us

466
00:19:38.760 --> 00:19:40.320
because we didn't know

467
00:19:40.320 --> 00:19:42.753
that there were these smaller cryptic corals

468
00:19:42.753 --> 00:19:45.180
that are located here in shore

469
00:19:45.180 --> 00:19:48.186
that we could study and really understand how these corals,

470
00:19:48.186 --> 00:19:51.120
while they're different and don't form these massive reefs

471
00:19:51.120 --> 00:19:52.758
that you would see at the Flower Garden Banks,

472
00:19:52.758 --> 00:19:55.200
but they could give us some insight to

473
00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.720
how these corals might be responding

474
00:19:57.720 --> 00:19:59.940
to the drastic environmental change

475
00:19:59.940 --> 00:20:03.330
that we experience here in the coastal bend.

476
00:20:03.330 --> 00:20:05.280
What's really cool about these corals

477
00:20:05.280 --> 00:20:07.770
is that they have this opportunity

478
00:20:07.770 --> 00:20:11.250
where they do not always have to have their algae

479
00:20:11.250 --> 00:20:13.830
or the symbiont of a zooxanthellae,

480
00:20:13.830 --> 00:20:16.521
so they can naturally occur being bleached

481
00:20:16.521 --> 00:20:19.350
and being able to feed and survive.

482
00:20:19.350 --> 00:20:21.570
And they can also have the stark pigmentation

483
00:20:21.570 --> 00:20:25.560
where they have that algae inside of them as well.

484
00:20:25.560 --> 00:20:27.300
So we've been studying these corals

485
00:20:27.300 --> 00:20:30.126
to understand first what exact species is it

486
00:20:30.126 --> 00:20:32.790
and also how is it able to switch

487
00:20:32.790 --> 00:20:35.716
between being reliant on its zooxanthellae

488
00:20:35.716 --> 00:20:38.602
and not being reliant on its zooxanthellae,

489
00:20:38.602 --> 00:20:41.640
and what was really cool, this is my first master's student,

490
00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:44.910
is we also documented these corals

491
00:20:44.910 --> 00:20:49.110
that they were able to survive the Texas Freeze of 2021,

492
00:20:49.110 --> 00:20:51.330
which my student was very brave

493
00:20:51.330 --> 00:20:52.290
and she went out diving,

494
00:20:52.290 --> 00:20:54.840
the temperatures were very, very low.

495
00:20:54.840 --> 00:20:56.280
I refused to go in.

496
00:20:56.280 --> 00:20:58.290
But what we saw was that these corals

497
00:20:58.290 --> 00:21:00.465
were able to survive this extreme low event

498
00:21:00.465 --> 00:21:04.601
that we had in February of 2021.

499
00:21:04.601 --> 00:21:06.408
And also they're able to survive

500
00:21:06.408 --> 00:21:08.130
these really hot temperatures

501
00:21:08.130 --> 00:21:10.560
that we have here in the coastal then as well.

502
00:21:10.560 --> 00:21:12.960
When normal corals on our,

503
00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:14.490
what we consider rebuilding corals

504
00:21:14.490 --> 00:21:16.920
have this very restricted temperature range

505
00:21:16.920 --> 00:21:18.090
that they thrive in.

506
00:21:18.090 --> 00:21:19.860
While these corals, these cryptic corals

507
00:21:19.860 --> 00:21:22.200
that we have here in in Texas

508
00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:25.530
are able to survive these huge dynamic swings of temperature

509
00:21:25.530 --> 00:21:27.330
and it really allows us to understand

510
00:21:27.330 --> 00:21:30.000
how they're able to continuously thrive in that.

511
00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.130
So I'm happy to talk more about that if you're interested,

512
00:21:32.130 --> 00:21:34.380
but a lot of the time folks don't know

513
00:21:34.380 --> 00:21:36.810
that we have corals here right in our coastal waters,

514
00:21:36.810 --> 00:21:38.013
which is really amazing.

515
00:21:39.612 --> 00:21:42.450
So we have been doing work for the,

516
00:21:42.450 --> 00:21:44.640
you know, over 10 years trying to really understand

517
00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:46.473
how do we take the science that we're doing

518
00:21:46.473 --> 00:21:48.547
and really implement solutions

519
00:21:48.547 --> 00:21:51.147
and really help make sure that corals

520
00:21:51.147 --> 00:21:53.850
and coral reefs are here for future generations.

521
00:21:53.850 --> 00:21:54.900
And there's three different ways

522
00:21:54.900 --> 00:21:56.400
in which we use our science

523
00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:58.800
in order to help develop solutions.

524
00:21:58.800 --> 00:22:01.560
Whether it's looking at informing decisions

525
00:22:01.560 --> 00:22:04.170
and working with our partners, our resource partners,

526
00:22:04.170 --> 00:22:05.250
in order to understand

527
00:22:05.250 --> 00:22:07.380
and help develop information for them.

528
00:22:07.380 --> 00:22:09.330
We've developed some research tools

529
00:22:09.330 --> 00:22:10.440
that have been really helpful,

530
00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:13.527
especially for our citizen science initiatives.

531
00:22:13.527 --> 00:22:15.930
And also we have a lot of education

532
00:22:15.930 --> 00:22:17.610
and training opportunities.

533
00:22:17.610 --> 00:22:19.860
So I just briefly wanna show you some of the work

534
00:22:19.860 --> 00:22:21.630
that we've been doing at a high level

535
00:22:21.630 --> 00:22:23.280
to show you what are the different approaches

536
00:22:23.280 --> 00:22:25.620
that we take with our science.

537
00:22:25.620 --> 00:22:28.108
So first talking about our informed decisions.

538
00:22:28.108 --> 00:22:32.340
Back in 2023, we organized

539
00:22:32.340 --> 00:22:35.337
with the Flower Garden Bank/National Marine Sanctuary staff,

540
00:22:35.337 --> 00:22:39.780
a gulf-wide meeting where we brought folks

541
00:22:39.780 --> 00:22:42.674
from all over the Gulf to really understand

542
00:22:42.674 --> 00:22:47.010
and help shape what should the research management,

543
00:22:47.010 --> 00:22:48.150
sorry, the research direction

544
00:22:48.150 --> 00:22:49.732
or research needs are needed

545
00:22:49.732 --> 00:22:52.290
for the management strategies moving forward

546
00:22:52.290 --> 00:22:54.150
with the Flower Garden Banks.

547
00:22:54.150 --> 00:22:56.580
And this was such an amazing meeting

548
00:22:56.580 --> 00:22:59.220
that we had in November of 2023 where we had

549
00:22:59.220 --> 00:23:02.220
over 150 attendees from all across the Gulf.

550
00:23:02.220 --> 00:23:04.470
Some partners from Mexico also came,

551
00:23:04.470 --> 00:23:06.240
where we came together and really helped shape

552
00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.880
the research needs that we can start collaborating together

553
00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:11.520
and start making sure that we are addressing the needs

554
00:23:11.520 --> 00:23:13.140
that the management have

555
00:23:13.140 --> 00:23:16.380
regarding our beautiful sanctuary here.

556
00:23:16.380 --> 00:23:18.960
And we're hoping to continue this every other year

557
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:20.310
to continue those conversations

558
00:23:20.310 --> 00:23:21.690
and work together to make sure

559
00:23:21.690 --> 00:23:23.370
that we are providing information

560
00:23:23.370 --> 00:23:25.140
to help guide any management

561
00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:27.190
or protection that's happening for these.

562
00:23:28.230 --> 00:23:29.280
And we've also worked

563
00:23:29.280 --> 00:23:32.460
with NOAA Core Reef Monitoring program,

564
00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:34.530
conducting work at the Flower Garden Banks

565
00:23:34.530 --> 00:23:36.570
and also in the Florida Keys.

566
00:23:36.570 --> 00:23:37.980
What was really amazing about working

567
00:23:37.980 --> 00:23:41.190
with this brilliant team is that the work

568
00:23:41.190 --> 00:23:42.810
that the Coral Reef Monitoring program does

569
00:23:42.810 --> 00:23:45.644
with NOAA is setting the standards for understanding

570
00:23:45.644 --> 00:23:48.815
what the current conditions of coral reefs look like

571
00:23:48.815 --> 00:23:51.420
and these methods that they use

572
00:23:51.420 --> 00:23:54.600
are the gold standard for everywhere else.

573
00:23:54.600 --> 00:23:56.940
So we have been working with them to understand

574
00:23:56.940 --> 00:23:58.260
what those methods are,

575
00:23:58.260 --> 00:24:01.314
how do we implement them to train students.

576
00:24:01.314 --> 00:24:03.420
And also we have been working

577
00:24:03.420 --> 00:24:05.557
with our international partners in Mexico

578
00:24:05.557 --> 00:24:07.740
to conduct a knowledge exchange

579
00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:10.230
and help train them on their fish,

580
00:24:10.230 --> 00:24:13.530
their benthic and coral health methodologies.

581
00:24:13.530 --> 00:24:15.180
Because believe it or not,

582
00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:16.830
most of the time everyone likes to do

583
00:24:16.830 --> 00:24:19.140
their own type of science in their own type of way.

