April 18, 2018

Research scientist to visit SVSU to discuss the importance of Coral Reef

Saginaw Valley State University will welcome a leading expert on ocean conditions and coral reefs for a public talk on the ecosystems. Joanie Kleypas, a research scientist for the  National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, will give a lecture titled “Coral Reefs and Climate Change: An Ecosystem Meets its Match,” Thursday April 26 at 7 p.m. in the Rhea Miller Recital Hall.

In her talk,  Kleypas will discuss the importance of coral reefs as regions of biodiversity and the increasing threat they now face from atmospheric carbon dioxide.

(Explained briefly in this video from National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/video/shorts/140623-oceans-warming-evt/)

Kleypas completed a Ph.D. in tropical marine studies from James Cook University in Australia. As a marine ecologist, she has studied coral reef communities around the world and is a leader and pioneer in research on ocean acidification. Kleypas is a recipient of the American Geophysical Union's Rachel Carson Award, a Heinz Award for the Environment, and was featured in the Netflix documentary “Chasing Coral.”

In her work as a research scientist, Kleypas applies high resolution modeling to identify those regions where coral ecosystems can persist into the future, and recently founded a reef restoration project in Costa Rica, to develop ways to propagate corals resilient to climate change, and outplant them back onto damaged reefs.

The talk is free and open to the public. Kleypas comes to SVSU as a Dow Visiting Scholar, supported through an endowment established by The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation to enrich our region’s cultural and intellectual opportunities by featuring the insights and perspectives of highly distinguished guest presenters.