Photo for $5M grant will help conserve...

Tunicates, sometimes called sea squirts, line a wall in Raja Ampat, an archipelago comprising more than 1,500 small islands, cays and shoals in Indonesias West Papua. (Photo by Tierny Thys)

A $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, announced Jan. 15, includes UCLA Professor Paul Barber as co-principal investigator on a project to conserve coral reefs around Indonesia.

By Alison Hewitt

Barber, a UCLA professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and affiliated with the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, will work with San Diego State University using Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures to measure marine biodiversity in the Coral Triangle. The Coral Triangle contains the world's most biologically diverse coral reefs. Monitoring will provide a clearer idea of the marine organisms living in and around the reefs, increase understanding of how human impacts affect the biodiversity, and lead to better conservation strategies.

National Science Foundation Grant


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Published: Friday, January 25, 2013