584
00:24:19.140 --> 00:24:21.060
And it becomes really hard to understand

585
00:24:21.060 --> 00:24:22.320
what those metrics are

586
00:24:22.320 --> 00:24:23.850
and how do we compare them to each other

587
00:24:23.850 --> 00:24:26.180
if we're not doing everything standardized

588
00:24:26.180 --> 00:24:28.230
so that we can understand what's going on

589
00:24:28.230 --> 00:24:30.330
with the health of our coral reefs.

590
00:24:30.330 --> 00:24:31.740
So we've been doing that

591
00:24:31.740 --> 00:24:33.480
and helping strengthen that knowledge exchange

592
00:24:33.480 --> 00:24:36.270
so we have a better understanding of coral cover

593
00:24:36.270 --> 00:24:39.723
and coral health and fish density across the gulf.

594
00:24:40.560 --> 00:24:42.870
And we also, a part of HRI,

595
00:24:42.870 --> 00:24:45.180
we also have our own tri-national initiatives

596
00:24:45.180 --> 00:24:47.370
where we are connecting with Mexico

597
00:24:47.370 --> 00:24:50.610
and Cuba to understand the work that they're doing there.

598
00:24:50.610 --> 00:24:52.140
We have two international chairs

599
00:24:52.140 --> 00:24:54.990
that are associated with the Heart Research Institute

600
00:24:54.990 --> 00:24:56.790
and those are our boots on the ground

601
00:24:56.790 --> 00:24:58.948
to really help elevate and understand

602
00:24:58.948 --> 00:25:00.840
the coral reef ecosystems there

603
00:25:00.840 --> 00:25:03.090
and help work together to make sure

604
00:25:03.090 --> 00:25:05.540
that we are understanding not only what's happening

605
00:25:05.540 --> 00:25:06.840
in our nearshore waters here,

606
00:25:06.840 --> 00:25:08.430
but what's happening across the gulf

607
00:25:08.430 --> 00:25:11.160
so we can have better management

608
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:13.310
and knowledge that comes from that as well.

609
00:25:15.330 --> 00:25:17.610
Within my lab we have inducting

610
00:25:17.610 --> 00:25:19.853
a lot of experimental work to help guide state

611
00:25:19.853 --> 00:25:24.030
and federal decisions regarding corals and coral reefs.

612
00:25:24.030 --> 00:25:25.920
Primarily, like more recently,

613
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:27.540
we've been looking at how sediment

614
00:25:27.540 --> 00:25:29.340
might be impacting corals,

615
00:25:29.340 --> 00:25:31.070
whether it's coming from the land

616
00:25:31.070 --> 00:25:33.903
or if there are plans to conduct dredging,

617
00:25:33.903 --> 00:25:36.043
to maintain ports.

618
00:25:36.043 --> 00:25:38.396
For example, in Florida we need to understand

619
00:25:38.396 --> 00:25:39.942
if we remove this material

620
00:25:39.942 --> 00:25:42.600
or if sediment comes from the land,

621
00:25:42.600 --> 00:25:46.050
we wanna know what are the thresholds for these corals

622
00:25:46.050 --> 00:25:47.610
'cause they have not been defined.

623
00:25:47.610 --> 00:25:49.920
So we've been trying to understand that to help guide

624
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:51.270
where there needs to be maintenance

625
00:25:51.270 --> 00:25:53.340
and help make sure that the corals are going

626
00:25:53.340 --> 00:25:55.293
to be healthy moving forward.

627
00:25:56.790 --> 00:25:59.160
And what's really exciting is more recently,

628
00:25:59.160 --> 00:26:02.130
we have been conducting some of the only work

629
00:26:02.130 --> 00:26:05.550
that has been done so far looking at these different methods

630
00:26:05.550 --> 00:26:07.377
of marine carbon removal.

631
00:26:07.377 --> 00:26:09.000
And the technique that we're looking at

632
00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:11.760
is ocean alkalinity enhancement.

633
00:26:11.760 --> 00:26:12.960
So there's a lot of different ways

634
00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:14.730
to do marine carbon removal.

635
00:26:14.730 --> 00:26:17.550
On this figure here, I have the different proposed ways

636
00:26:17.550 --> 00:26:18.990
that we can look at this,

637
00:26:18.990 --> 00:26:20.220
but we're primarily focusing

638
00:26:20.220 --> 00:26:23.220
on enhancing the alkalinity of the ocean.

639
00:26:23.220 --> 00:26:26.610
And you might be wondering, what exactly does that mean?

640
00:26:26.610 --> 00:26:28.590
And I just put together this little figure.

641
00:26:28.590 --> 00:26:30.300
'Cause essentially what we're trying to do is

642
00:26:30.300 --> 00:26:33.990
can we drop in acids in our ocean

643
00:26:33.990 --> 00:26:37.170
to reverse the the acidification that's happening?

644
00:26:37.170 --> 00:26:38.700
And if we do that,

645
00:26:38.700 --> 00:26:41.263
what kind of impacts does it have on corals

646
00:26:41.263 --> 00:26:44.130
and is it good, is it bad?

647
00:26:44.130 --> 00:26:46.200
What is happening with them?

648
00:26:46.200 --> 00:26:49.230
So we're using a lot of different, some chemicals

649
00:26:49.230 --> 00:26:51.810
and some natural occurring minerals

650
00:26:51.810 --> 00:26:54.157
to understand what are those thresholds,

651
00:26:54.157 --> 00:26:57.060
is it possible and are there adverse effects

652
00:26:57.060 --> 00:26:59.070
that might be impacting our corals?

653
00:26:59.070 --> 00:27:01.110
Because that's extremely important to know.

654
00:27:01.110 --> 00:27:02.940
So stating, we just started these experiments

655
00:27:02.940 --> 00:27:04.740
and we're hoping to have a better understanding

656
00:27:04.740 --> 00:27:07.050
of how this might be influencing them

657
00:27:07.050 --> 00:27:09.360
or maybe benefiting the corals

658
00:27:09.360 --> 00:27:13.473
and other animals that build calcium carbonate skeletons.

659
00:27:15.390 --> 00:27:17.820
So now just moving on to some of the research tools

660
00:27:17.820 --> 00:27:19.740
that I'm really excited to talk with you all about

661
00:27:19.740 --> 00:27:21.390
that we've developed.

662
00:27:21.390 --> 00:27:23.987
The primary focus that we have been looking at

663
00:27:23.987 --> 00:27:26.977
is trying to understand coral health.

664
00:27:26.977 --> 00:27:28.860
And one of the things that happens

665
00:27:28.860 --> 00:27:30.630
during these bleaching events

666
00:27:30.630 --> 00:27:34.142
is most of the time it happens pretty fast

667
00:27:34.142 --> 00:27:37.897
and it's widespread and we just don't have enough eyes on,

668
00:27:37.897 --> 00:27:41.070
in the water, in order to document the extent

669
00:27:41.070 --> 00:27:43.050
of bleaching that's happening.

670
00:27:43.050 --> 00:27:45.750
So we have been working in Hawaii,

671
00:27:45.750 --> 00:27:47.010
we started this in Hawaii,

672
00:27:47.010 --> 00:27:50.130
developing a color card that correlates

673
00:27:50.130 --> 00:27:52.020
with the health of a coral.

674
00:27:52.020 --> 00:27:55.320
This has been developed in Australia with Australian corals,

675
00:27:55.320 --> 00:27:57.630
but in Hawaii there's different coral species.

676
00:27:57.630 --> 00:27:59.190
And in the Caribbean and the Gulf

677
00:27:59.190 --> 00:28:01.020
there are different coral species.

678
00:28:01.020 --> 00:28:03.900
So we made one that's specific to corals in Hawaii

679
00:28:03.900 --> 00:28:06.510
to really understand the correlation

680
00:28:06.510 --> 00:28:08.820
between color and health.

681
00:28:08.820 --> 00:28:11.767
And all of these colors have been correlated

682
00:28:11.767 --> 00:28:15.489
with the conditions that we typically do as scientists

683
00:28:15.489 --> 00:28:18.210
to understand the health of corals.

684
00:28:18.210 --> 00:28:20.400
So not only just taking the photos

685
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:21.540
or it's the colors of the coral,

686
00:28:21.540 --> 00:28:24.450
we're tying it to what that health is of the algae,

687
00:28:24.450 --> 00:28:27.600
the zooxanthellae inside of the coral as well.

688
00:28:27.600 --> 00:28:30.750
So this has been extremely effective in Hawaii

689
00:28:30.750 --> 00:28:34.057
and we've developed this protocol in which anyone,

690
00:28:34.057 --> 00:28:35.850
you don't have to have a background

691
00:28:35.850 --> 00:28:37.530
in marine biology at all.

692
00:28:37.530 --> 00:28:39.600
You can go out with our color card here,

693
00:28:39.600 --> 00:28:41.340
our Hawaiian Ko'a card,

694
00:28:41.340 --> 00:28:42.960
and you can go up to a coral,

695
00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:44.790
you just need to pick the shape of the coral.

696
00:28:44.790 --> 00:28:47.520
So here's an example, this beautiful coral here,

697
00:28:47.520 --> 00:28:50.242
the shape of it would be considered a branching coral.

698
00:28:50.242 --> 00:28:51.960
And then you would look at the coral

699
00:28:51.960 --> 00:28:55.282
and pick the color that is the most representative

700
00:28:55.282 --> 00:28:58.500
of that color or the coral itself.

