Snorkel through the crystal clear waters around a remote Bahamian island to survey endangered coral reefs, document the threats to their health, and help test techniques that might restore them.

You'll learn to conduct a number of ecological field measurements: surveying hard corals and other reef animals and plants, mapping transect sites and taking reef measurements, and testing water chemistry. On land, you'll map corals in tidal pools and monitor beach profile data for changes. You’ll also help refine methods for repairing and even rebuilding reefs that have been damaged by bleaching, storms, run-off, and systemic threats such as global warming. In the evenings, you'll transcribe the day's data, and enjoy films and lectures.

Longtime Earthwatch scientists Rollino, McGrath, and Smith continually receive high marks for their patience, humor, and teaching prowess. In your recreational time, you can scuba dive, go spelunking, see where Columbus first set foot in the New World, nature hike, or just enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

Young scientists can also join this expedition on our teen teams!

San Salvador Island, Bahamas — Coral reefs are at serious risk due to climate change, coastal development, over fishing, and other environmental stressors. One of the first signs that corals are in trouble is coral bleaching, when algae living within the reef organism fail during environmental stress, leaving the coral colorless and leaving area fish without nutrition. Prolonged bleaching kills coral, with drastic impacts on marine biodiversity, fisheries, tourism, and shore protection—and bleachings are on a dramatic rise worldwide. Coral diseases have also been increasing with alarming regularity, due perhaps in part to global warming, which may also be making making more and more severe storms, which can inflict their own damage on reefs.

Scientists John Rollino, Dr. Garriet Smith (University of South Carolina at Aiken) and Thomas McGrath (Corning Community College) have the longest-running experiment and data set on coral reefs in the world, with more than 15 years worth of information. While efforts to improve our understanding of the threats to reefs must continue, in recent years Dr. Rollino and his colleagues have also increased their emphasis on testing methods that might allow reefs to recover, from performing underwater “repairs” on some reefs to providing others with artificial materials that might save their underlying struture.

John has designed and implemented numerous ecological studies as well as co-authored countless technical environmental documents for public review. He has worked on a variety of ecological projects all along the United States’ east coast, in Hawaii, and in the Atlantic and southern Pacific Oceans. His projects have included characterizing habitats, threatened and endangered species surveys, water quality studies, and assessing ecological impacts and designing mitigation strategies for military operations and large-scale construction and dredging projects. John is also a certified arborist.

John earned his Bachelor’s degree at Upsala College in New Jersey, and his M.S. in Geoscience and M.A. in Environmental Studies at Montclair State University, also in New Jersey. He is a certified Advanced Open Water Diver with additional rescue diver training, and he is also certified in First Aid and CPR as well as other health and safety training. He oversees expedition logistics on the island, instruction, team assignments and supervision, training, lecturing and data analysis. John lives in New Jersey but was born and raised in New York City, as evidenced by his strong “New Yawk” accent. In his free time John enjoys cooking, hiking and puns; as a result, volunteers should be prepared for many moans and groans.

San Salvador Island in the Bahamas is surrounded by warm, blue waters full of beautiful subtropical reefs, as is perhaps most well know as the place that Christopher Columbus made his first landfall in this hemisphere in 1492. The island’s interior is mostly uninhabited and full of hypersaline lakes. San Salvador is one of the outermost links in the chain of some 700 islands sprinkled throughout more than 5,000 square miles. While similar to the other islands of this archipelago, it is unique for its history, ecology, inland lakes, and the pressure to develop it mostly undeveloped landscapes.

The harbor remains largely as Columbus saw, except for the Gerace Research Center, which is located on the berm of a beach composed of calcareous sands. Pleistocene sand dunes, sea cliffs, and other unique coastal features can be found within walking distance of the Center.

Teleconference Q&A