Long term coral reef community dynamics in Virgin Islands National Park
Nina Bean is a current Master’s student at California Sate University, Northridge in Dr. Peter Edmunds’ Polyp Lab. She is studying how coral traits and competitive outcomes scale with coral size at various life stages. Read her guest post on Oceanbites here.
Kelly Wong is a current Master’s student at California Sate University, Northridge in Dr. Peter Edmunds’ Polyp Lab. Her research focuses on the role of dead coral rubble in modulating coral populations and reef community dynamics. Read her guest post on Oceanbites here.
For more than a decade, Professor Edmunds has been funded through the National Science Foundation (NSF) to conduct the basic research, but these funds extend to important outreach activities conducted with high schools in the Los Angeles area. Working in close partnership with teachers, the objective is to provide opportunities for meaningful student involvement in ongoing field research. Currently these outreach activities are supported through an additional award from NSF — Research Experience for Teachers (RET) — that created new and exciting opportunities at Campbell Hall.
In 2014, Viewpoint’s Science Department Chair Mr. Craig Didden and Viewpoint alum Brad Martin ’13 had an opportunity to work with Dr. Peter Edmunds, a marine ecologist from California State University, Northridge doing research on the island of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.
On June 18, twelve Viewpoint Upper School students traveled to St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, for an eight-day scientific opportunity of a lifetime.