Washington and Lee University
Students Alex Burpee and Lizzy Rhea collecting salinity and ambient light data after a dive.
W&L student Dillon Fulcher (10), Geology majors Elizabeth Rhea (09) and Alex Burpee (08), and Rockbridge High School Senior Jenny Shultis recently worked with Prof. Lisa Greer to collect small coral specimens of Acropora cervicornis (staghorn coral) to better understand environmental conditions offshore of Barbados. The coral is currently in rapid decline Caribbean-wide and many factors may potentially contribute to the demise of this species.
Previous work by Greer and W&L student Julia Jackson (07) analyzing the geochemistry of fossil staghorn specimens that live from 9,000-5,000 years ago indicates that this specimen has persisted through some dramatic environmental and climate changes in the past, and that current decline may be anomalous in the recent geologic past. A paper on the fossil coral work is in review and both fossil and modern coral data has been presented at national and international meetings.
