Tropical coral of the order Scleractinia contain fluorescent pigments, found in the coral animal itself as well as in the Symbiodium, which has been shown to play a part in protecting the coral against harmful UV radiation. Recently, studies have explored the use of a coral colony’s fluorescent spectrum emission to be able to assess the health of the coral, gaining insight into the bleaching process and response to other stress events. However, it is unknown yet as to what abiotic factors drive changes in coral physiology, which in turn alters the emission spectra of a coral colony during stress events. This project proposes the implementation of novel methodology, marrying hyperspectral imaging to photogrammetric monitoring techniques to obtain hyperspectral large area images of a coral reef to monitor coral emission spectra over time. Additionally, coral tissue traits will be analyzed in a laboratory setting to get values for zooxanthellae density, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity/efficiency (PAM), tissue biomass, and protein biomass at each sampling time. This work can aid coral reef management by potentially being an inexpensive and noninvasive way to accurately measure coral health in situ and attribute changes in health to specific coral traits.
Dr. Rolando Santos Corujo, Florida International University
