28 Mai 2019
One of CRIOBE's Collaborators/PhD Students wins prestigious Chateaubriand STEM 2019 Fellowship
contact | Cécile Berthe
Ana Sofia Guerra, a PhD student at the University of Santa Barbara (California) and working in collaboration with David Lecchini, Professor and deputy director of the CRIOBE and IRCP, is the winner of a Chateaubriand STEM 2019 Fellowship.
The Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding Ph.D. students from American universities who wish to conduct research in France for a period ranging from 4 to 9 months. Chateaubriand fellows are selected through a merit-based competition, through a collaborative process involving expert evaluators in both countries. The program is divided into two subprograms: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Biology-Health (STEM) & Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS).
The Chateaubriand Fellowship in STEM for doctoral students aims to initiate or reinforce collaborations, partnerships or joint projects between French and American research teams. This fellowship is offered by the Office for Science & Technology (OST) of the Embassy of France in partnership with American universities and French research organizations. It is a partner of the National Science Foundation’s GROW program.
This grant will allow Ana to pursue her research study started at CRIOBE Moorea in 2018 on the schooling of surgeon fish.
Thesis project abstract:
Schooling and grazing fish on coral reefs
Aggregations of wildlife have been shown to play pivotal roles in ecosystem functioning. Aggregation behavior, such as schooling, is commonly observed across various fish species. Despite the ubiquitous nature of schooling behavior, it remains unclear what the ecological function of schools is to the environment they inhabit. Using coral reefs as a model system, Ana’s work explores the ecological function of schooling herbivorous fish on coral reef ecosystems. Coral reefs are some of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet and considerable effort has been dedicated to understanding and increasing ecosystem resilience. Thus, the ecological role of heavily fished has received significant attention. Several of these species form schools and exhibit vastly different foraging ecologies than their solitary conspecifics at Moorea Island. Thus, their respective ecological functions on coral reefs could be vastly different. By comparing schooling and solitary conspecific grazing behavior, nutrient deposition, and interactions with other fish, this work will shed light on what the ecological function of schooling fish is to a coral reef.
Mai 2019
CRIOBE publication featured in Hakai Magazine
contact | Lauric Thiault (CNRS) 
A recent publication by Lauric Thiault, Postdoctoral Fellow at the CRIOBE currently based at James Cook University in Australia, is featured in the 16 May 2019 issue of Hakai Magazine : Coastal Sciences and Studies.
Click here to read the article.
February 2019
LabEX CORAIL Renewed until 2025!
contact | Emilie Boissin (EPHE) 
In early February, the LabEx CORAIL (of which the CRIOBE is a member) received excellent news: an international jury and an official communication from the Prime Minister confirmed the renewal of the LabEx CORAIL.
On February 1st, Prime Minister Édouard Philippe officially announced his decision to extend the LabEx (laboratories of excellence) CORAIL for five years. The LabEx CORAIL is one of the 103 LabEx-es that were renewed this term (11 were not), representing a financial commitment of € 444 million by the State.
October 2018
Modelling Wave Amplification and Erosion (MAEVA)
contact | Emmanuel Dormy (CNRS/ENS) 
In July, Emmanuel Dormy, researcher from the CNRS at ENS came to Moorea to install , with the help of engineers of CRIOBE, two new probes devoted to wave measurements (OSSI Wave Gauge Blue, allowing continuous 4Hz pressure recordings), on the north and south coast of the Moorea island. This is a part of the Maeva project that seeks to better understand waves that are generated by extreme weather conditions (tropical cyclones or severe tropical storms) and their impact on coral reefs and is a collaboration between scientists from several French institutions (CNRS, CRIOBE, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Sorbonne Université, Institut Universitaire Européen de la Mer, Ifremer, Meteo-France). To read more about the Maeva project, please visit https://maeva.ens.fr/. The two probes were funded by Ilico (Seashore and coastal research infrastructure).
August 2018
CRIOBE research team wins Skye Instrument's 'Coral Competition'
contact | Suzanne Mills
In August, CRIOBE's Suzanne Mills (EPHE) and her research team won the Coral Competition - a competition led by SKYE Instruments, a UK-based company that has been in business for more than 35 years and seeks to use its success to help coral ecosystems however it can. Through the Coral Competition, Skye Instruments awards successful applicants with scientific instruments worth up to £5000 to support research that will help us to better understand the world we live in.
The winning project, 'Artificial night light pollution on Nemo reproduction' will use the new equipment to measure the impact of light pollution on clownfish. This project will be one of the first to determine the impact of artificial light at night on a coral reef fish in the wild and will demonstrate the impacts of real-life light pollution scenarios on fish reproduction.
The project is set to launch in November 2018, when Mills and her team will test the equipment and underwater lights and will begin fieldwork, which will be based at the CRIOBE in Moorea, French Polynesia.
Prize :
Skye Equipment's Underwater LUX Sensor, the SpectroSense 2, a GPS and a handheld logging meter
Masters Opportunity :
Dr Mills will be advertising for a Masters student to join the project during the 2019 January-June field season. Please contact Dr Mills for further information.
March 2018
The CRIOBE Welcomes Paopao College Students
contact | Cécile Berthe
In March, the CRIOBE welcomed students from Paopao College (middle school) for a morning of coral reef science and discovery. As part of a series of events planned by CRIOBE in 2018 to celebrate the IYOR, several of CRIOBE’s graduate students presented their research to the visiting and then invited them to participate in a variety of coral reef-related science activities. The Paopao students helped researchers measure the swimming capacity of larval clownfish in the CRIOBE wetlab, they played a game where they were asked to use their observation skills to identify different species of corals and lastly, they learned about who-eats who within the tropical marine food chain. We hope to host other classes from other local schools over the coming months to help inspire students to take an interest in science and in the natural world around them.
