External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
Thomas Fritz Goreau (August 16, 1924 in Germany - April 22, 1970 in Jamaica) was a marine biologist who worked extensively on the coral reefs of Jamaica, and many other reefs in the Pacific, Caribbean, and Red Sea.
Goreau moved from Germany to Austria at the age of 8, and lived in France and the United States, where he studied at Clark University, The University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and received his Ph.D in ecology from Yale University. In 1951 he went to lecture at the medical school at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica, and in 1956 he founded a long-term research project exploring the coral reefs of Jamaica.
His work on coral reefs began in 1947, when, as a student, he became involved with the Bikini Atoll atom bomb test site in the Marshall Islands as a chemist. As the diver who collected radioactive specimens from the lagoons, he most likely received lethal radiation exposure. Consequently, he died from cancer at the age of 45.
He built rebreather diving gear to explore the deep sea, and was the first diving marine scientist. He founded the marine laboratory at Discovery Bay, Jamaica in an abandoned urinal on a fisherman's beach in the early 1960s. The fame of his research, which pioneered most of the techniques used in modern coral reef science, led to the construction of a research lab that opened only after his death in 1970.
He pioneered the use of scuba gear as a marine research tool, the use of radioisotopes to understand the growth of corals and marine organisms, the zonation of coral reefs, and many aspects of coral reef ecology and geology. With Nora I. Goreau he did the basic work on the biology and physiology of corals and the role of algal symbiosis in their growth. [1] They discovered many new species, and explored many other subjects. Their work showed how coral reefs function and established their great sensitivity to environmental stress. His widow Nora I. Goreau, the first Panamanian marine biologist, and son Thomas J. Goreau continue to focus their research on coral reefs.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather than on taxonomy.
Thomas J. Goreau is a biogeochemist and marine biologist. He is the son of two other renowned marine biologists, Thomas F. Goreau and Nora I. Goreau.
The Tektite habitat was an underwater laboratory which was the home to divers during Tektite I and II programs. The Tektite program was the first scientists-in-the-sea program sponsored nationally. The habitat capsule was placed in Great Lameshur Bay, Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands in 1969 and again in 1970.
John Veron, complete name John Edward Norwood Veron, credited in research as J. E. N. Veron, and in other writing as Charlie Veron, is a biologist, taxonomist, and specialist in the study of corals and reefs. He is believed to have discovered more than 20% of the world's coral species.
Wolf Hartmut Hilbertz was a German-born futurist architect, inventor, and marine scientist. Notable contributions to science include the discovery of artificial mineral accretetion / biorock and its use to create electrified reefs.
Biorock is a cement-like engineering material formed when a small electric current is passed between underwater metal electrodes placed in seawater causing dissolved minerals to accrete onto the cathode to form a thick layer of limestone. This 'accretion process' can be used to create building materials or to create artificial 'electrified reefs' for the benefit of corals and other sea-life. Discovered by Wolf Hilbertz in 1976, biorock was protected by patents and a trademark which have now expired.
Human activities have significant impact on coral reefs. Coral reefs are dying around the world. Damaging activities include coral mining, pollution, overfishing, blast fishing, the digging of canals and access into islands and bays. Other threats include disease, destructive fishing practices and warming oceans. The ocean's role as a carbon dioxide sink, atmospheric changes, ultraviolet light, ocean acidification, viruses, impacts of dust storms carrying agents to far-flung reefs, pollutants, algal blooms are some of the factors that affect coral reefs. Evidently, coral reefs are threatened well beyond coastal areas. Climate change, such as global warming, causes a rise in ocean temperatures that lead to coral bleaching which can be fatal to the corals.
Les Kaufman is an evolutionary ecologist specializing in the biology and conservation of aquatic ecosystems. He has special expertise in coral reef biology, the evolution and ecology of tropical great lakes fishes, and ecosystem-based management of marine resources.
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
Thomas Wayland Vaughan was an American geologist and oceanographer. He worked with the United States Geological Survey and United States National Museum, investigating the geology of the West Indies, Panama Canal Zone, and the eastern coast of North America. In 1924 Vaughan became director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and held the post until his retirement in 1936. His research work concentrated on the study of corals and coral reefs, the investigation of larger foraminifera, and oceanography.
Angel Chua Alcala was a Filipino biologist who was named a National Scientist of the Philippines in 2014. Alcala is known for his fieldwork to build sanctuaries and to promote biodiversity in the aquatic ecosystems of the Philippines. He was the Chairman of the Board of Advisers at the Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management located in Silliman University. Alcala published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and books and his biological contributions to the environment and ecosystems have made him a renowned figure of natural sciences in the Philippines.
Marine biology is a hybrid subject that combines aspects of organismal function, ecological interaction and the study of marine biodiversity. The earliest studies of marine biology trace back to the Phoenicians and the Greeks who are known as the initial explorers of the oceans and their composition. The first recorded observations on the distribution and habits of marine life were made by Aristotle.
Silvia Maciá is an American marine biologist and professor of biology at Barry University in Miami Shores, FL. Her research interests involves both laboratory and field work addressing pipefish mating behavior, seagrass community ecology, coral reef grazing ecology and seagrass restoration.
Robert Endean (1925–1997) was an Australian marine scientist and academic at the University of Queensland.
Jamaica, an island located within the Caribbean Sea, known for being a popular tourist destination because of its pristine white sand beaches, is now faced with the issue of mass coral depletion. Both environmental and human factors contribute to the destruction of these corals, which inevitably affect Jamaica's environmental sustainability and economy. Actions have been put in place to counteract the negative consequences associated with the loss of the corals, which act as a symbol of hope for the revival of Jamaica's environment.
Robert Kent Trench was an American Biologist who was a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research considered corals and symbiotic algae, with a focus on the adaption of zooxanthellae. He was awarded the 1994 International Society of Endocytobiology Miescher-Ishida Prize.
Nora Goreau, born Nora Isabel Arango de Urriola, also known as “Mother of Coral Reef Science” was Panama’s first marine biologist.
An electric reef is an artificial reef made from biorock, being limestone that forms rapidly in seawater on a metal structure from dissolved minerals in the presence of a small electric current. The first reefs of this type were created by Wolf Hilbertz and Thomas J. Goreau in the 1980s. By 2011 there were examples in over 20 countries.
Dr. Mónica Medina is a professor of organismal biology at the Pennsylvania State University. She is known for environmental activism, such as fighting to protect Varadero Reef, and her research on the ecology and evolution of symbiosis by studying the relationships between cnidarian, endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, and other microbes.
