Michael Hood

Week two began deep in the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia and quickly changed to a tropical island setting. As we made our way towards the private charter airfield, it slowly set in that we were about to fly over the Great Barrier Reef (something that I have wanted to see in person for the past decade). Being able to visualize the physical barriers between the rainforest and coral reefs of Northern Queensland made it clear that these two habitats influenced each other whether it be from nutrient transportation from the coast or protection from wave action and coastal erosion.

I was most thankful for our lectures with Charlie Veron, the godfather of coral. He showed me just how much knowledge there is to learn and how much there is left to discover. His climate change lecture involved a variety of fields all working together (including ecology of corals, geographical records and paleontology, meteorology and the effects of global temperature, and the chemical distribution and diffusion of green-house gases) to paint a much larger picture of the effects of ocean warming on coral reefs.

We transitioned from Charlie to Morgan Pratchett (professor at JCU) through coral taxonomy. We got the master (Charlie) to name our random coral selection pictures that we took in situ, and later identified the corals ourselves using Morgan’s Coral Finder informational lecture and booklet. I was particularly interested in identifying pacific coral species due to my multiple home reef aquaria. Morgan’s lecture on crown of thorns starfish (COTs), where we learned about the effects of crown of thorns sea star outbreaks on coral reef health, was particularly interesting due to the anatomy of the sea star and the massive destruction caused by these critters.

I have made some extraordinary connections and learned some incredible skills during my time at Lizard Island. I made a deep personal connection with Charlie during his time here and have plans to visit him soon. I learned some very applicable information from Morgan concerning applying for future PhD programs and tips and tricks when finishing writing my current master’s thesis. Dr. Cyronak has taught me a variety of biogeochemical skills that I would have never learned aside from participating in this course such as utilizing underwater apparatuses and assessing the chemical results from these different types of equipment.

We saw an extraordinary amount of wildlife throughout our first week on Lizard Island. The sheer amount of coral on the Great Barrier Reef is completely incomparable to the Florida Reef Tract! These reefs bring in such a diversity of life (whether it be turtles, epilate sharks, squids, or exotic fish) it was such a privilege to witness in person. My next week will be filled with a continuation of lectures and data collecting in the field/analysis. I will never forget my experiences throughout my first week on Lizard Island.