Folks over at the National Science Foundation (NSF) have been quite generous with their hefty award of $1,892,911 to California State University Northridge marine biologists Robert Carpenter and Peter Edmunds. The duo has frequently been taking CSUN grads and undergrads to the reefs of French Polynesia to study the effects of ocean acidification on the delicate ecosystem of coral reefs (man, I should’ve skipped culinary school and just gone there). The funds will allow for some really innovative experimentation, providing a decent budget to replicate the natural environment of the corals and study the effects of varying PH levels on the animals, and the negative effects of increasing acidification. The year-long study should give us a glimpse of what our reefs could possibly look like in the next fifty to a hundred years.They also plan to do a few hands on experiments on the actual reefs, focusing mainly on algae and corals and their response to the conditions. All of this will hopefully shed some light and put a damper on skepticism if they’re able to yield some promising and accurate results. I’m pretty excited about this – especially given the awardees of the funds are extremely passionate about the cause. I’ll be following this study and will be sure to keep you updated! Congratulations to Robert Carpenter and Peter Edmunds on this worthy grant.