UQ researchers in unique underwater study

Two University of Queensland researchers will be taking part in an international study in the world’s only underwater laboratory off the coast of Florida next month.

Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg and Dr Bill Leggat from UQ’s Centre for Marine Studies will be looking into how global climate change can affect the survival of coral larvae.

They will train for 5 days in Florida before embarking on a 10 day underwater mission from June 10 to 19 in the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory.

During this time, they will be using a technique called saturation diving, which enables them to remain underwater for the entire mission.

Dr Leggat sees great advantages in this technique.

“We can dive for as long as we want at whatever depths we want. We aren’t constrained by the normal requirements of surface dives.”

At the end of the mission, participants will undergo an 18-hour period of decompression to allow them to return to the surface without any adverse affects.

Intensive diving periods allowed by saturation diving will allow the scientists to study coral larvae directly on the reef, as well as performing experiments in the Aquarius habitat.

The experiments will involve comparisons between the physiology of coral larvae and their adult counterparts and particularly how they respond to variations in temperature. This will give scientists an understanding of how global warming can affect larvae as well as adult corals.

Global warming could effect larval survival before they can become efficient members of the reef community, which could have long-term implications for the survival of coral reefs.

“This is important research, allowing us to more accurately predict how coral reefs will respond to changing climates,” said Professor Hoegh-Guldberg.

The Aquarius Underwater Laboratory is owned by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and is operated by the National Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

The habitat is located in a sand patch near coral reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary at a depth of 63 feet.

Media: for more information contact Dr Bill Leggat (tel. 07 3365 3307 before June 1) or Lorraine Parkin (tel. 07 3346 9041 or 0412 900 928). Interviews from the underwater laboratory are possible.