Tamar Taylor

Academic Education

1999-2001 BSc - Marine Biology, Ruppin Academic Center- Michmoret

 2022- Today MSc student, Marine Biology Department, University of Haifa.

Master research

Under continuous and increasing pressures like: ocean warming and acidification, bleaching events and destruction of coral reefs habitats around the globe, coral reefs stability and thriving for the long term is at risk.

My master thesis focuses on Red Sea hard corals (Hexacorallia) in the Gulf of Eilat in the Red Sea. The data for the research was collected on scuba dives that were done in July 2022. The data was collected in 3 dive sites in the Southern Beach of Eilat, and measurements were done at 5 different depths stretching across two areas of coral reefs: from the shallow water to mesophotic reefs (~30-150 m), in which light penetration from the surface changes drastically.

Data were collected in two different ways:

1. Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements by FIRe (fluorescence induction and relaxation) fluorometer of four species of hard corals.

2. Benthic quadrat images in situ to determine cover percentage of all corals.

The aims of this study are to characterize hard coral communities and distribution across depths in the Southern Beach Reefs of the Red Sea. In addition, to understand how the availability of light and photo-physiology affect processes and distribution of target species of corals.