World Coral Reef Preservation
Donation protected
Saving Coral Reefs Isn't Just Important, It's *!*%#* Necessary
$120,000 urgently needed to keep this vital research and recovery effort going. Response to COVID-19 has dramatically reduced funding and the project is in jeopardy of closing forever!
Coral reefs are “rainforests of the sea” and are the most diverse ecosystems on our planet. Coral reefs support 25 percent of ALL marine life. Coral reefs also protect coastlines from storms and erosion, they provide jobs and recreation, and are a source of food and nutrition. Most of us will never see a coral reef, let alone swim around one, but you need them just like they need you to survive.
Unfortunately, coral reefs around the world are threatened by many factors that may include climate change, but due to unsustainable fishing practices, coastal development, and pollution we have lost 30 to 50 percent of tropical coral reefs since the 1980s.
Dr. Timothy Bromage and his researchers at New York University’s Coral Development (NYUCD) laboratory created a comprehensive system for identifying causes of coral reef decline, combining tests for 71 element contaminants with tests for bacteria, water quality, and microplastics. With support of the United Nations, NYUCD researchers tested this system in the island state of Samoa and discovered real causes of poor coral reef health rooted in agricultural activities, which the government is now tackling. Unfortunately, additional funds for investigation of the dozens of other threatened coral reef systems around the world are not forthcoming.
Most nation states in the world have stopped funding environmental programs due to the global pandemic, and efforts to take the NYUCD system to other coral reef sites have stopped. We can fix this. Our lofty goal is $2,500,000, which will tackle the small low and middle income nation and island states in the world with coral reefs. With your help we can continue this work through your tax-deductible donation today, one country at a time.
How the Funds Will Be Used
The NYUCD laboratory is the ONLY facility in the world specifically configured with the unique collection of high technology instruments necessary for carrying out this research. All funds will be deposited into an NYUCD Fund research account of New York University's office of financial operations. Two thirds of the expense of this research is for operational costs of the technology used for evaluating water chemistry, bacteria, and microplastics. The remaining third of the expense is for travel, consumables, and the field expenses of collecting seawater and freshwater samples. Not only is the seawater tested, but all major rivers and streams are tested too, as these are typically the sources of contaminants.
There are 80 countries in the world with coral reefs. With the target funding and logistical assistance from our UN partners, we can test approximately half of the nation states for $330/square km of coral reef, which represent the world's most vulnerable sites, over 5-10 years.
Watch a Video of the Technology
https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/publications/scope-magazine/2020/features/we-dont-know.html
Read About the Project in a Local Samoa Newspaper
https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/56853
Dr. Bromage Bio:
Following an undergraduate degree at the California State University at Sonoma in Anthropology, Biology, and Geology, Timothy G. Bromage obtained his MA and then in 1986 his PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Toronto with Prof. Becky Sigmon. The later years of his PhD program were completed in the Department of Anatomy and Embryology, University College London with Prof. Alan Boyde. Tim was awarded a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1987 and in 1988 appointed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Child Dental Health, London Hospital Medical College, University of London with Prof. Jim Elliott. In 1989 he took a position in the Department of Anthropology, Hunter College, City University of New York, where he remained for 15 years. There he developed the first fully digital light and electron microscopy facility in the United States, and together with his preparation laboratory, created the Hard Tissue Research Unit (HTRU; stony corals are hard!). In 2004 Tim moved the HTRU to the NYU College of Dentistry and further introduced an isotope laboratory within the laboratory.
Primary foci of research in the HTRU emphasize organismal development and life history, as well as for what “signals” exist in hard tissues of variability in the external environment. His research has been reported in >200 papers and cited more than 5,600 times. He holds two patents from NYU, for a portable confocal microscope and for a method for simultaneously determining the absolute concentrations of 71 elements in seconds from aqueous solutions. His funding has largely come from the NIH, NSF, the Max Planck Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the United Nations Development Program. Tim’s contributions to science have been recognized by awards including: the Max Planck Prize (Life Science), Omicron Kappa Upsilon inductee of the National Dental Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, and elected to Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
$120,000 urgently needed to keep this vital research and recovery effort going. Response to COVID-19 has dramatically reduced funding and the project is in jeopardy of closing forever!