701
00:28:58.500 --> 00:29:00.090
So you could say from this photo,

702
00:29:00.090 --> 00:29:02.247
it looks like the number four is.

703
00:29:02.247 --> 00:29:03.900
And then what you would do

704
00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:06.180
is you would go to our online platform

705
00:29:06.180 --> 00:29:10.020
and report where you conducted your survey.

706
00:29:10.020 --> 00:29:12.210
So we're zooming in here to Hanauma Bay

707
00:29:12.210 --> 00:29:14.130
on the island of Oahu

708
00:29:14.130 --> 00:29:16.468
and you can report all of this information regarding

709
00:29:16.468 --> 00:29:19.530
what the color is, where you saw it.

710
00:29:19.530 --> 00:29:21.985
You can even drag and drop where you did your survey

711
00:29:21.985 --> 00:29:24.507
and you would enter this information of the shape

712
00:29:24.507 --> 00:29:26.550
and the color of the coral.

713
00:29:26.550 --> 00:29:28.770
And you might be thinking, well this is really helpful,

714
00:29:28.770 --> 00:29:31.455
but is somebody really using this information?

715
00:29:31.455 --> 00:29:34.087
Well, this is really helpful for scientists

716
00:29:34.087 --> 00:29:37.080
and also for the research managers in Hawaii

717
00:29:37.080 --> 00:29:39.270
where they can go online and look and filter

718
00:29:39.270 --> 00:29:41.610
and see if there's any bleaching that might be happening

719
00:29:41.610 --> 00:29:43.590
or that's been reported and be able to go

720
00:29:43.590 --> 00:29:45.510
and follow up on those surveys

721
00:29:45.510 --> 00:29:47.544
and understand where bleaching is occurring

722
00:29:47.544 --> 00:29:49.440
and where bleaching isn't occurring,

723
00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:51.660
so we can identify potential drivers

724
00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:54.540
of those differences between these locations.

725
00:29:54.540 --> 00:29:55.950
So this has been extremely successful.

726
00:29:55.950 --> 00:29:58.638
We launched this in 2019 and Hawaii

727
00:29:58.638 --> 00:30:03.638
and now we are developing a color card for Caribbean corals.

728
00:30:04.290 --> 00:30:06.240
And this all started with a conversation

729
00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:08.670
with my friends at the Texas State Aquarium

730
00:30:08.670 --> 00:30:11.100
where they wanted to develop some metrics

731
00:30:11.100 --> 00:30:12.658
for coral wellness.

732
00:30:12.658 --> 00:30:15.720
And I told them the best way to understand

733
00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:19.207
how healthy a coral is, is just by looking at it.

734
00:30:19.207 --> 00:30:21.420
But of course everyone needs to have some kind

735
00:30:21.420 --> 00:30:23.700
of understanding of what a healthy color looks like.

736
00:30:23.700 --> 00:30:24.840
So we began working

737
00:30:24.840 --> 00:30:26.760
with the folks at the Texas State Aquarium

738
00:30:26.760 --> 00:30:29.584
to develop healthy coral colors

739
00:30:29.584 --> 00:30:32.160
for their corals and captivity.

740
00:30:32.160 --> 00:30:34.652
So they had an indication of if the coral was doing well

741
00:30:34.652 --> 00:30:36.750
or the coral's not doing well,

742
00:30:36.750 --> 00:30:40.590
because of the presence of the zooxanthellae in its tissue.

743
00:30:40.590 --> 00:30:42.510
So this has been very successful

744
00:30:42.510 --> 00:30:44.738
and we're hoping to expand this work

745
00:30:44.738 --> 00:30:49.200
and develop a Caribbean color card specifically for corals

746
00:30:49.200 --> 00:30:50.610
and the Caribbean and in the Gulf

747
00:30:50.610 --> 00:30:53.700
because those are completely different species from Hawaii

748
00:30:53.700 --> 00:30:55.380
and from Australia.

749
00:30:55.380 --> 00:30:58.260
And with this we're gonna be developing a similar protocol

750
00:30:58.260 --> 00:31:00.360
where we'll be able to share this with everyone

751
00:31:00.360 --> 00:31:02.370
and they'll be able to go out and do their own surveys

752
00:31:02.370 --> 00:31:05.580
and report the health of the corals in their own area.

753
00:31:05.580 --> 00:31:08.580
So it's really exciting work that we have ongoing right now.

754
00:31:09.930 --> 00:31:11.970
And the last thing I just wanna briefly talk about

755
00:31:11.970 --> 00:31:13.050
is the work that we've been doing

756
00:31:13.050 --> 00:31:15.836
regarding our education and training.

757
00:31:15.836 --> 00:31:19.890
A lot of the work that we do in our lab has,

758
00:31:19.890 --> 00:31:22.290
it has a lot of experiments

759
00:31:22.290 --> 00:31:23.790
that have been associated with it.

760
00:31:23.790 --> 00:31:27.180
And I also teach at Texas A&amp;M and in Corpus Christi.

761
00:31:27.180 --> 00:31:29.820
So one of my big motivations was to be able

762
00:31:29.820 --> 00:31:34.020
to bring corals to the surface, essentially,

763
00:31:34.020 --> 00:31:36.570
and be able to expose more people to corals

764
00:31:36.570 --> 00:31:38.520
and understand what they were

765
00:31:38.520 --> 00:31:40.830
and how they can help corals

766
00:31:40.830 --> 00:31:42.810
to make sure that they're there for,

767
00:31:42.810 --> 00:31:44.850
if they wanted to go see them, circle,

768
00:31:44.850 --> 00:31:48.120
or be able to have them for future generations.

769
00:31:48.120 --> 00:31:51.660
So we have been working on exposing students

770
00:31:51.660 --> 00:31:55.260
of all ages to understanding what corals are.

771
00:31:55.260 --> 00:31:57.810
We've partnered with folks across the Coastal Bend

772
00:31:57.810 --> 00:32:00.000
and with the Texas State Aquarium

773
00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:02.499
to understand or to grow this information

774
00:32:02.499 --> 00:32:06.279
and provide curriculum for these groups

775
00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:09.180
for summer camps, events, classroom visits.

776
00:32:09.180 --> 00:32:12.390
So people have experience with looking at corals,

777
00:32:12.390 --> 00:32:13.830
making different shapes of corals

778
00:32:13.830 --> 00:32:16.950
and understanding how shape can influence the function

779
00:32:16.950 --> 00:32:20.100
of where a coral is or where it is not.

780
00:32:20.100 --> 00:32:21.990
We've expanded this to providing

781
00:32:21.990 --> 00:32:23.700
some immersive research experiences

782
00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:26.820
and workforce development for some of our teams

783
00:32:26.820 --> 00:32:28.380
here in the coastal bend.

784
00:32:28.380 --> 00:32:30.780
We bring scuba gear, we let them try it on,

785
00:32:30.780 --> 00:32:34.410
we expose them to the different ways that we look at coral

786
00:32:34.410 --> 00:32:36.690
or measure coral cover on a reef.

787
00:32:36.690 --> 00:32:39.480
And they just have a really great time doing that,

788
00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:40.860
just even putting on the scuba gear,

789
00:32:40.860 --> 00:32:42.633
they really, really enjoy it.

790
00:32:43.530 --> 00:32:45.672
And then lastly, we scale this up looking

791
00:32:45.672 --> 00:32:48.120
at high schoolers and also undergrads

792
00:32:48.120 --> 00:32:52.260
and graduate students where we work on the identification

793
00:32:52.260 --> 00:32:55.369
of corals and have a really extensive coral collection

794
00:32:55.369 --> 00:32:57.060
regarding the skeletons.

795
00:32:57.060 --> 00:32:59.215
And we also have live captive corals

796
00:32:59.215 --> 00:33:01.623
in-house at the Heart Research Institute.

797
00:33:01.623 --> 00:33:03.450
And what I think is really cool

798
00:33:03.450 --> 00:33:07.290
is that we've also been able to print with the help

799
00:33:07.290 --> 00:33:10.394
of the Flower Garden sanctuary folks,

800
00:33:10.394 --> 00:33:12.940
we've been able to print these large maps

801
00:33:12.940 --> 00:33:15.890
of the coral reef at the flower gardens

802
00:33:15.890 --> 00:33:19.110
and be able to lay it out and allow students

803
00:33:19.110 --> 00:33:20.670
and train students how to do

804
00:33:20.670 --> 00:33:23.649
these NOAA Coral Reef Monitoring program methods

805
00:33:23.649 --> 00:33:26.520
so that they are able to understand

806
00:33:26.520 --> 00:33:27.810
how to,

807
00:33:27.810 --> 00:33:30.570
how is the gold standard of how we look at corals

808
00:33:30.570 --> 00:33:32.910
and measure corals and be able to understand

809
00:33:32.910 --> 00:33:35.070
that in a more controlled environment

810
00:33:35.070 --> 00:33:37.380
while they're getting their SCUBA certification.

811
00:33:37.380 --> 00:33:40.200
So here you can see in the middle we have,

812
00:33:40.200 --> 00:33:43.252
we're going over identifying and measuring individual corals

813
00:33:43.252 --> 00:33:45.690
and then in the water being able to identify

814
00:33:45.690 --> 00:33:48.120
and do those measurements underwater as well.

