Get your camera, get to the water, get creative, and get Great Prizes!
The California Academy of Sciences is doing a comprehensive survey of both terrestrial and marine diversity. Between April 26 and June 10, 2011, Academy botanists, entomologists and marine biologists, will explore shallow-water reefs, the deep sea, and terrestrial and freshwater areas for new life and document the biodiversity of this island nation. Educational outreach will also be conducted in the Republic of the Philippines.
The work is being done in order to protect, we need to understand what exists. Scientists will document species diversity, ecosystem diversity (number, type and structure of species in a particular area) and genetic diversity (total gene characteristics). It’s critical to get these data as a baseline for future needs.
Scientists estimate that more than 70% of the species on this planet have yet to be discovered. In fact, our scientists have been diving in the Philippines since 1992 and continue to discover new species on every trip.
Every third Saturday of September the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) is observed. Volunteer divers and "not yet" divers :) clean reef systems, the ocean's surface and the coastline of trash.
The Danajon Bank is a double barrier reef, located off northern Bohol Island, the only double barrier reef in the Philippines and one of only three such reefs in the Indo-Pacific Region. The reef is spread across almost 130 kms and consists of three large reefs. Caubyan is the largest covering about 143 sq kms; there are five smaller reefs in the northern outer region and one other large reef, Calituban, in the inner region. The Bank has a total area of 272 sq kms and an aggregate coastline of 381 kms on 40 islands.