Coral reefs are “rainforests of the sea” and are the most diverse ecosystems on our planet. Coral reefs support 25 percent of ALL marine life. Coral reefs also protect coastlines from storms and erosion, they provide jobs and recreation, and are a source of food and nutrition. Most of us will never see a coral reef, let alone swim around one, but you need them just like they need you to survive.
Unfortunately, coral reefs around the world are threatened by many factors that may include climate change, but due to unsustainable fishing practices, coastal development, and pollution we have lost 30 to 50 percent of tropical coral reefs since the 1980s.
Dr. Timothy Bromage and his researchers at New York University’s Coral Development (NYUCD) laboratory created a comprehensive system for identifying causes of coral reef decline, combining tests for 71 element contaminants with tests for bacteria, water quality, and microplastics. With support of the United Nations, NYUCD researchers tested this system in the island state of Samoa and discovered real causes of poor coral reef health rooted in agricultural activities, which the government is now tackling. Unfortunately, additional funds for investigation of the dozens of other threatened coral reef systems around the world are not forthcoming.
Most nation states in the world have stopped funding environmental programs due to the global pandemic, and efforts to take the NYUCD system to other coral reef sites have stopped. We can fix this. Our lofty goal is $2,500,000, which will tackle the small low and middle income nation and island states in the world with coral reefs. With your help we can continue this work through your tax-deductible donation today, one country at a time.
How the Funds Will Be Used
The NYUCD laboratory is the ONLY facility in the world specifically configured with the unique collection of high technology instruments necessary for carrying out this research. All funds will be deposited into an NYUCD Fund research account of New York University's office of financial operations. Two thirds of the expense of this research is for operational costs of the technology used for evaluating water chemistry, bacteria, and microplastics. The remaining third of the expense is for travel, consumables, and the field expenses of collecting seawater and freshwater samples. Not only is the seawater tested, but all major rivers and streams are tested too, as these are typically the sources of contaminants.
There are 80 countries in the world with coral reefs. With the target funding and logistical assistance from our UN partners, we can test approximately half of the nation states for $330/square km of coral reef, which represent the world's most vulnerable sites, over 5-10 years.
Watch a Video of the Technology
https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/publications/scope-magazine/2020/features/we-dont-know.html
Read About the Project in a Local Samoa Newspaper
https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/56853
Dr. Bromage Bio:
Following an undergraduate degree at the California State University at Sonoma in Anthropology, Biology, and Geology, Timothy G. Bromage obtained his MA and then in 1986 his PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Toronto with Prof. Becky Sigmon. The later years of his PhD program were completed in the Department of Anatomy and Embryology, University College London with Prof. Alan Boyde. Tim was awarded a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1987 and in 1988 appointed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Child Dental Health, London Hospital Medical College, University of London with Prof. Jim Elliott. In 1989 he took a position in the Department of Anthropology, Hunter College, City University of New York, where he remained for 15 years. There he developed the first fully digital light and electron microscopy facility in the United States, and together with his preparation laboratory, created the Hard Tissue Research Unit (HTRU; stony corals are hard!). In 2004 Tim moved the HTRU to the NYU College of Dentistry and further introduced an isotope laboratory within the laboratory.
Primary foci of research in the HTRU emphasize organismal development and life history, as well as for what “signals” exist in hard tissues of variability in the external environment. His research has been reported in >200 papers and cited more than 5,600 times. He holds two patents from NYU, for a portable confocal microscope and for a method for simultaneously determining the absolute concentrations of 71 elements in seconds from aqueous solutions. His funding has largely come from the NIH, NSF, the Max Planck Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the United Nations Development Program. Tim’s contributions to science have been recognized by awards including: the Max Planck Prize (Life Science), Omicron Kappa Upsilon inductee of the National Dental Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, and elected to Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Fundraising team: Fundraiser Team (2)
Crispen Simmons
Organizer
New York, NY
Timothy Bromage
Beneficiary
Tim Bromage
Team member
