It is now week 4 of the expedition and I have been making great progress with my honours project. The study is hoping to indicate the impact photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) has on the distribution of differing coral genus located on the house reef at roots camp. For this question to be answered I have been placing a PAR logger at different depth intervals within set transects on the reef slope. The data that I have collected so far has been very interesting with the irradiance levels tending to decrease with depth (which is to be expected).
To quantify the coral cover I have been conducting photo transects at each site. This entails keeping a constant distance from the reef and slowly traveling along the transect, taking photos every 2 seconds. To do this I have a rig that allows me to travel parallel to the reef slope whilst having a GoPro camera sit perpendicular to the slope. After taking a transect me and my buddy (Rachel Mawer) document certain details before we move on.
I hope to use these photos and analyse them through a software called coral point cover, which will give me a percentage coral cover and supply me with indices of coral diversity at each transect and for the whole site. Coupled with the gradient data of a masters study completed 2 years ago I can quantify the effect gradient has on irradiance exposure and the effect that has on the coral community structure.
With 2 weeks left I have a few more readings to take but hope to have a full data set with time to spare. Allowing me time to take repeat readings and make any fine adjustments.
University of Glasgow Egypt Expedition 