A new paper by MarineGEO’s former Research Experience for Undergraduates intern Luis de Pablo has been published in the journal Scientific Reports. This study is the first to leverage the long-term photographic data (See image below) collected by MarineGEO at Carrie Bow Cay to show that coral cover has improved from 6 to 13% cover there since the program began in 2014. During the internship, Luis also coded a number of software programs to assist MarineGEO in working with continuing photographic documentation of reef life at Carrie Bow Cay.  Luis pursued the project as a first-year undergraduate at Amherst College in 2019 and worked with MarineGEO throughout his undergraduate career to publish his first first-authored paper.

L. de Pablo, J.S. Lefcheck, L. Harper, V. Paul, S. Jones, R. Whippo, J. Seeman, D. Kline, J.E. Duffy. (2021) A doubling of coral cover on Carrie Bow Cay, Belize from 2014-2019. Scientific Reports. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-96799-2