A group from the University of California is working with Cook Islands marine biologist and chairperson for the environmental NGO, Kōrero o te `Ōrau, Dr Teina Rongo, to discover how corals around Rarotonga respond to high temperatures. The university’s Assistant Professor in Evolution and Ecology, Dr Anya Brown, Dr Rachael Bay and their graduate students, Deva Holliman, Kenzie Pollard and Katie Erickson, are working with Dr Rongo, Siana Whatarau and members of Kōrero o te Ōrau.
For over a year, the team has been growing corals on tables in the Tikioki lagoon near Charlie’s, which acts like a coral nursery. They are tracking the growth and survival of each coral in the nursery, taking small pieces from each individual coral to test for heat tolerance. The team is also testing whether heat tolerance depends on coral diversity.
