Environmental Monitoring and Photodocumentation Equipment for West Indies Laboratory

费尔利·狄金森大学西印度群岛实验室(WIL)是位于加勒比海东北部圣克罗伊岛上的一个科学教学和研究设施。18年来，在WIL工作的生物学家、生态学家和地质学家(来自美国和世界各地的机构)大大增加了我们对以下方面的了解：(1)浅水热带海洋系统的结构和功能，特别是珊瑚礁和海草床；(2)热带海洋生物的生物学、生态学和古生态学。在局部人类影响和全球环境变化对近岸环境和生物造成越来越大压力的时期，对这些自然系统的了解至关重要。该项目提供资金，用于购买(1)记录长期物理、海洋和大气数据的仪器和(2)摄影记录设备：解剖照片显微镜和水下摄像系统。WIL的研究工作的优势仍然是实地研究与实验室研究相结合，以及对问题采取多学科方法。然而，目前的研究工作由于缺乏长期的环境数据而受到阻碍。一个可靠的环境数据监测和存储计划，加上用照片记录生物、生态和地质现象的能力，对于目前的实验室研究和未来的研究计划都将具有相当大的价值。这项研究的大部分结果既可以作为近岸热带环境未来可能变化的预测指标，也可以作为管理决策的依据。

West Indies Laboratory (WIL) of Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) is a scientific teaching and research facility located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea on the island of St. Croix. For 18 years biologists, ecologists and geologists (from institutions throughout the U.S. and the world) working at WIL have significantly added to our knowledge of (1) the structure and function of shallow water tropical marine systems, particularly coral reefs and seagrass beds, and (2) the biology, ecology and paleo-ecology of tropical marine organisms. In a period of increasing pressure on nearshore environments and organisms from both local human impacts and also global environmental changes, an understanding of these natural systems is critical. This project provides funds to purchase (1) instruments to record long term physical oceanographic and atmospheric data and (2) photodocumentation equipment: a dissecting photo-microscope and underwater video system. The strengths of the research effort at WIL continue to be the combination of field with laboratory studies and multidisciplinary approaches to questions. However, present research efforts are hindered by lack of long term environmental data. A reliable program of monitoring and storage of environmental data combined with the ability to document biological, ecological and geological phenomena photographically will be of considerable value to present research at the laboratory as well as future research programs. The results of much of this research can be useful both as a predictor of possible future changes in nearshore tropical environments, as well as information upon which to base management decisions.