research proposal mk i
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- 1. Effects of Vitamin C on Caribbean Acropora Species Gabriel Pastrana Castellanos Research Proposal Rise Program June 2015
- 2. The Problem Picture showing many bleached colonies of Acropora palmatapicture taken from griseus.tumblr.com
- 3. Problem In the past few decades most of the Caribbean's reef- building coral populations have been wiped out due to a number of factors like: diseases, ocean acidification, rising ocean temperatures, and pollution just to name a few. The two most important reef-building corals in the Caribbean are Acropora palmata and Acropora cerviconis and both of these species have suffered extensive damage to their populations.
- 4. Why is This Topic Important? As mentioned earlier, the Caribbean's main reef- building coral species are being lost at alarming rates. These corals that are being lost are a very important and indispensable part of our reef ecosystem which provide us with shore protection, tourism, ande vast fisheries among other things. Loosing the Caribbean's reefs would be a major environmental and economic disaster for the countries in the Caribbean.
- 5. Acropora palmata Acropora palmata picture taken from http://coral.aims.gov.au
- 6. How Would I Solve This Problem? Based on other research I believe that if you add Vitamin C to the water you could increase the coral's growth. Well, I propose to do an experiment in which we could test the growth rate of Acropora palmata in the presence of different concentrations of Vitamin C in its water to see if there is any increase in coral growth rate.
- 7. How Would I Solve This Problem? This experiment has been done on soft coral species and yielded positive results. If I can manage to prove that Vitamin C helps accelerate Acropora palmata's growth then this could be used to cultivate more corals in a shorter amount of time so more of them can be reintroduced into their environment. You could also develop a product that stimulates coral growth for the saltwater aquarium hobby.
- 8. References http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov http://www.advancedaquarist.com http://www.cesampr.com http://web.stanford.edu/group/journal/cgi-bin/wordpress/wp- content/uploads/2012/09/Kruse_NatSci_2011.pdf
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