Sonia Rowley wins Sir David Attenborough Award for Fieldwork

Gorgonian (sea fan) corals on the twilight reefs of Pohnpei Island. Image courtesy of Sonia J. Rowley.

Sonia J. Rowely, post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Geology & Geophysics (GG), received the prestigious Sir David Attenborough Award for Fieldwork from the Systematics Association and the Linnean Society of London. Rowley’s work was selected based on her project entitled “Exploration and Systematics of Twilight Reef Gorgonian Corals at Pakin Atoll.” She received this award for her work during the 2015 Pohnpei Expedition.

Tropical coral reefs throughout the Indo-Pacific are critical to marine biodiversity. About 80% of reefs exist between depths of 100-500 feet and are among the most diverse, yet most unexplored, realms on the planet. These ‘twilight zone’ reefs, known as Mesophotic coral ecosystems or MCEs, are typically dominated by gorgonian (sea fan) corals.

The mysteries of these twilight reefs are only recently being revealed through technological advances in closed circuit rebreather diving. Previously overlooked—being too precarious for conventional SCUBA and too shallow to justify the cost of frequent submersible dives—twilight reefs continuously disclose breathtaking levels of biodiversity with each dive, yielding species and behavioral interactions new to science.

In collaboration with the Waikīkī Aquarium, Rowley and others are developing ways to re-create conditions that closely match the twilight reef environment. Through continuous measurements of key parameters, they are working to create a natural exhibit of gorgonian coral and increase understanding of adaptations that have evolved over time. Rowley recently shared her findings from the twilight zone in a public presentation through the Waikīkī Aquarium Distinguished Lecture Series.

Read more about it in the UH System News.