815
00:33:48.120 --> 00:33:51.000
And this provides hands-on training for any,

816
00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:53.790
for our students here to be able to conduct this work

817
00:33:53.790 --> 00:33:55.080
and really understand what it's like

818
00:33:55.080 --> 00:33:57.480
to have a career in marine biology

819
00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:59.100
or to conduct these standard

820
00:33:59.100 --> 00:34:01.320
or these surveys that we are implementing.

821
00:34:01.320 --> 00:34:02.400
Not only across the US,

822
00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:04.710
but we're also working with our partners in Mexico

823
00:34:04.710 --> 00:34:06.933
and Cuba to implement these same methods.

824
00:34:08.555 --> 00:34:11.220
And then lastly, we're extending this

825
00:34:11.220 --> 00:34:13.230
to lifelong learners as well.

826
00:34:13.230 --> 00:34:14.850
So with our color cards,

827
00:34:14.850 --> 00:34:17.220
we are implementing a community-led science

828
00:34:17.220 --> 00:34:19.590
where people can take care and monitor

829
00:34:19.590 --> 00:34:21.390
their own reefs' ecosystems

830
00:34:21.390 --> 00:34:23.070
and be able to report on that

831
00:34:23.070 --> 00:34:25.710
and have more investment into their communities.

832
00:34:25.710 --> 00:34:27.780
So this has been very successful in Hawaii.

833
00:34:27.780 --> 00:34:29.490
We've also done this in Tahiti

834
00:34:29.490 --> 00:34:30.960
and we're growing this in Tahiti

835
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:33.720
and we're also working on doing this in the Caribbean

836
00:34:33.720 --> 00:34:35.550
in the Gulf as well.

837
00:34:35.550 --> 00:34:36.750
We've been very involved

838
00:34:36.750 --> 00:34:39.180
with a surf rider and with Jace Tunnell

839
00:34:39.180 --> 00:34:41.370
He came and talked with you guys a few weeks ago

840
00:34:41.370 --> 00:34:43.590
with facilitating our beach cleanups

841
00:34:43.590 --> 00:34:45.060
and understanding the impact

842
00:34:45.060 --> 00:34:47.070
of plastic pollution on our coastal waters

843
00:34:47.070 --> 00:34:50.340
and how that might influence corals, oysters

844
00:34:50.340 --> 00:34:54.327
and other sensitive ecosystems as well.

845
00:34:54.327 --> 00:34:56.730
And then I've been working with the Texas State Aquarium.

846
00:34:56.730 --> 00:34:59.735
We just actually wrapped our coral conservation series

847
00:34:59.735 --> 00:35:01.920
where we're, this was implemented,

848
00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:04.980
especially during the pandemic where we were all online

849
00:35:04.980 --> 00:35:07.170
and we wanted to provide a virtual learning

850
00:35:07.170 --> 00:35:10.162
and immersive experience for anyone to be able to understand

851
00:35:10.162 --> 00:35:12.060
what it's like to be a scientist,

852
00:35:12.060 --> 00:35:14.220
how to do work as a scientist

853
00:35:14.220 --> 00:35:15.990
and what exactly are coral reefs.

854
00:35:15.990 --> 00:35:18.600
So literally bringing corals to everyone

855
00:35:18.600 --> 00:35:21.000
regardless of where your location is

856
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:22.830
because it can typically feel like just

857
00:35:22.830 --> 00:35:24.990
because you don't live right next to a coral reef,

858
00:35:24.990 --> 00:35:27.360
you feel like you might be disconnected from them.

859
00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:29.580
And we wanted to be able to provide an opportunity

860
00:35:29.580 --> 00:35:32.100
to bring that closer to folks so that they understand

861
00:35:32.100 --> 00:35:34.380
that even though corals might be far from you,

862
00:35:34.380 --> 00:35:35.790
you are still connected to them,

863
00:35:35.790 --> 00:35:38.640
you are still going to be impacted by them

864
00:35:38.640 --> 00:35:40.530
and receive benefits from them

865
00:35:40.530 --> 00:35:42.720
and you also might be impacting them

866
00:35:42.720 --> 00:35:44.250
regardless of where you are.

867
00:35:44.250 --> 00:35:46.050
So if you wanna learn more about that,

868
00:35:46.050 --> 00:35:48.030
please check out the Texas State Aquarium website.

869
00:35:48.030 --> 00:35:50.306
We have a, I think it's a six-part series

870
00:35:50.306 --> 00:35:53.291
focused on corals and what we're doing to look at

871
00:35:53.291 --> 00:35:55.560
how ocean acidification impacts

872
00:35:55.560 --> 00:35:57.723
how corals grow or how they calcify.

873
00:35:59.400 --> 00:36:01.200
And our entire goal here is

874
00:36:01.200 --> 00:36:03.450
to really connect everything

875
00:36:03.450 --> 00:36:04.950
that's going on in our ocean

876
00:36:04.950 --> 00:36:07.200
and help connect between different ecosystems

877
00:36:07.200 --> 00:36:09.840
and help protect them for future generations.

878
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:12.660
And I think one of the really challenging things about this

879
00:36:12.660 --> 00:36:16.356
is that there is so many interesting things to explore.

880
00:36:16.356 --> 00:36:19.110
There's a lot of problems that our corals,

881
00:36:19.110 --> 00:36:21.500
our seagrasses, our mangroves and oysters are facing

882
00:36:21.500 --> 00:36:23.970
and we're really trying to connect this all together

883
00:36:23.970 --> 00:36:28.470
to solve some of the issues that they're experiencing.

884
00:36:28.470 --> 00:36:30.540
And one of the things I think is extremely important

885
00:36:30.540 --> 00:36:33.390
about this is, as a professor

886
00:36:33.390 --> 00:36:35.670
at the Heart Research Institute is,

887
00:36:35.670 --> 00:36:36.990
we can't do this alone.

888
00:36:36.990 --> 00:36:41.021
We work a lot with our partners at NOAA, USGS,

889
00:36:41.021 --> 00:36:45.240
the EPA and the National Science Foundation

890
00:36:45.240 --> 00:36:48.867
in order to understand what's happening in our ocean.

891
00:36:48.867 --> 00:36:50.460
We receive some funding

892
00:36:50.460 --> 00:36:51.750
from these different organizations,

893
00:36:51.750 --> 00:36:53.310
but we also work with the researchers

894
00:36:53.310 --> 00:36:55.590
at these organizations to help elevate the work

895
00:36:55.590 --> 00:36:56.423
that they're doing,

896
00:36:56.423 --> 00:36:58.710
and they help us elevate the work that we're doing.

897
00:36:58.710 --> 00:37:00.150
Because we are stronger together

898
00:37:00.150 --> 00:37:02.100
to be able to understand these impacts

899
00:37:02.100 --> 00:37:05.820
and slow the decline of these very sensitive ecosystems.

900
00:37:05.820 --> 00:37:07.320
So we're really hoping to be able

901
00:37:07.320 --> 00:37:10.830
to continuously work together to figure out

902
00:37:10.830 --> 00:37:12.870
where there are strengths in different places

903
00:37:12.870 --> 00:37:14.490
or just use different technique

904
00:37:14.490 --> 00:37:16.170
and skills in order to help

905
00:37:16.170 --> 00:37:18.003
with the problems that we're facing.

906
00:37:19.710 --> 00:37:20.970
And then I just wanna wrap up

907
00:37:20.970 --> 00:37:22.762
by just briefly talking about some of the ways

908
00:37:22.762 --> 00:37:26.580
that you can help slow the decline of corals

909
00:37:26.580 --> 00:37:28.450
and make sure that these really cool creatures

910
00:37:28.450 --> 00:37:30.865
are here for future generations.

911
00:37:30.865 --> 00:37:35.520
This diagram here, this infographic is from NOAA.

912
00:37:35.520 --> 00:37:37.212
So if you wanna check this out,

913
00:37:37.212 --> 00:37:39.773
primarily the things that they're focusing on

914
00:37:39.773 --> 00:37:42.480
is what you do as an individual

915
00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:44.460
and what your choices are.

916
00:37:44.460 --> 00:37:47.430
If you ever have the opportunity to go see a coral reef,

917
00:37:47.430 --> 00:37:49.500
one of the biggest things is being aware

918
00:37:49.500 --> 00:37:51.240
of what you are wearing.

919
00:37:51.240 --> 00:37:52.283
If you're wearing sunscreen,

920
00:37:52.283 --> 00:37:54.619
those chemicals might be impacting corals.

921
00:37:54.619 --> 00:37:56.865
Making sure that you don't touch corals,

922
00:37:56.865 --> 00:38:00.219
they are very sensitive to any touching

923
00:38:00.219 --> 00:38:03.450
or if you stand on them you could break them as well.

924
00:38:03.450 --> 00:38:05.400
So just being really aware of your surroundings

925
00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:07.140
and practicing safe boating

926
00:38:07.140 --> 00:38:09.870
if you do have the opportunity to see a coral reef.

927
00:38:09.870 --> 00:38:11.970
But if you are located further from a coral reef,

928
00:38:11.970 --> 00:38:13.080
your choices that you make

929
00:38:13.080 --> 00:38:15.060
in terms of where you get your seafood from

930
00:38:15.060 --> 00:38:16.530
do impact corals 'cause there

931
00:38:16.530 --> 00:38:18.390
are some destructive fishing practices

932
00:38:18.390 --> 00:38:19.893
that can impact corals.

