A high school student researches causes of coral mortality, exploring many causes and solutions proposed to manage them. Her explorations will interest anyone who wants to understand coral reefs. She finds that global warming is the “elephant in the room”.
As a Filipino-American student at Bolingbrook High School, I enrolled in the Illinois Global Scholars class, which gave me the opportunity to research a global issue for a semester, approximately four a half months. Ever since I was a child, I loved watching documentaries regarding the ocean, and from then I knew I loved anything related to marine life. When deciding what topic to research, my dream of becoming a marine biologist motivated me to choose coral bleaching and marine conservation. Knowing that coral bleaching is such a large issue that not many know about, I decided to become educated on the issue so that I could spread awareness. Through this paper I describe my journey that I took during my research project. I hope to motivate others to take part in marine conservation and preventing coral bleaching, while becoming more educated on marine conservation methods.
Step 1: Develop a Compelling Question
Typically growing up in the 2000s children enjoy watching cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants or Backyardigans. However, I particularly enjoyed watching documentaries regarding marine life, and then my love for marine biology began to fester. This natural curiosity was lodged in my mind as I went through my childhood and when questioned on my post-high school plans I was often told to follow my passion. Intuitively, I chose marine biology as I knew I would be passionate in expanding my knowledge regarding the ocean.
Which led to me feeling inclined to choose a global issue relating to marine life and the threats in place. Knowing that marine life is under threat due to the actions of people was something I could not conceptualize, especially since the ocean has endless potential and still has so much to explore. My knowledge of threats to marine life was limited, only being able to name pollution due to plastic. So, with this lack of knowledge I felt obligated to learn more causes for marine life being threatened, paired with a love for the ocean and all the marine life in it. When I learned about this class I knew that I had the opportunity to contact educated professionals regarding marine life, and I knew I could not overlook this chance. Being able to learn more from an educated professional who is genuinely passionate about these concepts with me would be an amazing opportunity that genuinely made me excited.
Next, I had to think of a location, of course, the first thing that came to mind was the Philippines. My parents both immigrated to the United States from the Philippines, but I had yet to visit. Due to this I always felt as if there was a missing string connecting me to my parents home country where they were born and raised. I naturally chose the Philippines and wanted to conduct research specifically on the province my parents were from, but due to the location not being by the coast I could not. I chose an area nearby, Palawan, Philippines, but after looking around more I found that there was not much information and I would have to look more generally at the Philippines. To zone my research on a concept that would not make it too narrow I decided to look at different endangered marine species in the Philippines; I settled on manta rays. I came to this decision as they are beautiful animals and have a spiritual connection to people in the Philippines, but with little research done on the species I ran into many dead ends and in annoyance I was forced to broaden my search, yet again, into marine conservation in the Philippines as a whole. Fortunately, broadening my research gave me the opportunity to look into how tourism threatens marine life and various endangered species, which were two topics I wanted to cover but felt that I had to choose one over the other. After researching and getting a better overall understanding on my topic I finally came to a conclusion for my compelling question: What is the most effective way to promote marine conservation in the Philippines?
Step 2 : Annotated Bibliography
Rebecca Weeks, & Garry R. Russ, & Angel C. Alcala, & Alan T. White. (22 March 2010). Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation. Conservation Biology. The Society for Conservation Biology. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01340.x.
The article, Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation. Conservation Biology, discusses the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Philippines and proposes some solutions to the problems. For example, the study suggests that tourism could be a solution for socioeconomic problems as it can raise money. The overall ideas from the study is how urgent marine conservation is in the Philippines in needing to be addressed, the establishment of current MPAs, and how they struggle to meet their conservation objectives for a multitude of reasons.
To begin, there are two large no-take areas, areas where extractive or destructive activities are prohibited, in the Philippines which is the Tubbataha Reef National Park and the Apo Reef Natural Park. There are also many community based MPAs that are not no-take areas that the study recognized as it was said to be ninety-five percent of their database, however they gained little recognition from the government. Initially I recognized this fact as something positive, making a difference however, after further investigation that was false. Many community based MPAs were overlooked and are not recognized by the MPA Global Database which draws the conclusion that ultimately they are not effective in aiding marine conversation. Yes, locals aiding the movement of marine conservation is good, but the little recognition makes it difficult to progress by itself without support from others. These small MPAs have little documentation which makes their impact even more difficult to gauge to the public and the government. To add the two large no-take areas, taking up most of the MPAs, which seems as a positive statistic offers superficial comfort. The truth is that it highlights the importance of more large no-take areas and support for local MPAs being created to boost the progress of marine conservation.
Another flaw pointed out in the study with MPAs is that it does not properly tackle the issue of biodiversity. In Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation it states that the main objective for MPAs is establishing comprehensive, ecologically representative, and connected networks of MPAs. Current MPAs are not spaced out well or large enough to actually help their objective and create a large difference, in comparison to what they are currently doing that makes a small difference. While many MPAs do not prioritize the issue of biodiversity they also fail in regards to coral reefs. Many MPAs do not contain coral reefs within them which aid greatly to biodiversity. Coral reefs are crucial to biodiversity and overall marine conservation as they offer a great deal of resources towards marine life, allowing them to flourish, producing the idea that since MPAs do not have coral reefs in their areas MPAs do not aid in biodiversity.
This source helped me in pointing into a new direction of what organizations to look into, while also allowing me to find an expert like Rebecca Weeks, a marine biologist doing research on the Philippines, that I could contact as she did studies on marine conservation in the Philippines. It brought ideas into my mind of how tourism can actually be beneficial for marine conservation and help the people instead of being harmful. I often assumed that tourism was only negative for the Philippines and brought more harm than good, and Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation made me consider how tourism and ecotourism can actually help raise money towards conservation. I also want to look more into how to put emphasis on protection towards coral reefs without harming the locals who depend on marine life for their livelihood.
