Diver visits experimental elkhorn coral in Dry Tortugas National Park

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting research to guide the restoration and recovery of the threatened elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, in Dry Tortugas National Park and throughout the western Atlantic. In this photograph, research marine biologist Ilsa Kuffner is doing maintenance on a USGS “calcification station”. The USGS has established these stations, composed of cement blocks fixed to the reef with stainless steel rods embedded into the reef, throughout the Florida Keys and the U.S. Virgin Islands to do experiments on the growth rates of select coral species important to the process of building coral reefs. 

Learn more about USGS Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies.