Coral Reef Targeted Research: IOC Working Group on Bleaching

This working group was formed in early 2001 by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. The working group's first meeting was held in April 2001, and a second field-based meeting is planned in early March, 2002 to develop standard operating procedures and begin testing the experimental designs. The group's terms of reference involve the development of molecular, cellular, physiological and community indicators for coral bleaching under a range of variables. The group will also examine potential mechanisms of coral reefs for adaptation and acclimatization to environmental change. Based on consultations with World Bank staff, this Working Group has developed a series of detailed questions followed by specific, testable hypotheses. These hypotheses  will be tested through a standardized set of controlled in-situ experiments, combined with concomitant, in-field measurements immediately adjacent to the controlled experiments. The experiments will be replicated in at least three different geographic locations initially, and then expanded as part of investigative infrastructure to establish a global network of study sites.

See IOC Bleaching Working Group website for further information

Chair:	Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Queensland University
Members:	see list
Documents:	(in members area)