Diana M. Pietri. (2015). Social Capital in Marine Management Collaborative Networks: Lessons Learned in the Coral Triangle and the Philippines. University of Washington. https://digital.lib.washington.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/506a0cc9-b0ee-4572-9c98-118f74b1c987/content.
After looking at Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation, the thing that stuck out in my mind was the community based MPAs, also community-based management (CBM) that had little effect due to the small number of them. Pietri discusses CBM efforts and how they are too small and poorly structured to make a difference on their own. It shocked me that people were attempting to make a difference in their country to no avail, which I am sure must have felt frustrating and hopeless. This helped me think of more solutions that I could aid with regarding marine conservation, for example if I should start researching from the organizations that work with CBMs or start with CBMs first.
Social Capital in Marine Management Collaborative Networks: Lessons Learned in the Coral Triangle and the Philippines also covers coral reefs, social networks, and various strategies that are all under the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) which could aid marine conservation pertaining to my compelling question. The CTI-CFF plays a crucial role in marine conservation in not only the Philippines but in five other Southeast Asian and Melanesian countries. The other five countries that CTI-CFF are involved are Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor Leste. After finding the CTI-CFF I made a mental note of the role of coral reefs and the connections with other countries that I wanted to follow. The information on coral reefs from CTI-CFF builds on my first source and furtherly, I knew I was on the right track.
The benefit that stuck out to me due to the efforts of the CTI-CFF was the impact of its social networking on the participants. Social networking plays a crucial part in the achievement of the several objectives that they have. The several objectives being protecting marine ecosystems, improving fisheries management, increasing the effectiveness of marine protected areas, encouraging responsible industries, increasing social and economic benefits, strengthening climate change adaptation, and improving the status of threatened marine species. In Social Capital in Marine Management Collaborative Networks: Lessons Learned in the Coral Triangle and the Philippines, an Argao participant said,”’Maybe that’s the reason why we are getting assistance [from the province] – because at least they can see the council is strong….they trusted us, they are confident giving to us…[because] it produces good results and good accomplishment[s]’”. This Argao participant displays an account of the people who work with the CTI-CFF and are able to say that they feel more involved as a direct result of the social networking with other areas that are also a part of it. Due to the time that the institution is taking to avidly become more involved with their participants, it creates a more nurturing environment for their work. Diana M. Pietri says that social networking allows people to build trust and share knowledge that will make them more likely to engage as they will feel more comfortable. With this small change it would make their jobs more motivating, increase their motivation to work towards the objective, and make them work together as a whole organization.
Since the CTI-CFF is so involved I would be able to find more information pertaining to marine conservation and foster a community to work towards my goal to solve my compelling question. After reading through what Diana M. Pietri wrote I was able to realize the importance of social networking within the CTI-CFF and able to realize that this is what I could begin to think of as a possible solution. Through finding more information on the CTI-CFF I would find more experts to contact, more possible solutions, and more ideas on what can aid marine conservation in the Philippines. Starting with fostering good communities within the organization could facilitate more solutions and likeliness of people to work together, while achieving the ultimate goal of promoting marine conservation.
Soumya Alva, & Kiersten Johnson, & Anila Jacob, & Heather D’Agnes, & Richard Mantovani, & Thea Evans. ( 4 June 2015). Marine protected areas and children’s dietary diversity in the Philippines. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11111-015-0240-9.
After getting better insight on the CTI-CFF I decided to make a mental note of it and take a step back, giving myself an opportunity to look at the relationship between the people of both coral reefs and MPAs. I think that looking into coral reefs and MPAs and their relationship with the people would aid in my understanding of the steps I should take towards my goal of marine conservation with the people in consideration. Understanding the relationship between them would broaden my knowledge on the people’s dependence on marine life while finding more topics to further my research.
In “Marine protected areas and children’s dietary diversity in the Philippines”, it points out that there is a direct correlation between the dietary diversity and the proximity they are to MPAs. The fishing communities in the Philippines directly rely on marine resources for income and food which is a reflection of the communities wellbeing. With more money they can buy a variety of foods to promote the dietary diversity of children which explains the positive relationship between them. There is also said to be a trickle down effect on their children due diversity in their diet it will cause improved nutritional health, health, and wellbeing. I found this very interesting that MPAs can have such a direct, positive impact on the people of the Philippines. I thought that the relationship would be more indirect between them but after discovering this I realized how important MPAs were to people and not just marine life.
However, limitations pointed out of MPAs is their current small size which builds on the ideas pointed out in my previous sources. MPAs at their current size, which is geographically small, are only able to contribute locally which is good, but would truly make progress towards marine conservation on a larger scale where it can be impactful on a national level. After reading what Soumya Alva wrote I found a new direction to take with my research regarding marine conservation while also looking at how I can achieve this while aiding the communities in the Philippines. This made me feel more desperate to find solutions and made me think of the people there who feel just as passionate about marine life.
A P Anugrah. B A Putra. and Burhanuddin. (2020). Implementation of coral triangle initiative on coral reefs, fisheries, and food security (CTI-CFF) in Indonesia and Philippines. IOP Publishing Ltd. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/575/1/012154/pdf
After looking at the relationship between coral reefs and the people in the Coral Triangle, (CT) I found myself wanting to learn more about their dependency on each other, coral reefs as an ecosystem, and what is causing harm to coral reefs. The author A. P. Anugrah mentions the relationship between people living on the coasts in the CT, and how they provide food, building materials, act as a natural barrier on coastal areas, support fisheries and tourism, along with many other reasons. This relationship of dependence between coral reefs and people confirms all of the information from “Marine protected areas and children’s dietary diversity in the Philippines”, which made me very happy that I was finding more in my research.
Additionally, many species that are supported by the marine ecosystems, which are trying to be maintainted, provide chemicals, such as ecteinascidin for ovarian cancer and discodermalide as an anti-tumor agent, that can be used by the medical sector. There is research that I discovered that reveals the potential benefits that these chemicals can provide; such as combat many types of illnesses, such as HIV treatment, cancer, and malaria. To me it proved just how crucial the ocean is to not only the locals of the CT, but also people around the world. Although many people do not live on coasts and can not sympathize with these people, they should think of how they are going to be indirectly affected.
A. P. Anugrah points out that reefs and other marine ecosystems, such as mangroves and seagrass beds, support the livelihoods of more than 100 million people, with the Philippines included. Tourism serves as a source of income for the Philippines and preserving coral reefs could be crucial to the economic health for the nation. The CT includes all of the six countries that are a part of the CTI-CFF, which gave me a moment of sonder where I began to picture all of the lives that are experiencing the repercussions of the careless actions of people around the world. Another idea that “Implementation of coral triangle initiative on coral reefs, fisheries, and food security”, brought to my attention is that threats to marine ecosystems and sea territory within the CT face not only on a global scale but also on the local level. On the local level there are destructive fishing practices that cause extinction of various fish species, depletion of local fish stocks, and the closure of fisheries industries. Additionally agricultural run-off, industrial waste, and unsustainable coastal development pile issues on top of the other local threats. On a global level climate change is a threat to marine ecosystems and sea territory, which is a contributor many people know about. Before researching “Implementation of coral triangle initiative on coral reefs, fisheries, and food security”, I knew that there were global threats to marine life and ecosystems, but I failed to consider local threats that come into play.
An important topic, that I was already familiar with, is coral bleaching, a process where corals release an algae called zooxanthellae because of their sensitivity against an increase in seawater temperature, which is directly related to climate change. Climate change is the first domino in creating numerous issues and one is marine conservation. First, climate change leads to global warming, then increased seawater temperature, and then leads to coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that has been going on for years and is starting to become a more severe issue that people should be aware of. After reading “Implementation of coral triangle initiative on coral reefs, fisheries, and food security (CTI-CFF) in Indonesia and Philippines”, I found a new door to open in my research. I decided to explore this new load of research regarding coral bleaching, taking this opportunity to read articles on marine ecosystems dependency on coral reefs and how they are being affected by threats to the ocean.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. (1999). Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world’s coral reefs. Csiro Publishing. https://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/pdf/MF99078.
With my new found information on relationships between coral reefs and people, along with the threats that corals face, I found myself wanting to find out more about coral reefs themselves. In “Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world’s coral reefs”, I was able to discover more on coral bleaching and coral’s integral role in coral reefs.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg demonstrates that corals have zooxanthellae living in them and therefore depend on each other to live. Knowing this information Ove Hoegh-Guldberg points out that coral bleaching is because zooxanthellae are not able to survive through rising temperatures, hence causing corals to die. Corals depend on zooxanthellae to provide energy to them while corals provide a host for them to live and thrive. Another important point that is brought up in the article is,”such as macroalgae, which may eventually eliminate reef-building corals from particular reefs.” Reef building corals are hard corals that provide structure by secreting calcium carbonate to allow new corals to attach to. Corals will not be able to compete with other organisms if they are being affected by coral bleaching. After that coral reefs will face harsh circumstances, without reef building corals other corals will not be able to thrive. Coral reefs as a whole will struggle to survive as a result of coral bleaching which is caused by climate change.
Coral reefs are a major benefactor to marine life and are the most diverse marine biome that have an oasis like nature for fish, providing sanctuary to fish. They provide benefits to not only marine life, but people as well which was displayed in my previous research. Marine life plays a part in everyone’s life even if you do not see, hear, or talk about it everyday. It is a phenomenon that circulates through all of our lives and therefore emphasizes its significance to the world. For example, if fish is a part of your diet it is important to think of how the fish got to your plate. It came from the fishermen who went to the sea to provide you with your dinner, and those fishermen depend on the ocean while you depend on the fishermen for your meal.
After discovering CTI-CFF and the CT in my research I found myself feeling like I had struck gold in my project. Understanding coral reefs was a crucial part of my project as they are very important for marine conservation and should be one of the main entities considered.
Following my next part into my research I decided to look into initiatives or organizations that are targeting coral reef protection in the Philippines.
Wen Wen. Alan White. (April 2020). Allen Coral Atlas For Coral Reef Management in Indonesia: A Brief Review. USAID Sustainable Ecosystems Advanced (SEA) Project. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brianna-Bambic-2/publication/357190278_Allen_Coral_Atlas_For_Coral_Reef_Management_In_Indonesia_A_Brief_Review/links/64da579825837316ee100720/Allen-Coral-Atlas-For-Coral-Reef-Management-In-Indonesia-A-Brief-Review.pdf
After doing research on coral reefs, I learnt more about the organism and became more knowledgeable, so I could take action against the problem in the future with full understanding. I moved on to looking at marine conservation from another angle that was more zoomed out. I came upon “Allen Coral Atlas for Coral Reef Management in Indonesia: A Brief Review”, after finding an interview with one of my experts that I contacted where he discussed the Allen Coral Atlas and its importance.
Wen Wen describes how important an Atlas is for governments and people as a whole to understand coral reefs. Providing an Atlas builds crucial foundational knowledge to comprehend coral reefs so that further actions can be taken. It is pointed out in “Allen Coral Atlas for Coral Reef Management in Indonesia: A Brief Review”, that an important step in marine conservation is the cooperation with the government. However, policymakers will find it difficult to begin effective decision making without an understanding of coral reefs themselves. People in the field of the status of coral reefs can only share knowledge to policymakers to a certain extent without an Atlas that will demonstrate clear information.
It is important to mention that providing an Atlas is a problem in itself. The article points this out by saying,”Lack of data sharing mechanisms and limited budget and resources are key challenges for Indonesia”, and,”very difficult to get accurate and free high-resolution coral reefs datasheets through online mechanisms.” This information pointed out a crucial perspective that I had not yet thought of at this point in my project. After this moment I began to see the process towards addressing marine conservation was an outdated, rickety machine that needed fixing on the micro level. Starting to look at the cogs of this machine would be the first step towards revolutionizing the machine, or in other words making the progress towards marine conservation into a smooth ride.
