Fringing field has to be taken into account in the formulation of electrostatic parallel-plate actuators when the gap separating the electrodes is comparable to the geometrical dimensions of the moving plate. Even in this case, the existing formulations often result in complicated mathematical models from which it is difficult to determine the deflection of the moving plate for given voltages a...

This report describes evaluation of a two-dimensional Boussinesq-type wave model, BOUSS-2D, with data obtained from two laboratory experiments and two field studies at the islands of Guam and Hawaii, for waves propagating over fringing reefs. The model evaluation had two goals: (a) investigate differences between laboratory and field characteristics of wave transformation processes over reefs, ...

Investigation of the response of coral microbial communities to seasonal ecological environment at the microscale will advance our understanding of the relationship between coral-associated bacteria community and coral health. In this study, we examined bacteria community composition from mucus, tissue and skeleton of Porites lutea and surrounding seawater every three months for 1 year on Luhui...

In the face of accelerated climate change, monitoring biodiversity has become a critical task for ecologists. Habitat loss is occurring at an alarming rate both in terrestrial and marine ecosystems, resulting in endangerment and extinction of species up to 1,000 times faster than natural rates. However, traditional biodiversity measurements are logistically and financially difficult, making bio...

Although there is a substantial body of work on how temperature shapes coastal marine ecosystems, the spatiotemporal variability of seawater pH and corresponding in situ biological responses remain largely unknown across biogeographic ranges of tropical coral species.Environmental variability is important to characterize because it can amplify or dampen the biological consequences of global cha...

We monitored the recruitment of 8 fish taxa at 10 d intervals for 1 yr on 5 fringing coral reefs along a 15 km stretch of the west coast of Barbados, using benthic standard monitoring units of recruitment of fishes (SMURFs). SMURFs are designed to sample taxa that settle onto coral rubble, including cryptic species, and to minimize post-settlement predation. We deployed SMURFs in reef habitat t...

We report the discovery of an enigmatic, small eel-like fish from a 35 m-deep fringing-reef cave in the western Pacific Ocean Republic of Palau that exhibits an unusual suite of morphological characters. Many of these uniquely characterize the Recent members of the 19 families comprising the elopomorph order Anguilliformes, the true eels. Others are found among anguilliforms only in the Cretace...

No-take marine reserves (NTMRs) are increasingly being established to conserve or restore biodiversity and to enhance the sustainability of fisheries. Although effectively designed and protected NTMR networks can yield conservation and fishery benefits, reserve effects often fail to manifest in systems where there are high levels of non-compliance by fishers (poaching). Obtaining reliable estim...