Welcome to WhyReef
I'm Mark the Coral Reef Biologist for WhyReef and I would like to welcome everyone to Whyville's newest and most exciting habitat, WhyReef! WhyReef is sponsored by The Field Museum in Chicago.
Many of you have been exploring the North and South Reefs by counting and identifying the organisms that live there, playing the Mini Food Web Games, and asking and answering questions in the BBS. I am happy to see everyone enjoying the reefs! Not only are you exploring and earning clams, but you are also conducting scientific research. You are all becoming WhyReef Biologists! All of the organisms you count are logged into the collaborative graphs. From your data we know how many fish, invertebrates, plants, reptiles, and mammals live in the North and South Reefs.
You may wonder why keeping track of WhyReef's organisms is important. Well, this information is extremely important to keep our reefs healthy! Counting organisms in an ecosystem is the first thing scientists do whenever they are studying it. We compare these numbers to other reefs and to our own reef over time. Then we can see if things appear to be changing or if they are stable. If we see that a population is unstable we can quickly take action to discover the problem and find a solution. So keep counting! Our reefs are healthy and beautiful and we need to keep them that way!
Many of the questions in the "Ask Mark" BBS have been about keeping reefs healthy. These are excellent questions! Look for my responses in the BBS. Coral Reef conservation is extremely important. Coral Reefs are rapidly disappearing from the planet, and we all need to act quickly if we want to save these important ecosystems. Check out the "Save and Protect Coral Reefs" links in the Reference Section in the Reef Station (books in the upper right hand corner). There you can find out more information on what you can do to help.