Helping people in the field of marine biology in the CT would be the first step of aiding the government into aiding marine conservation. It is possible to raise money that would aid research and help provide more opportunities towards researchers to eventually aid marine conservation. Having an Atlas is crucial to understand the complexity of coral reef ecosystems and provide context toward the government to make better decisions in coral reef management. After reading the article “Allen Coral Atlas for Coral Reef Management in Indonesia: A Brief Review”, it made me realize how important cooperation with the government in the countries involved in the CTI-CFF was towards marine conservation in these areas. The efforts of specialists in these fields would not be enough alone to aid marine life, and after researching I am finding that I can provide a helping hand as well. Through my artifact and educating people on coral conservation, I would spread awareness and contribute to marine conservation.
Ryan Murray. Segundo Conales Jr.. Gonzalo Araujo. Jessica Labaja. Sally J. Snow. Simon J. Pierce. Angelique Songco. Alessandro Ponzo. (October 2018). Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks. Elsevier. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2287884X18301596?ref=pdf_download&fr=RR-2&rr=8c6daa18898811a3.
After reading on coral reefs and coral bleaching, finding great use in the knowledge, I wanted to know more about other species that are also located in the Philippines. I decided to circle back towards MPAs and look into Tubbataha Reefs National Park, (TRNP), where it is the largest MPA in the Philippines and one of the most important MPAs in the world. Through their study they were able to discover gray reef sharks, Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos, and whitetip reef sharks, Triaenodon obesus, in the TRNP, said to be the, “highest densities…documented worldwide”.
In “Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks”, it discusses the biodiversity of various reef sharks in the TRNP that was researched through a study conducted by the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute, (LAMAVE). In this study they used noninvasive survey techniques to see the amount of elasmobranchs, any cartilaginous fishes such as sharks and rays, in the TRNP. They used underwater visual census (UVC) and baited remote underwater (BRUV) surveys from 2015 to 2016 to get data.
UVC was conducted through a boat with 3 researchers, one scribe and two divers, and 2 observers, that noted every shark or ray that they saw during their excursion. Through UVC they were able to whitetip reef sharks, the most abundant in the area, and three species of manta rays: spotted eagle ray, bluespotted ribbontail ray, cowtail ray, and reef manta ray. LAMAVE ran BRUV surveys by lowering cameras using a rope and attaching it to a surface buoy leaving it there for a minimum of 1 hour. BRUV surveys were said to find,”14 of the 23 species of elasmobranchs”, that are said to be present in the area. Through LAMAVE’s study I was able to understand crucial information about how TRNP is towards the Philippines and how important MPAs are overall. It confirmed my prior research and made me even more interested in no take zones.
The study demonstrates, ”Reef shark densities found during UVC in the TRNP were three times higher than in no-take zones (NTZ) in the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia”. Which amplifies the fact that large no-take zones are so important towards marine life. Specifically the TRNP provides amazing support for predatory fish due to the strict enforcement and radar watch on the area. After realizing how important management was through constant monitoring, I took note of this and decided that I should take this into consideration with my artifact.
Through “Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park: the first comprehensive elasmobranch assessment reveals global hotspot for reef sharks”, it became abundantly clear that monitoring various areas and creating NTZs could become very crucial. When elasmobranchs are provided an environment that offers protection they will hover towards it; it is proven by the number of sharks in the TRNP going up while the number of sharks in the GBR went down. This finding conveys that monitoring and creating NTZs would make an attraction for MPAs like the TRNP.
Within these MPAs it would help with marine conservation as an abundance of elasmobranchs will be the first step of rebuilding biodiversity and ecosystems underwater in coral reefs.
As I become even more interested in the micro details of NTZs and MPAs I think of “Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation. Conservation Biology”, my first source, reminding me of CBMs. In my next source I look at CBMs and why they are deemed ineffective.
Tomas Chaigneau. Tim M. Daw. (5 November 2014). Individual and village-level effects on community support for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Philippines. Marine Policy. 51. 499-506. Obtained through Interlibrary loan.
What are Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)? What purpose do MPAs serve? Why are MPAs so crucial for marine conservation? These are questions that should come to one’s mind when the topic of marine conservation is brought into a conversation. MPAs are defined zones in the ocean that are safeguarded in order to protect and conserve marine life and habitats. MPAs are crucial towards marine conservation as according to Chaigneau,”MPAs are increasingly important for marine biodiversity”…”internationally agreed targets to rapidly increase MPA coverage.” An automatic translation in someone’s mind is that if something is internationally important, then it certainly has to be important.
In “Individual and village-level effects on community support for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Philippines”, it targets the relationship at the individual and village-level on the effectiveness of MPAs in three villages in the VIsayas region of the Philippines. In the study conducted by Tomas Chaigneau and Tim Daw in Bonbonon, Candaping, and Suba, they are able to convey the significance of positive attitudes towards MPAs from villages as a whole and at the individual level. Positive attitudes from individuals and villages, and or communities, are crucial for the success of MPAs because studies suggest that it promotes compliance and better enforcement. When individuals and communities have positive attitudes towards MPAs, then it is more likely to lead to positive supporting actions towards marine conservation. Without support from the community and the individuals within them both MPAs and marine conservation would be doomed as Chaigneau and Daw convey that it is an”integral part of conservation efforts.”
The success or failure of MPAs are dependent on the responses of fishers and their communities towards the implementation of management policies on MPAs. However, the reason why smaller MPAs are often found to have less impact is because of the poor management skills within the MPAs. They are only as significant as the amount of work and effort that is put into safeguarding the area. Therefore, when MPAs are poorly managed it will cause the cycle to continue of ineffective MPAs overall. MPAs can be effective, both large and small, only if management is correctly implemented, and then we will start to take the first step that will guide the efforts of many towards marine conservation.