933
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:22.223
One of the biggest things that I say is

934
00:38:22.223 --> 00:38:24.870
if you are interested in learning more about corals

935
00:38:24.870 --> 00:38:25.800
and how you can help,

936
00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:26.910
the best thing you can do

937
00:38:26.910 --> 00:38:29.110
is share the knowledge that you learn

938
00:38:29.110 --> 00:38:31.460
and also share resources for other people

939
00:38:31.460 --> 00:38:33.240
to learn about that.

940
00:38:33.240 --> 00:38:34.740
And I always recommend starting

941
00:38:34.740 --> 00:38:36.840
with the documentary, "Chasing Coral"

942
00:38:36.840 --> 00:38:38.580
because it's a really beautiful documentary

943
00:38:38.580 --> 00:38:41.550
that talks about the impacts that corals are facing

944
00:38:41.550 --> 00:38:43.203
and some direct actionable items

945
00:38:43.203 --> 00:38:45.273
that you can do to slow that decline.

946
00:38:47.070 --> 00:38:50.520
So with that I just wanna, you know,

947
00:38:50.520 --> 00:38:53.139
stop here and take any questions that you might have

948
00:38:53.139 --> 00:38:57.862
and of course show a beautiful video that was taken

949
00:38:57.862 --> 00:39:00.607
by our friends at the National Park Service

950
00:39:00.607 --> 00:39:02.582
of the Flower Garden Banks.

951
00:39:02.582 --> 00:39:04.380
If you haven't had the opportunity

952
00:39:04.380 --> 00:39:07.309
to check out this beautiful sanctuary and these ecosystems,

953
00:39:07.309 --> 00:39:10.200
these coral reefs, I highly recommend it

954
00:39:10.200 --> 00:39:15.200
because it is just breathtaking when you see them.

955
00:39:15.270 --> 00:39:18.123
And I'll stop there and see if we have any questions.

956
00:39:19.530 --> 00:39:22.170
<v ->That was great Keisha, I really appreciate that.</v>

957
00:39:22.170 --> 00:39:24.810
A nice covering of how corals all work

958
00:39:24.810 --> 00:39:26.490
and then what we're doing to try

959
00:39:26.490 --> 00:39:29.820
and help the situation in the water and out.

960
00:39:29.820 --> 00:39:31.800
That's really important.

961
00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:35.310
So starting down our question list,

962
00:39:35.310 --> 00:39:37.440
the first one I see is, "Are there any indication

963
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:38.940
that corals are evolving

964
00:39:38.940 --> 00:39:41.460
to survive the warmer temperatures?"

965
00:39:41.460 --> 00:39:43.050
<v ->Oh, great question.</v>

966
00:39:43.050 --> 00:39:45.240
You know, and I kind of did wanna talk about this

967
00:39:45.240 --> 00:39:47.700
a little bit more with,

968
00:39:47.700 --> 00:39:51.199
we have done some work looking at the ability for corals

969
00:39:51.199 --> 00:39:55.290
to keep up with the warming that is occurring.

970
00:39:55.290 --> 00:39:57.600
Some of the earliest work that was done

971
00:39:57.600 --> 00:40:00.450
on how hot is too hot for corals,

972
00:40:00.450 --> 00:40:01.980
that's the way I like to phrase it,

973
00:40:01.980 --> 00:40:04.620
was done in the seventies in Hawaii

974
00:40:04.620 --> 00:40:07.103
by the person I received my PhD with.

975
00:40:07.103 --> 00:40:10.230
So we decided the best way to test this

976
00:40:10.230 --> 00:40:12.600
is to actually redo the experiments

977
00:40:12.600 --> 00:40:13.560
that they did in the seventies,

978
00:40:13.560 --> 00:40:15.630
so almost 50 years later.

979
00:40:15.630 --> 00:40:18.900
And what we saw from the work that we did in Hawaii

980
00:40:18.900 --> 00:40:21.401
was that the Hawaiian corals we looked at

981
00:40:21.401 --> 00:40:23.820
were able to keep up with the amount

982
00:40:23.820 --> 00:40:26.670
of warming that had occurred over that time period.

983
00:40:26.670 --> 00:40:29.865
So not only were they growing better

984
00:40:29.865 --> 00:40:33.300
or growing more or the same at higher temperatures,

985
00:40:33.300 --> 00:40:35.610
but they also took longer to bleach.

986
00:40:35.610 --> 00:40:38.850
So that is indicating to us that corals are able

987
00:40:38.850 --> 00:40:40.770
to keep up with warming.

988
00:40:40.770 --> 00:40:43.440
I think the issue is that we're concerned about

989
00:40:43.440 --> 00:40:45.798
is the rate of warming that's happening,

990
00:40:45.798 --> 00:40:48.587
maybe too fast for corals to keep up

991
00:40:48.587 --> 00:40:51.270
if we're able to slow that rate of warming,

992
00:40:51.270 --> 00:40:54.930
Corals can keep up, they can acclimatize,

993
00:40:54.930 --> 00:40:58.950
they can adjust or have mechanisms to keep up with that.

994
00:40:58.950 --> 00:41:00.665
Or they might be adapting over time,

995
00:41:00.665 --> 00:41:02.460
but the rate in which it's occurring,

996
00:41:02.460 --> 00:41:05.580
it might be happening too fast where the corals are getting,

997
00:41:05.580 --> 00:41:06.600
they might be bleaching and dying

998
00:41:06.600 --> 00:41:08.340
before they're able to adjust

999
00:41:08.340 --> 00:41:11.220
to the temperatures that they're experiencing.

1000
00:41:11.220 --> 00:41:12.676
That's a great question.

1001
00:41:12.676 --> 00:41:15.510
<v ->Yes it is. And that was a great answer.</v>

1002
00:41:15.510 --> 00:41:17.177
Love hearing that they're adapting,

1003
00:41:17.177 --> 00:41:19.069
at least at some speed.

1004
00:41:19.069 --> 00:41:21.380
And folks, if I haven't reminded you before,

1005
00:41:21.380 --> 00:41:23.070
if you have questions,

1006
00:41:23.070 --> 00:41:25.440
please write them into the question box over there

1007
00:41:25.440 --> 00:41:26.760
in that control panel.

1008
00:41:26.760 --> 00:41:29.322
And then we're picking and choosing from them out

1009
00:41:29.322 --> 00:41:32.373
at behind the scenes and then asking Keisha for you.

1010
00:41:33.360 --> 00:41:36.150
Okay, another one, oops,

1011
00:41:36.150 --> 00:41:38.587
this screen's scrolling too fast for me.

1012
00:41:38.587 --> 00:41:42.120
"Are the standardized research practices basin-specific,

1013
00:41:42.120 --> 00:41:43.860
or could they be used in-"

1014
00:41:43.860 --> 00:41:45.277
Oh dang it, just rolled on me again.

1015
00:41:45.277 --> 00:41:47.823
"In the Gulf of California as well?

1016
00:41:48.690 --> 00:41:50.250
<v ->So the way that we look at corals,</v>

1017
00:41:50.250 --> 00:41:53.550
or NOAA looks at corals and their standards

1018
00:41:53.550 --> 00:41:56.070
have been used in other systems.

1019
00:41:56.070 --> 00:41:58.748
What's really cool about working in the marine environment

1020
00:41:58.748 --> 00:42:01.189
is most of what we have learned

1021
00:42:01.189 --> 00:42:03.510
or most of the methods that we use,

1022
00:42:03.510 --> 00:42:06.240
we borrow from the terrestrial environment.

1023
00:42:06.240 --> 00:42:07.830
So when we think about it,

1024
00:42:07.830 --> 00:42:10.710
when people look at what the grass suns look like,

1025
00:42:10.710 --> 00:42:11.790
what trees look like,

1026
00:42:11.790 --> 00:42:13.800
we use a lot of their methods, their standards,

1027
00:42:13.800 --> 00:42:15.960
and we just put it underwater, just makes it harder.

1028
00:42:15.960 --> 00:42:17.820
'Cause you can't breathe underwater

1029
00:42:17.820 --> 00:42:19.650
unless you have an air tank.

1030
00:42:19.650 --> 00:42:22.680
But essentially we borrow a lot of those standardizations

1031
00:42:22.680 --> 00:42:27.540
for looking at amount of area, the standardization of area

1032
00:42:27.540 --> 00:42:29.640
and counting the number of individuals

1033
00:42:29.640 --> 00:42:33.380
or counting the cover of that individual underwater.

1034
00:42:34.650 --> 00:42:37.218
So you can use it for anything.

1035
00:42:37.218 --> 00:42:40.740
And we just like to always use NOAA standards

1036
00:42:40.740 --> 00:42:43.185
for documenting the coral cover.

1037
00:42:43.185 --> 00:42:45.270
We also use their standards for counting fish

1038
00:42:45.270 --> 00:42:48.300
and measuring fish because that allows us

1039
00:42:48.300 --> 00:42:49.980
to compare our data

1040
00:42:49.980 --> 00:42:52.140
or other data that's collected in other places.

1041
00:42:52.140 --> 00:42:54.270
If we're looking at corals with the data

1042
00:42:54.270 --> 00:42:56.700
that NOAA has been collecting over time.

