Diadema Day 4

 We started our 4th day at site Laurel where the air was a little cooler and the sun was less harsh. The wind picked up from last night's drizzle. I should have known the waves were going to be rough. I really struggled to just breathe even with a floatation device. The water was deeper than yesterday’s site and the waves were relentless. The bright side of this area was that it was filled with coral, Diadema and small fish dipping in and out of small crevices. Dr. Stacey M. Williams, the co-founder of ISER Caribe and CIROM (Center for Restoration and Research of Marine Organisms), presented for us today during lunch. She works on marine restoration projects like ones using Diadema repopulation efforts for coral restoration. She pointed out most of the issues they work with that disturb corals like Stoney Coral Tissue Loss (SCTL) disease. She also explained something that I read in a paper by her last week where some algae such as Ramicrusta cover coral and prevent coral larvae from settling and growing. Diadema are good at eating away at this harmful algae. Their declining population though, has caused trouble for struggling coral. Her dissertation research focuses on this. Afterwards, we visited Johanna Rotterova’s lab to see some microbes like radiolarians and dinoflagellates under her microscope. The day officially ended once I finished processing sediment cores, showered, and dinner was started.