Chaigneau and Daw were able to identify different factors that contributed to positive attitudes and actions using questionnaires to find details about communities in relation to MPAs.
MPAs are beneficial for fishers as they are important for coastal resources through fishing, aquaculture, and tourism. However, another important consideration to fishers was bayanihan, a spirit of communal unity and cooperation or respect for mutual help. Bayanihan has to do with the community’s trust in Bantay Dagat, translating directly to “Guardian of the Sea”, or MPA guards. Chaigneau and Daw found,”trust in Bantay Dagat had an importance of 71%.”, which truly conveys in objective numbers the importance of bayanihan for the people in these communities. From the data that was collected, it is clear that the objective and statistical information cannot be the only thing in consideration for the progress towards marine conservation in the Philippines. Social factors and non-numerical factors should be a large part of marine conservation in the Philippines as well.
More well known threats to coral reefs are coral bleaching and climate change, but another threat that should not be forgotten is typhoons. Due to the fact that I am looking at coral reefs in the Philippines it is important to look at recent events that impacted coral reefs, such as Typhoon Odette which went through the Philippines in December of 2021. In my next source I decided to look into how typhoons affect coral reefs and specifically how Typhoon Odette impacted the coral reefs in the Philippines. Learning about how Typhoon Odette and typhoons affect marine life and overall is important as I want my impact, either big or small, to be a noticeable variable that will not be changed by this factor. Using this article I will need to address the effect of typhoons in relation to global warming so that I educate people on relevant details that also play a factor against coral reefs. The information regarding typhoons and how they are increasing due to global warming is going to be useful for my project as it can connect back to coral bleaching.
Klaus Stiefel. (20 December 2021). Did Typhoon Odette Damage This Coral Reef in the Philippines?. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U96TD3VbDSM.
In “Did Typhoon Odette Damage This Coral Reef in the Philippines?”, Klaus Stiefel does an informal look to investigate the effects directly at coral reefs as a scuba diver living in the Philippines. Stiefel and his friend Matt look at the effects of Typhoon Odette three days after it hit the Philippines. They conducted their observations in Poblacion, Dauin, Negros Islands, Philippines, starting at 25 meters (m) and gradually investigate into shallow waters.
At 25m they saw that there was a thick layer of silt on the corals. Stiefel hypothesized that the silt on the corals seemed to be terrestrial runoff from the roads of the town, as it was very fine in comparison to the sand on Negros Island. There was also a large amount of plant debris that was in the water as a result of the typhoon. However, something noticeable was that the level of fish stayed relatively the same, appearing unbothered. The effects of Typhoon Odette were noticeable through the video and depicted the reality of how typhoons can also be a threat to marine life. I was able to experience a firsthand account through video as a gift of Steifel’s video. I found it very interesting that life underwater can be just as greatly affected by typhoons as life on land.
As they ascended they saw that at around 7m to 11m the turbidity, the visibility through water, was at a very high level as they were unable to see each other. High turbidity was a result of the silt having not fully settled in these depths, while at depths of 20 or more meters the silt layer was thick, showing that the silt had already settled. This level of turbidity was unusual and caused more problems for corals and other marine organisms in the water. With a high level of turbidity, less sunlight will reach the ocean floor which would be a negative consequence because zooxanthellae, the organism in which they have a symbiotic relationship, requires sunlight as a photosynthetic organism. Without sunlight corals will struggle to survive and contribute to the problem of marine conservation.
Typhoons generate large, intense waves that break coral branches and overturn tabletop corals. At shallow depths, around 5 meters or less, it reflects the effects of Typhoon Odette since there was a substantial number of broken coral debris such as staghorn corals and tabletop corals that were flipped over. Contrary to greater depths, there was less silt that coated the corals, revealing that they were not smothered. After watching the video I was able to conclude that the effects of Typhoon Odette were significant and noticeable on coral reefs. Overall, it is important that I took time to look into the effects of typhoons as they are recurring, unpreventable events that constantly change the composition of coral reefs that play a role in how I would take part in aiding marine conservation.
Sebastian Schmidt-Roach. Carlos M. Duarte. Charlotte A. E. Hauser. Manuel Aranda. ( 12 August 2020). Beyond Reef Restoration: Next-Generation Techniques for Coral Gardening, Landscaping, and Outreach. Section Marine Conservation and Sustainability. 7. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2020.00672/full
Throughout my research project I looked into various factors that play into marine conservation for the Philippines, and an idea I played around with a lot was ecotourism. I had heard of coral gardening before and briefly brushed past it, but in the article”Beyond Reef Restoration: Next-Generation Techniques for Coral Gardening, Landscaping, and Outreach”, I was able to find that it was more key to my research than I thought.
Coral gardening is a process consisting of two phases where corals are grown in an intermediate nursery phase and then transplanted for restoration. In the initial phase corals are “fragmented or recruited” and then grown in sheltered sites. In the second phase, after they have grown to a large enough size then they can be then transplanted to their natural habitats. Coral gardening is a process that has shown to be,”very successful in growing a variety of species” It is also a process that displays numerous opportunities for the future of marine conservation, but it is a very costly practice that can seem, unfortunately, unrealistic. One example of a group doing coral gardening outside of the Philippines is Coral Gardeners, located in Moorea and Fiji. However, in the Philippines there are said to be over 500 coral nurseries, which makes me think of how I should spread awareness on coral nurseries to the USA.
However, an idea brought up by Sebastian Schmidt-Roach, Carlos M. Duarte, Charlotte A. E. Hauser, and Manuel Aranda was land-based, ex situ, meaning out of its original location, coral gardening. Ex situ coral gardening could prove to be a very successful and beneficial source for blue economics, which is economics that seek to benefit both the economy and conservation of marine life. This idea of ex situ coral gardening could be adopted by public and private practices could bring awareness to people who are non-divers or non-swimmers who are not able to truly understand and perceive marine life firsthand. Through this awareness it would promote education on not only corals, as well as marine conservation as a whole since corals are a large part of the process. Education on marine conservation is a large part of what would get the ball rolling in regards to marine conservation, since one of the largest obstacles is the awareness. The opportunity of incorporating ex situ coral gardens in hotels or tourism businesses could serve as an attraction but also as an educational opportunity. Once people become educated and aware they will start to take interest and possibly then seek opportunities to become involved to support the cause and put coral gardening on a large scale.