1043
00:42:56.700 --> 00:42:59.250
And for example, the work that the long-term monitoring

1044
00:42:59.250 --> 00:43:01.770
that's been happening at the Flower Garden Banks has been,

1045
00:43:01.770 --> 00:43:04.650
I believe it's the longest record that we have

1046
00:43:04.650 --> 00:43:07.440
of coral cover over time.

1047
00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:10.119
So it's really hard to have that much data

1048
00:43:10.119 --> 00:43:12.520
and look at how these changes are occurring.

1049
00:43:12.520 --> 00:43:14.790
So we wanna make sure that we're standardizing

1050
00:43:14.790 --> 00:43:16.620
all of the ways that we measure things

1051
00:43:16.620 --> 00:43:18.807
the way that NOAA does so that we're able to compare

1052
00:43:18.807 --> 00:43:23.190
and to talk about how corals might be changing.

1053
00:43:23.190 --> 00:43:24.780
But you could use that for any event

1054
00:43:24.780 --> 00:43:27.217
that community and there might be slightly different methods

1055
00:43:27.217 --> 00:43:29.460
depending on if you're looking at oysters,

1056
00:43:29.460 --> 00:43:30.900
if you're looking at kelp,

1057
00:43:30.900 --> 00:43:32.730
so on and so forth.

1058
00:43:32.730 --> 00:43:34.700
But having some standard way,

1059
00:43:34.700 --> 00:43:35.790
instead of just making up your own way

1060
00:43:35.790 --> 00:43:38.670
is extremely helpful so that you can compare your data

1061
00:43:38.670 --> 00:43:41.583
to other folks such as NOAA.

1062
00:43:42.780 --> 00:43:44.190
<v ->Thank you, and for those of you out there</v>

1063
00:43:44.190 --> 00:43:47.970
who are educators, the sanctuary has actually developed

1064
00:43:47.970 --> 00:43:50.550
a reef monitoring lesson

1065
00:43:50.550 --> 00:43:51.810
that you can use in the classroom

1066
00:43:51.810 --> 00:43:54.098
that lets you look at photos over time

1067
00:43:54.098 --> 00:43:56.367
and observe changes over time

1068
00:43:56.367 --> 00:43:59.550
in some of the ways that we do at NOAA.

1069
00:43:59.550 --> 00:44:01.671
<v ->And I think that, just to add on that, Kelly,</v>

1070
00:44:01.671 --> 00:44:04.122
the problem, the reason why we need these,

1071
00:44:04.122 --> 00:44:07.140
this actual data that show the coral cover

1072
00:44:07.140 --> 00:44:08.910
or any cover over time,

1073
00:44:08.910 --> 00:44:11.580
is we have this issue that's happening

1074
00:44:11.580 --> 00:44:13.920
where we call it a shifting baseline,

1075
00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:16.530
is, we don't know what things used to look like

1076
00:44:16.530 --> 00:44:17.880
a really long time ago.

1077
00:44:17.880 --> 00:44:21.060
So we kind of compared how things looked to last year.

1078
00:44:21.060 --> 00:44:22.890
And that's not really given us a whole picture

1079
00:44:22.890 --> 00:44:26.237
of what's happening on a reef or happening in an oyster bed

1080
00:44:26.237 --> 00:44:30.030
because for example, coral reefs take tens of years to grow.

1081
00:44:30.030 --> 00:44:32.820
So if you just say, well it's higher than last year,

1082
00:44:32.820 --> 00:44:34.470
that's not really giving you a full picture

1083
00:44:34.470 --> 00:44:37.200
of the natural oscillations that occur on a reef.

1084
00:44:37.200 --> 00:44:39.123
So you wanna have this long-term record

1085
00:44:39.123 --> 00:44:41.850
of how things are changing so you can make sure

1086
00:44:41.850 --> 00:44:43.860
that you're making really informed decisions

1087
00:44:43.860 --> 00:44:45.710
on how to protect that in the future.

1088
00:44:46.770 --> 00:44:47.603
<v ->Good point,</v>

1089
00:44:47.603 --> 00:44:51.330
shifting baselines are a real problems sometimes.

1090
00:44:51.330 --> 00:44:53.767
All right, next question.

1091
00:44:53.767 --> 00:44:56.640
"Are the experiments on coral enclosed systems

1092
00:44:56.640 --> 00:44:58.440
or out in the environment?"

1093
00:44:58.440 --> 00:44:59.400
<v ->Oh, good question.</v>

1094
00:44:59.400 --> 00:45:01.230
So we do both,

1095
00:45:01.230 --> 00:45:04.440
and a lot of other folks do both as well.

1096
00:45:04.440 --> 00:45:07.163
One of the biggest criticisms with doing any type

1097
00:45:07.163 --> 00:45:09.060
of research with corals

1098
00:45:09.060 --> 00:45:11.580
is if you have it in a closed system,

1099
00:45:11.580 --> 00:45:14.130
it might not be replicating

1100
00:45:14.130 --> 00:45:17.310
what the natural environment is of the coral.

1101
00:45:17.310 --> 00:45:19.200
So a lot of the work that we do

1102
00:45:19.200 --> 00:45:22.590
is we try to replicate the natural cycles

1103
00:45:22.590 --> 00:45:25.350
that corals would experience in the environment,

1104
00:45:25.350 --> 00:45:26.490
kind of like what we do during the day.

1105
00:45:26.490 --> 00:45:28.290
The sun comes up, it gets hot,

1106
00:45:28.290 --> 00:45:30.863
and then it gets colder throughout when the sun goes down.

1107
00:45:30.863 --> 00:45:34.590
We see that there are fluctuations in temperature and oxygen

1108
00:45:34.590 --> 00:45:38.070
and pH that the coral will experience throughout a day.

1109
00:45:38.070 --> 00:45:40.589
And when you do some experiments in a closed system,

1110
00:45:40.589 --> 00:45:43.943
you might not have those different fluctuations.

1111
00:45:43.943 --> 00:45:48.030
And that might not allow us to see a full picture

1112
00:45:48.030 --> 00:45:50.160
of what is happening with the corals.

1113
00:45:50.160 --> 00:45:53.370
So we try to do our experiments, if they are closed,

1114
00:45:53.370 --> 00:45:55.530
we try to still do those same oscillations

1115
00:45:55.530 --> 00:45:58.283
that they would experience in the the natural environment.

1116
00:45:58.283 --> 00:46:01.950
Or we try to do mesocosm experiments

1117
00:46:01.950 --> 00:46:03.709
where we're actually bringing the water

1118
00:46:03.709 --> 00:46:05.820
from the adjacent reef habitat,

1119
00:46:05.820 --> 00:46:07.140
we do this work in Hawaii

1120
00:46:07.140 --> 00:46:09.600
so that we have those fluctuations that are occurring

1121
00:46:09.600 --> 00:46:12.120
and we can get a more realistic response

1122
00:46:12.120 --> 00:46:13.920
of how the coral would respond.

1123
00:46:13.920 --> 00:46:15.470
That's a really great question.

1124
00:46:16.500 --> 00:46:17.373
<v ->Definitely.</v>

1125
00:46:18.270 --> 00:46:21.090
Next question, "What tools and methodologies are used

1126
00:46:21.090 --> 00:46:22.860
to develop the coral health index

1127
00:46:22.860 --> 00:46:25.980
or coral health card in Caribbean corals?

1128
00:46:25.980 --> 00:46:29.040
<v ->So the coral health card is,</v>

1129
00:46:29.040 --> 00:46:31.440
it's actually a pretty crude way

1130
00:46:31.440 --> 00:46:34.410
or kind of simple approach to how we look at the corals.

1131
00:46:34.410 --> 00:46:37.949
The way that we do this is we have corals,

1132
00:46:37.949 --> 00:46:41.880
the target species of an area, the most dominant corals

1133
00:46:41.880 --> 00:46:43.860
that are located in that area.

1134
00:46:43.860 --> 00:46:45.270
We bring them into the lab

1135
00:46:45.270 --> 00:46:47.955
and we take photos of all of them.

1136
00:46:47.955 --> 00:46:49.800
And what we start to do is we start

1137
00:46:49.800 --> 00:46:53.100
to slowly warm the water so that we can start seeing

1138
00:46:53.100 --> 00:46:55.360
that slow progression of bleaching.

1139
00:46:55.360 --> 00:46:58.138
And what we do then is we select corals

1140
00:46:58.138 --> 00:46:59.831
and take photographs of them

1141
00:46:59.831 --> 00:47:03.661
as they're experiencing this simulated warming event.

1142
00:47:03.661 --> 00:47:06.120
And we take samples from the corals

1143
00:47:06.120 --> 00:47:08.820
to look at what's going on inside of the corals

1144
00:47:08.820 --> 00:47:11.430
in terms of what's happening with their zooxanthellae.

1145
00:47:11.430 --> 00:47:13.985
And that allows us to correlate the color of the coral

1146
00:47:13.985 --> 00:47:17.511
at that time point with the sample of the health

1147
00:47:17.511 --> 00:47:19.824
of the symbiont and the symbiosis

1148
00:47:19.824 --> 00:47:22.710
to allow those to correlate together.

1149
00:47:22.710 --> 00:47:25.080
And essentially we extract those colors.

1150
00:47:25.080 --> 00:47:27.109
I mean we get hundreds of thousands

1151
00:47:27.109 --> 00:47:29.280
of colors from the corals

1152
00:47:29.280 --> 00:47:31.421
and we look at the most dominant colors

1153
00:47:31.421 --> 00:47:34.200
and the color profiles associated with that.

