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| Title: | RESULTS OF THE TEKTITE PROGRAM: ECOLOGY OF CORAL-REEF FISHES. |
| Authors: | Collette, BB |
| Keywords: | Scientific Diving
Tektite
saturation
nitrogen
oxygen
rebreather
coral reef |
| Issue Date: | 1996 |
| Publisher: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) |
| Citation: | BB Collette. RESULTS OF THE TEKTITE PROGRAM: ECOLOGY OF CORAL-REEF FISHES. In: MA Lang, CC Baldwin (Eds.) The Diving for Science…1996, "Methods and Techniques of Underwater Research", Proceedings of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences Sixteenth Annual Scientific Diving Symposium, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. |
| Abstract: | Tektite was the first nationally sponsored scientists-in-the-sea program. It was a cooperative government-industry-university effort that took place in Lameshur Bay, St. John, Virgin Islands in 1969-70. One goal of the program was to show that saturation diving from an underwater laboratory could be done efficiently, safely, and at a relatively small cost, using a breathing mixture of nitrogen and oxygen. During Tektite II, General Electric rebreathers were used which greatly extended the time that divers could spend in the water away from the Tektite habitat. Nine studies dealing with various aspects of the ecology of coral-reef fishes were carried out during Tektite I and II:. Influence of herbivores on marine plants, bio-acoustic studies, observations on cleaner shrimps, isopods associated with reef fishes, behavior of reef fishes in relation to fish pots, bioturbation by the sand tilefish, escape response in a damsel fish, nocturnal-diurnal changeover in activity patterns, and space resource-sharing. An example of the efficiency possible with Tektite and rebreathers is shown by the nocturnal-diurnal changeover study. Information gathered in 100 hrs is comparable to that accumulated for a study in the Gulf of California based on 1200 hrs underwater over a two-year period. The 86 hrs in the water logged by Sylvia Earle in her herbivore-algae study during two weeks would have taken a minimum of two months to accomplish assuming perfect weather conditions and no equipment failures. |
| Description: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences (http://www.aaus.org/) |
| URI: | http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/4687 |
| Appears in Collections: | American Academy of Underwater Sciences
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| AAUS_1996_12.pdf | | 1692Kb | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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