Ex situ coral gardens can also promote blue urbanism, a process of incorporating water features into urban sites, where it will get many people in close vicinity with what needs to be protected. Once people can see with their eyes, not through a picture, video, or phone, exactly what these organisms are they will have the opportunity to fully evaluate the value of marine life to people on the global scale. Not only people will be attracted to these opportunities, but private and corporate stakeholders may be enticed with the concept of land-based coral gardening and may want to incorporate it into their own buildings. With the interest taken by private and corporate stakeholders it could generate socioeconomic benefits and advance restoration efforts in coral gardening and marine conservation.
In Beyond Reef Restoration: Next-Generation Techniques for Coral Gardening, Landscaping, and Outreach. Section Marine Conservation and Sustainability I was able to gather highly valuable information that I could take with me for my artifact, truly making an impact after learning as much as I could with my research. Moreover, the researchers mention how implementing these concepts in ecotourism and urban landscapes will get the wheels spinning towards their triple mission,”educate, restore, and enhance”; a key idea to my project of making an impact on the global scale.
Step 3 : Draw Conclusions and Propose Solutions
After conducting my research to answer my ultimate question of, “What is the most effective way to promote marine conservation in the Philippines?” I found myself running into multiple problems in various areas regarding research articles and experts. However, despite all of the obstacles and difficulties I was still able to educate myself on my topic and persevere with the lack of information.
During Step 2 while researching various articles I almost always saw the direct quote, “there is need for more research,” or some variation of this phrase. Multiple times I ran into walls due to a lack of further research conducted by scientists and biologists, often leaving me running in circles, cycling through several research articles. I hypothesized that why there was little research done is because large corporations are in control over our capitalist society, and typically do not want to go through the hassle of being eco-friendly. Another point is that typically research and efforts to reverse climate change on marine life is often very costly, leaving people uninterested in the investment. Regular people are often uninterested in the topic of marine conservation as well because they cannot see the issues being caused firsthand, but this fact emphasizes the importance of exposure to the reality of the health of marine life now. In reality, everyone is impacted by marine conservation because the ocean takes up such a large part of the world. If people keep ignoring it, it will become a larger problem that will begin to show more noticeable effects even on people who do not live near coasts. For example, you may not have access to medicine you need due to coral bleaching having an effect on various fish species. Although there was a lack of in-depth research regarding marine conservation in the Philippines, I still found articles that gave me enough background knowledge so that I could become educated and create an impact as a student. Marine conservation is something that truly plays a part in everyone’s lives despite not being able to see it first hand. All effects should be cared for as a result of global warming and climate change as we all live on this planet and should focus on bettering it.
Another difficulty I ran into was contacting on the ground experts despite contacting 20+ people or organizations. I was able to get a few emails back, however each time it was typically a scientist who was unavailable to be of aid for both my project and research. Although, I believe that scientists should have contacted me as someone who is also interested in pursuing the same field, offering aid to young minds should be a beneficial opportunity to them. I was able to develop an understanding of why I was not getting responses, however I still continuously attempted to contact various places to create my impact on the world for marine conservation.
I was able to conclude that marine conservation can be attacked from many different forms. Marine life faces threats from things such as ocean acidification, coral bleaching, climate change, overfishing, tourism, and the list goes on. Moreover, marine conservation faces threats on the local and national level, either local fishing communities not having the same access to fish species or people having less access to products of the sea, but I chose to look at global warming and how it affects marine conservation. Global warming is a large factor into many problems that marine life faces, and during my research I found that global warming was the root to most threats marine life faced. I conducted my research through the various dissertations I read such as Climate change, coral bleaching and the future of the world’s coral reefs by Ove Hoegh-Guldberg .I found the most luck in attempting to make an impact specifically through corals. Due to the fact that I am located in an area that is not near a coast, I felt helpless in creating a solution that would address the problem of marine conservation. However, I found a way to create awareness for high school students and educate people on marine conservation.
From the many threats listed, using my research I found that climate change and global warming is the first domino that creates many of the threats. One of the many threats to marine life caused by global warming was coral bleaching which offers various manners I could contribute despite being in Illinois. However, how can marine conservation be promoted in a way that is lasting? After setting my heart on coral bleaching as the specific issue I wanted to play a part in, I found coral gardening. Coral gardening offers accessibility and persistence, which is the key point I wanted to be highlighted with my project. Through creating a lesson for biology and zoology teachers and/or an aquarium to use would create a ripple effect. The drop, sharing my lesson, will create waves, educating others on just how enormous marine conservation is. An accessible, realistic option is coral gardening at a local level to contribute to marine conservation is the best form to promote the significance of marine conservation to people on a global scale.
Step 4 : Creating an Artifact
After having a conference with my teacher, struggling to get in contact with an expert, I decided that I wanted to teach a lesson, similar to a lesson I participated in with the Teen Lab at Shedd Aquarium. I am going to create the lesson and use an activity from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, to teach high school students in science classes about coral bleaching. I chose NOAA because NOAA is a trustworthy organization that focuses on all the information that I researched regarding marine conservation. NOAA is also a trusted organization that many marine biologists referred to in regards to their research. The lesson outline from NOAA that I based my artifact on had all of the same information that I had researched, if not more in detail, which proved that NOAA had what I wanted to base my lesson on.
I created a presentation on coral bleaching where it educated people on corals, coral bleaching, and coral gardening. I first demonstrated what corals are and used an activity where students can actually create polyps using various materials to fully understand the anatomy and relationship between the coral and algae. After the activity I will convey the difference between live coral and bleached coral so that I can then build that bridge to coral bleaching. After educating students on coral bleaching and sharing my research and knowledge that I have gained, I will present the solution of coral gardening. At the end of my lesson I would like students to have learned more about marine conservation to spread awareness.
I chose this action because I believe that educating people about coral bleaching is crucial to marine conservation. Coral bleaching is one of the large problems that marine life faces and in educating people I am able to make an impact through exposure. Educating people through a hands-on activity, being more interactive, will make an impact and show people that marine conservation is important to everyone. While demonstrating the importance of coral bleaching I will connect it back to global warming, climate change, and marine conservation, so that people can truly be educated. During the trial period of my lesson in my IGS class, I was able to apply, present, and teach about coral bleaching through the knowledge that I had gained through all of my research during my IGS capstone project.
Eventually, I hope to get in contact with an expert, after receiving bad luck from prior emails, who can offer me insight on my lesson. From this expert at Shedd Aquarium, who I have attempted to contact, I hope to add information to my lesson which would be beneficial for students. Examples of additional, beneficial information that an expert from Shedd Aquarium could provide me with are specific organizations that are more feasible to get in contact with. Through gaining an expert at Shedd Aquarium or an expert who is knowledgeable in coral restoration, I would like to create more people who are educated and passionate about marine conservation as I am. Through my lesson I would like to pave a pathway to further awareness and education on marine conservation.
Step 5 : Refine Artifact
I have created a lesson on coral bleaching so that I can educate people about marine conservation as a whole. I drafted my lesson and created a format that would be easy for my audience, young students, to understand. I decided to begin with teaching people what corals are and then continue on how corals are being bleached due to global warming, ending with the steps that can be taken for coral restoration. After piecing my lesson together like a jigsaw puzzle, completing slides out of order, slowly gathering my materials, I practiced teaching my lesson with my classmates in my IGS class and my zoology teacher. In doing so I became comfortable sharing the artifact that I presented to the Women In STEM club at Bolingbrook High School, while also becoming confident in the knowledge I gained on marine conservation through my months of research.
Through my classmates and zoology teacher I realized the errors that I was previously blind to. Primarily, I had to realize that not all of my research had to be in my presentation, and that it had to be diluted so that it was easier for my audience to digest. For example, I chose to create multiple slides to explain coral gardening, in opposition to one slide for all of the steps, so that my audience could slowly understand the concept, taking small bites. Another edit I had to make was making sure to write the definition of the technical terms, such as zooxanthellae, the algae that provides pigment to corals. Further on, I ran into a hiccup with the coral polyp activity that I designed. Students found it confusing for the activity to follow if I did not have an example picture of the finished product or the instructions on the slide. As a result of this I retyped the steps with singular steps instead of paragraphs to make it easier to follow.
After months of emails, I finally found an expert, Dr. Thomas Goreau, with whom I was able to finally find this connection to draw. Dr. Thomas Goreau is the president of a non-profit organization called the Global Coral Reef Alliance, which focuses on coral restoration, which was perfect for my project as he also had years of experience in marine conservation, diving for more than 60 years. After finally reaching an expert, I felt highly accomplished and was ready to absorb all the information I could like a sponge during our Zoom meeting. He offered advice and information that I should change or add from my lesson. Initially, he said that my lesson was educational and offered a good introduction to coral bleaching, however agreed that I was missing the key issue of global warming. Through Dr. Goreau, I realized that coral gardening was not a sustainable solution for coral bleaching and that I should emphasize this fact. Instead of coral gardening he suggested the idea of Biorock, which is the concept of utilizing ordinary steel and safe, low-voltage electrical currents to produce limestone, which is currently the only sustainable method of protecting coral reefs.
Why does this matter to me? This is the central question that rose after I started to spread awareness on coral bleaching. Even after teaching my Women In STEM lesson, I felt as though I was missing this pillar that drew the connection between my cause of preserving coral reefs and people as a whole. Dr. Goreau was able to provide a viable answer to this question. He emphasized that coral bleaching is the first sign of the downfall of all ecosystems, a matter that should concern all animals living on this planet. As a result of corals being highly sensitive in their environment, coral reefs are the first ecosystems to fall due to global warming. It should be noted in any future lessons I teach that coral bleaching should be treated as a warning sign that many ecosystems will continue to fall afterwards. Dr. Goreau pointed out that the Amazon
Rainforest and the Arctic will be the next victims, which grew my passion for not only marine conservation, but the fight against global warming as well.
After the feedback I received from my classmates, zoology teacher, and Dr. Goreau I was able to improve my lesson. Through my classmates and zoology teacher I made my lesson more digestible for my audience while Dr. Goreau provided the core pillar that I was missing. With this new foundation I was able to create with Dr. Goreau I added an additional,”Why does this matter?” slide, where I included three major points that all people should let resonate. These points being: most coral reefs are lucky to be alive, coral bleaching foreshadows the downfall of all other ecosystems, global warming will undo all progress we have made for global warming if we don’t work to reverse it. I will measure the impact of my lesson by asking students after teaching my lesson if they were able to grasp the information I told. As well as seeing if people care about global warming and marine conservation more than before they were able to interact with my lesson.
Step 6 : Take Action to Effect Change
The process to create my lesson and take action included a sizable amount of trial and error. Throughout my project I had various drafts I created until my final lesson was finally done. My original, rough outline of all the concepts I wanted to teach and spread awareness on was able to evolutionize into a complete, official lesson that I would be able to teach in the future and share to teachers. My project’s focus shifted from centralizing on coral gardening to centralizing on coral restoration and global warming. This shift that occurred was a result of the concepts I learnt from Dr. Thomas Goreau through our Zoom meeting as it shed light on the importance of coral reefs, that I was unable to verbalize prior.
