Moorea Coral Reef Scientific Diving Upgrade

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The University of California Berkeley is awarded a grant to increase its scientific diving capabilities at the Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station, including two new research boats with trailers, a higher capacity compressor, and expanded dive lockers to accommodate additional divers. The upgrade will serve the needs of strong research and instructional programs in tropical marine ecology, biodiversity, ocean acidification, conservation biology, and oceanography. The reefs of Moorea are among the best studied in the world, as a result of a long history of research initiated by French scientists and other international researchers, including a growing involvement from the U.S. The new infrastructure will support a diverse group of researchers and their students, building on the NSF-funded Moorea Coral Reef LTER and other NSF-funded research in the marine sciences on Moorea. Coral reefs of the islands of the Pacific are hotspots for biological diversity and are sources of great societal significance and economic value. They represent some of the best-preserved coral reefs remaining anywhere on Earth. Local and global processes, often associated with human activities, however, increasingly threaten the continued health of these exceptional natural systems. Thus, new research on population dynamics, ecosystem processes, biodiversity and resilience of coral reefs is critical to their successful management, conservation, and restoration. This project will enhance the ability to understand and sustain these systems and the services they provide society through process-oriented research and long-term studies. The upgrade will promote advanced training in marine science at the graduate and undergraduate level, benefiting students from universities and colleges from across the United States. Located in French Polynesia, the project will have the added benefit of providing international and multi-cultural experience for American scientists and students. The Gump Station has a strong outreach program through collaborations brokered by its partner local community organization: Association Te Pu Atitia. The upgrade will strengthen marine science research and education on Moorea enabling the Gump Station and Te Pu Atitia to communicate these findings to the local community - particularly K-12 schools - and to further develop programs that reach out to historically underrepresented groups in science (including Polynesians and other Pacific Islanders). For more information about the Gump Station see their website at http://moorea.berkeley.edu/.