1154
00:47:34.200 --> 00:47:37.290
We correlate them with the health metrics that we measure

1155
00:47:37.290 --> 00:47:42.120
and that's how we essentially develop our coral health card.

1156
00:47:42.120 --> 00:47:44.490
It sounds extremely simple, it just takes,

1157
00:47:44.490 --> 00:47:45.900
it is relatively simple,

1158
00:47:45.900 --> 00:47:49.530
it just takes a really long time to conduct the experiments,

1159
00:47:49.530 --> 00:47:51.765
take the photos and extract all of those colors

1160
00:47:51.765 --> 00:47:55.341
with the coral and correlate those together.

1161
00:47:55.341 --> 00:47:58.499
And actually the hardest part of that entire experiment

1162
00:47:58.499 --> 00:48:01.528
was making it user-friendly,

1163
00:48:01.528 --> 00:48:04.695
because us as scientists, we're very focused

1164
00:48:04.695 --> 00:48:08.190
on how we perceive things as a scientist

1165
00:48:08.190 --> 00:48:09.810
and what's easy for us.

1166
00:48:09.810 --> 00:48:11.280
But that doesn't necessarily mean

1167
00:48:11.280 --> 00:48:14.580
that it's gonna be a useful tool for our end user

1168
00:48:14.580 --> 00:48:16.950
or who our target audience is.

1169
00:48:16.950 --> 00:48:21.030
So we really worked with our local community educators

1170
00:48:21.030 --> 00:48:23.160
to make sure that the work that we are doing

1171
00:48:23.160 --> 00:48:25.170
or the way that we put the card together

1172
00:48:25.170 --> 00:48:28.800
was actually helpful for anyone to use it.

1173
00:48:28.800 --> 00:48:31.380
'Cause we want everyone to be able to have

1174
00:48:31.380 --> 00:48:34.260
that be accessible and not just for scientists, right?

1175
00:48:34.260 --> 00:48:35.367
Scientists can also use it,

1176
00:48:35.367 --> 00:48:37.470
but we want everyone to be able to use it.

1177
00:48:37.470 --> 00:48:39.363
And so I think that was the hardest part of

1178
00:48:39.363 --> 00:48:41.250
how do we phrase things

1179
00:48:41.250 --> 00:48:43.200
or how do we, what material do we use

1180
00:48:43.200 --> 00:48:45.540
or how do we make this more accessible,

1181
00:48:45.540 --> 00:48:47.763
was the hardest part of that entire project.

1182
00:48:48.750 --> 00:48:49.773
<v ->Very interesting.</v>

1183
00:48:50.790 --> 00:48:51.967
Okay, a little departure here.

1184
00:48:51.967 --> 00:48:54.510
"What made you want to study corals?"

1185
00:48:54.510 --> 00:48:56.430
<v ->Oh, that's a great question.</v>

1186
00:48:56.430 --> 00:48:59.195
So I originally grew up in Ohio,

1187
00:48:59.195 --> 00:49:01.352
so very far from the ocean.

1188
00:49:01.352 --> 00:49:03.570
And I will say my motivation

1189
00:49:03.570 --> 00:49:05.490
to first experience the ocean was

1190
00:49:05.490 --> 00:49:08.370
because it was very, very cold in Ohio

1191
00:49:08.370 --> 00:49:10.230
in the middle of winter.

1192
00:49:10.230 --> 00:49:11.580
So there was an opportunity

1193
00:49:11.580 --> 00:49:13.509
to take this marine biology course,

1194
00:49:13.509 --> 00:49:16.058
I never knew what marine biology was,

1195
00:49:16.058 --> 00:49:18.120
but part of that course that you would be able

1196
00:49:18.120 --> 00:49:21.630
to take is you got to spend a week in Key Largo, Florida.

1197
00:49:21.630 --> 00:49:25.140
So I wanted to take the class to go to Florida,

1198
00:49:25.140 --> 00:49:27.420
'cause I've never been, I've never been on the airplane.

1199
00:49:27.420 --> 00:49:30.510
And the first time that I was in Florida

1200
00:49:30.510 --> 00:49:33.145
and I went snorkeling, I learned about corals

1201
00:49:33.145 --> 00:49:34.387
and salt corals

1202
00:49:34.387 --> 00:49:36.540
and I still have my journal entries

1203
00:49:36.540 --> 00:49:38.010
from almost 20 years ago.

1204
00:49:38.010 --> 00:49:40.148
Just, they're all me talking about corals.

1205
00:49:40.148 --> 00:49:42.915
So I think from that first instance

1206
00:49:42.915 --> 00:49:46.530
that I put my face in the water and saw corals

1207
00:49:46.530 --> 00:49:48.291
and saw that it wasn't just a rock

1208
00:49:48.291 --> 00:49:51.960
and that it was a very complicated organism

1209
00:49:51.960 --> 00:49:54.327
that was the foundation of coral reefs

1210
00:49:54.327 --> 00:49:56.340
and our marine ecosystems.

1211
00:49:56.340 --> 00:49:58.080
I was hooked after that.

1212
00:49:58.080 --> 00:50:00.932
And then I decided that I was gonna be a marine biologist

1213
00:50:00.932 --> 00:50:04.041
and I didn't really know how to do that.

1214
00:50:04.041 --> 00:50:06.276
But my family was extremely supportive

1215
00:50:06.276 --> 00:50:09.960
and they got me scuba certified in a quarry in Ohio.

1216
00:50:09.960 --> 00:50:11.100
It was cold.

1217
00:50:11.100 --> 00:50:14.040
And then I, you know, just kind of kept following

1218
00:50:14.040 --> 00:50:15.540
what opportunities I had

1219
00:50:15.540 --> 00:50:18.390
until I got closer and closer to corals.

1220
00:50:18.390 --> 00:50:19.890
So...

1221
00:50:19.890 --> 00:50:21.570
<v ->Wow, that's quite a path.</v>

1222
00:50:21.570 --> 00:50:22.980
<v ->Yeah, it was, yeah.</v>

1223
00:50:22.980 --> 00:50:25.022
The motivations were different as a teenager,

1224
00:50:25.022 --> 00:50:28.860
but I ended up where I needed to go.

1225
00:50:28.860 --> 00:50:30.900
<v ->Yes, definitely.</v>

1226
00:50:30.900 --> 00:50:34.680
And how many master's students do you have at one time now?

1227
00:50:34.680 --> 00:50:36.720
As an assistant professor?

1228
00:50:36.720 --> 00:50:38.460
<v ->Oh, that's a great question.</v>

1229
00:50:38.460 --> 00:50:40.871
So I currently have six students,

1230
00:50:40.871 --> 00:50:43.170
four of them are PhD students

1231
00:50:43.170 --> 00:50:45.570
and I have two master's students.

1232
00:50:45.570 --> 00:50:48.720
So it just depends on what different projects

1233
00:50:48.720 --> 00:50:50.610
I have going on,

1234
00:50:50.610 --> 00:50:54.600
what space I have physically and mentally

1235
00:50:54.600 --> 00:50:55.560
to bring on students,

1236
00:50:55.560 --> 00:50:57.870
and you know, of course what kind of support we have

1237
00:50:57.870 --> 00:50:59.310
for those students.

1238
00:50:59.310 --> 00:51:01.980
The biggest thing with my lab though

1239
00:51:01.980 --> 00:51:04.350
is when I was a graduate student

1240
00:51:04.350 --> 00:51:07.740
I was pretty much in a really small lab,

1241
00:51:07.740 --> 00:51:09.720
so I really liked the opportunity to have like a,

1242
00:51:09.720 --> 00:51:11.370
a little bit of a bigger lab

1243
00:51:11.370 --> 00:51:13.920
so that it brings more of that community together

1244
00:51:13.920 --> 00:51:15.750
and my students learn that science

1245
00:51:15.750 --> 00:51:18.360
is not done alone and it shouldn't be done alone.

1246
00:51:18.360 --> 00:51:20.730
So that it brings more of that community together

1247
00:51:20.730 --> 00:51:22.290
to be able to conduct your work

1248
00:51:22.290 --> 00:51:24.333
and help move science forward.

1249
00:51:25.830 --> 00:51:29.040
<v ->I got to visit there last premier, I think it was.</v>

1250
00:51:29.040 --> 00:51:30.630
And I had, I was fascinated,

1251
00:51:30.630 --> 00:51:31.530
just wandering through the lab

1252
00:51:31.530 --> 00:51:33.460
and your students explaining to me

1253
00:51:33.460 --> 00:51:34.440
the different things they were working on.

1254
00:51:34.440 --> 00:51:35.273
<v ->Yeah, that was great.</v>

1255
00:51:35.273 --> 00:51:37.380
Thank you again for those posters, too.

1256
00:51:37.380 --> 00:51:38.370
<v ->You're welcome.</v>

1257
00:51:38.370 --> 00:51:40.597
And one last question from the same person.

1258
00:51:40.597 --> 00:51:43.077
"What are your thoughts on hybridization?"

1259
00:51:44.400 --> 00:51:45.480
<v ->Oh, hybridization.</v>

1260
00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:48.969
So there's different ways to think about hybridization.

