Paradise Redefined: Part 2
A journey to a coral reef chain hidden in the Central Pacific forces scientists to revisit the definition of a pristine environment
By Mario C. Aguilera
Part Two: A New View Of Pristine
The bad news is that there is no such thing as a remote atoll
anymore. While large fishes are doing better here because of fewer
people fishing, corals are doing badly in some places possibly as a
result of a combination of global warming and pollution from a
shipwreck. The human footprint is greater than we think, and
thousands of miles of sea around a coral reef does not protect it
against global, invisible, yet lethal threats.
Enric Sala, journal entry from the Line Islands Expedition, Aug. 12, 2005
By September 5, 2005, they had done it.
The team led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego researchers had traveled thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean to explore a tropical paradise. Over five weeks, it conducted perhaps the most comprehensive evaluation of coral reef ecosystems to date, covering mighty predators, microscopic bacteria, and everything in between.
Within the Line Islands archipelago, four targeted islands each revealed a singular case study, from the heavily impacted to the virtually pristine.
Meticulous planning paid off with a wealth of reef data. Hundreds of dives produced a rich sampling trove and scores of images and video.
Analysis of the data began almost immediately. The researchers tediously combed through piles of information searching for clues as to what it all meant. Challenges mounted as the specialists of the various disciplines attempted to fit the scientific puzzle pieces together.
"To build one coherent story from the volumes of data is not a trivial endeavor," said Stuart Sandin, a Scripps marine ecologist and the coordinator of the Line Islands Expedition. "We just don't ever have this much data about one system to allow us to build such a clean view."
But build they did. After months of meetings, countless phone calls and e-mail exchanges, a synthesis began to take shape.
Next page: Turning the World Upside Down