My action will take change by educating young students on the local level on coral restoration, coral bleaching, and how global warming plays a pivotal role. I was able to measure the effect of my lesson through feedback from numerous people: the presidents of Women in STEM and my classmates in my IGS class. After my presentation at Women in STEM at Bolingbrook High School, Clara Wiese and Ishika Rana, the presidents, said that they felt more knowledgeable on coral bleaching compared to before. Through a brief survey I conducted I was able to deduce that my lesson took action and educated people on coral restoration, leaving them with more awareness than before. I asked two questions: 1. How confident do you feel you knew what coral bleaching was prior to my presentation? and 2. How confident do you feel you knew what coral bleaching was after my presentation? A rating of one meaning no confidence and a rating of five meaning very confident. To my first question four students out of the five I surveyed in my IGS class rated themselves a one. To my second question four out of the five students all put themselves at a number higher or equivalent to a three, therefore through my data
it is proved that my lesson was impactful and spread awareness on coral bleaching, coral restoration, and global warming.
Overall, through Dr. Thomas Goreau reviewing my lesson, suggesting edits on my points of global warming and coral bleaching, and presenting my lesson to Women in STEM I was able to spread awareness on coral restoration, coral bleaching, and global warming. Also sending it to Girls in STEM at Neuqua Valley High School to share my lesson beyond my high school.. I was able to measure the impact of my action through feedback from my various experts and overall, contribute on the global level towards marine conservation. By educating myself and sharing this knowledge, I was able to inform people on a local level and eventually, take this lesson to share with other biology and zoology teachers.
Step 7 : Reflect
A strenuous, purposeful sail across the unrelenting sea, running into various obstacles, experiencing brutal waves, is how I would describe the process of creating my project for IGS. However, my journey ended with a rewarding arrival to shore with the completion of my project. During this sail my perception of the world, a seed, grew in numerous ways, becoming a tree.
The initial way that my global competence grew is through the various articles that I researched on marine conservation in the Philippine and coral reefs. I was able to investigate the world through my research, learning about concepts or places I had never known about before, for example the Coral Triangle and how much global warming was affecting the world, which I familiarized myself with greatly. Prior to conducting my research I assumed that there were numerous people dedicated to the same cause as I was, marine conservation in the Philippines. In researching I recognized perspectives of others that marine conservation is a cause that little people cared for. I endlessly searched for any information I could obtain on the concept of marine conservation, finding nothing but dust, it confirmed these perspectives I had not realized before. Through my project I was able to understand and learn that marine conservation in the Philippines is a topic that has little research. Many times I found various articles saying lines such as,”further research should be conducted”, proving that this concept was not as widely covered as I thought.
Another way that I developed my global competency is through various forms of coral restoration. Prior to IGS in my mind coral gardening was the only viable option to help reverse coral bleaching, however after contacting an expert Dr. Goreau exposed me to the realities of coral gardening as he experimented with it first hand. After our Zoom meeting he told me about how global warming was making global warming, ultimately, ineffective with how corals would be grown at nurseries, then be planted directly into coral reefs and die due to how fast the temperature was rising. Instead, he introduced me to Biorock technology which was much more fruitful compared to coral gardening. Biorock technology is the method of using low voltage currents and using steel rods which overtime produces a calcium carbonate skeleton for coral polyps to live on. With Biorock it was very effective in completely revitalizing coral reefs, even attracting fish due to the electric currents.
With all of the information I gained through IGS and creating my project, the action I took was noticed. I was able to reach the audience of students and science teachers, sending it to Neuqua Valley High School, offering an opportunity to another school to use my lesson and also become educated on coral bleaching. In Step 6 I talk about the quantitative data regarding specific students and how much they learnt. However, the trend from the data I collected suggested that my lesson was effective in teaching students about coral bleaching, coral restoration, and coral bleaching. Through my research I was able to not only become educated, but become an expert myself on coral bleaching, having the capacity to communicate these ideas and concepts to others.. I also received qualitative feedback from the presidents of Women in STEM saying that my presentation offered digestible information that they were not exposed to priorly, while also giving an interactive activity to the members of the club.
Despite the inevitable success of my project, I did run into error throughout the process. Previously, I discussed the issues I ran into as I had a lack of information and articles on marine conservation and coral reefs in the Philippines. In addition to this, I had a lack of experts in spite of the fact that I was sending numerous emails, reaching out to whoever I could. I often lost hope as the first “real” expert I got a response from was a marine scientist who said,”my time is limited”, making me feel hopeless that I’d ever get to the shore. Even saying that I could read a,”basic biology / marine biology textbook”, suggesting that I had not done research before reaching out to her. Throughout the project, I met the realities of what contacting experts would be like, possibly being belittled or even not getting a response at all. By the end of my project, I had contacted 27 experts and only got replies back from five of them. However, two of the five of these experts were within my school so in reality I had three responses from outside of my school. These failures were humbling, however there is balance with everything, failures paired with successes.
One of these successes was having a meeting with Dr. Goreau. In our meeting, I learnt so much that I had not prior and truly felt as though my perception of the world grew in ways that it had not before. Along with this, I was able to present my project to a club where I was able to share the passion I have for marine biology to other students, pushing me out of my comfort zone with the opportunity to present to an audience of people my own age.
Upon completion of my project and all the information I gained, I will inform others about global warming and its effect on our world as a unit, playing a role against people not only on an individual level. Often, I find that people often hear about global issues and believe that this has no part in their life, in actuality this is indubitably false. Every global issue absolutely affects every person and organism on our planet. As a result of IGS I will spread awareness on this cause and help others develop this passion as well. In addition, I will use my skills that I developed from researching in the future as I truly found a love for research and the pursuit of knowledge, expanding my horizons.
The journey throughout my IGS project was extremely abundant in opportunities and experiences that allowed me to grow as a person. Without IGS I would not have been able to contact so many people and push myself to complete a project similar to this. Being able to transform my simple idea of marine conservation in the Philippines into a tangible project along with my paper is something extraordinary. Residing at the shore I recognize that my project offered success not only to myself but to people around the world, creating not ripples in the water, but waves of change.