1261
00:51:48.969 --> 00:51:53.125
There's, well, actually corals hybridize all the time.

1262
00:51:53.125 --> 00:51:55.753
So one of the things that happens with corals

1263
00:51:55.753 --> 00:51:58.170
is there's a certain timing of the year

1264
00:51:58.170 --> 00:52:00.600
for different species of corals that corresponds

1265
00:52:00.600 --> 00:52:03.870
with the lunar cycle and the temperature of the water

1266
00:52:03.870 --> 00:52:05.039
and they release their gametes

1267
00:52:05.039 --> 00:52:07.080
and sometimes corals do hybridize

1268
00:52:07.080 --> 00:52:10.763
and create essentially new species.

1269
00:52:10.763 --> 00:52:13.920
There are some methods in which folks

1270
00:52:13.920 --> 00:52:17.910
are looking at potentially assisting corals

1271
00:52:17.910 --> 00:52:19.800
when in terms of their reproduction,

1272
00:52:19.800 --> 00:52:22.346
and maybe this is what they're specifically asking about,

1273
00:52:22.346 --> 00:52:27.240
where we've seen corals that are experiencing

1274
00:52:27.240 --> 00:52:29.730
the same amount of warming, but don't bleach.

1275
00:52:29.730 --> 00:52:31.950
So they have this unique thing about them

1276
00:52:31.950 --> 00:52:34.470
that they're able to hold onto that symbiotic relationship

1277
00:52:34.470 --> 00:52:35.730
with their algae,

1278
00:52:35.730 --> 00:52:37.320
and they don't experience bleaching.

1279
00:52:37.320 --> 00:52:40.080
But there's gotta be some trade-offs with that.

1280
00:52:40.080 --> 00:52:41.820
So either they grow slower

1281
00:52:41.820 --> 00:52:43.950
or they rely more on feeding

1282
00:52:43.950 --> 00:52:47.610
in order to stay healthy or appear healthy.

1283
00:52:47.610 --> 00:52:49.710
And there have been a lot of work

1284
00:52:49.710 --> 00:52:51.630
that's been done on taking corals

1285
00:52:51.630 --> 00:52:53.430
that are more heat tolerant

1286
00:52:53.430 --> 00:52:55.830
and combining, not combining

1287
00:52:55.830 --> 00:52:58.170
but assisting with the reproduction

1288
00:52:58.170 --> 00:53:01.950
or combining their gametes together to make more resilient

1289
00:53:01.950 --> 00:53:06.090
or resistant species of corals or individuals of corals.

1290
00:53:06.090 --> 00:53:08.580
And that has been shown to be pretty successful.

1291
00:53:08.580 --> 00:53:10.835
I think the only issue with that is,

1292
00:53:10.835 --> 00:53:14.340
you can't be, like with us as humans and corals,

1293
00:53:14.340 --> 00:53:15.420
you can't be good at everything.

1294
00:53:15.420 --> 00:53:16.560
There's gotta be some trade off

1295
00:53:16.560 --> 00:53:19.590
and it's just really understanding what the mechanisms are

1296
00:53:19.590 --> 00:53:23.476
that are offset with them being more bleaching tolerance.

1297
00:53:23.476 --> 00:53:26.220
But I think it makes some really great research

1298
00:53:26.220 --> 00:53:28.140
and answers some really interesting questions

1299
00:53:28.140 --> 00:53:31.200
about the symbiosis of the coral in the algae.

1300
00:53:31.200 --> 00:53:33.090
Because even though we've been studying corals

1301
00:53:33.090 --> 00:53:34.740
for about a hundred years now,

1302
00:53:34.740 --> 00:53:37.650
there's still a lot of questions that we don't know.

1303
00:53:37.650 --> 00:53:41.010
And being able to understand these different responses

1304
00:53:41.010 --> 00:53:42.870
that are happening during bleaching events

1305
00:53:42.870 --> 00:53:46.530
or with our ocean becoming warmer and more acidic,

1306
00:53:46.530 --> 00:53:48.480
some of the research that's been coming out

1307
00:53:48.480 --> 00:53:50.250
is just been amazing research

1308
00:53:50.250 --> 00:53:52.137
in advancing what we know about corals

1309
00:53:52.137 --> 00:53:55.200
and other calcifying organisms.

1310
00:53:55.200 --> 00:53:57.180
So all of it is really helpful,

1311
00:53:57.180 --> 00:53:58.770
and we're just trying to do,

1312
00:53:58.770 --> 00:54:01.350
or trying to figure out how we can help save these corals

1313
00:54:01.350 --> 00:54:04.170
moving forward and we're using every single tool

1314
00:54:04.170 --> 00:54:06.510
that we have in our tool belt in order to make sure

1315
00:54:06.510 --> 00:54:10.230
that they're there for the next, you know, a few decades.

1316
00:54:10.230 --> 00:54:13.174
So anything that we can do to help slow to decline,

1317
00:54:13.174 --> 00:54:17.580
I think it's important to try and to help these corals

1318
00:54:17.580 --> 00:54:21.453
since they're just so important to our livelihoods.

1319
00:54:23.700 --> 00:54:26.407
<v ->Okay, one last question and it's a fairly quick one.</v>

1320
00:54:26.407 --> 00:54:29.309
"Are the near shore cryptic corals,

1321
00:54:29.309 --> 00:54:32.190
Cladocora, Oculina, or something else?

1322
00:54:32.190 --> 00:54:33.551
<v ->Oh, good question.</v>

1323
00:54:33.551 --> 00:54:34.800
We also think they,

1324
00:54:34.800 --> 00:54:38.520
well, we think they might be Oculina or Astrangia,

1325
00:54:38.520 --> 00:54:40.440
or they might be a hybrid.

1326
00:54:40.440 --> 00:54:42.420
So we're waiting on the genetic results

1327
00:54:42.420 --> 00:54:43.410
that come back from that

1328
00:54:43.410 --> 00:54:45.090
to know exactly what they are.

1329
00:54:45.090 --> 00:54:46.650
But we do have documentation

1330
00:54:46.650 --> 00:54:48.960
of having both of those species here.

1331
00:54:48.960 --> 00:54:51.420
But, so we've collected all different shapes

1332
00:54:51.420 --> 00:54:53.310
of them from different locations

1333
00:54:53.310 --> 00:54:56.580
and we're just waiting to see if we have a hybrid

1334
00:54:56.580 --> 00:54:59.580
or if it's actually Astrangia or Oculina,

1335
00:54:59.580 --> 00:55:00.413
we don't know.

1336
00:55:00.413 --> 00:55:03.723
But just having them here, we're pretty excited about that.

1337
00:55:05.100 --> 00:55:05.933
<v ->That's fascinating.</v>

1338
00:55:05.933 --> 00:55:06.930
That's first I had heard

1339
00:55:06.930 --> 00:55:08.640
of those cryptic corals in Florida,

1340
00:55:08.640 --> 00:55:10.230
and even realized they were being studied.

1341
00:55:10.230 --> 00:55:11.610
So that's really cool.

1342
00:55:11.610 --> 00:55:13.620
And I know Oculina is something

1343
00:55:13.620 --> 00:55:15.720
that washes up on the beaches around here, so.

1344
00:55:15.720 --> 00:55:16.553
<v ->All the time.</v>

1345
00:55:16.553 --> 00:55:17.550
Yeah, and that's the thing

1346
00:55:17.550 --> 00:55:19.470
'cause the structure sometimes,

1347
00:55:19.470 --> 00:55:20.880
the correlate or the polyp,

1348
00:55:20.880 --> 00:55:23.130
the skeleton of the polyp looks like it,

1349
00:55:23.130 --> 00:55:25.286
but you know, the genetics will tell the full story,

1350
00:55:25.286 --> 00:55:26.966
which we're excited about.

1351
00:55:26.966 --> 00:55:28.380
<v ->Right.</v>

1352
00:55:28.380 --> 00:55:30.486
Well that's all the time we have for questions.

1353
00:55:30.486 --> 00:55:34.530
Folks, if your question did not get answered,

1354
00:55:34.530 --> 00:55:35.610
do not despair.

1355
00:55:35.610 --> 00:55:38.015
Keisha has agreed to help us continue answering questions

1356
00:55:38.015 --> 00:55:39.391
after the webinar.

1357
00:55:39.391 --> 00:55:41.040
So it may be a week or so,

1358
00:55:41.040 --> 00:55:42.270
but we will get all,

1359
00:55:42.270 --> 00:55:43.500
we get answers written down

1360
00:55:43.500 --> 00:55:44.970
and we will email those back out

1361
00:55:44.970 --> 00:55:48.030
to you once we have those answered.

1362
00:55:48.030 --> 00:55:50.310
Keisha, thank you so much for being here today.

1363
00:55:50.310 --> 00:55:53.291
That was a fantastically long question-answer period.

1364
00:55:53.291 --> 00:55:55.230
Very informed presentation

1365
00:55:55.230 --> 00:55:56.580
and we really appreciate you being here

1366
00:55:56.580 --> 00:55:58.530
for our seaside chats today.

1367
00:55:58.530 --> 00:56:00.810
<v ->Yeah, thank you all for having me for your attention</v>

1368
00:56:00.810 --> 00:56:04.203
and I will get to those questions to the best of my ability.

1369
00:56:05.880 --> 00:56:07.143
<v ->Thank you so much.</v>