- Research Work Description:
-
I started working as a Research Assistant in 2004 while I was pursuing a joint Master's Degree in Marine Biology and Coastal
Zone Management. I completed my MS in 2005 and immediately began working on my doctorate. My PhD research focus is on
"marginal", high-latitude coral communities. I am working in the southeastern Arabian Gulf, the northwestern Gulf of Oman and
Broward County, Florida. The coral communities within these regions have been exposed to recurrent elevated SST anomalies,
cyclone and red tide impacts of unprecedented intensity, and frequent hurricanes and tropical storms, respectively. I am
collecting life history data (i.e. recruitment, growth, stage stability, and mortality) to develop stage-structured transition
models to project future populations of the massive coral taxa within these study areas.
As part of my project, I have been working with the local environmental agencies in Abu Dhabi, UAE and Doha, Qatar. I have
trained several of their scientists and resource managers on topics including underwater monitoring techniques and coral
identification. We have practiced monitoring station installation above water in the desert and underwater during a week-long
training cruise in the Arabian Gulf.
I am fortunate to team up with my husband, who is also a Research Assistant at the Oceanographic Center. He accompanies me
during my field work and, in exchange, I do the same for his PhD research. I assist him during his single-beam acoustic
surveys to characterize the benthic habitats in Indian River Lagoon, around Sanibel Island, and offshore Palm Beach County.
Between our projects, we spend about six months in the field each year.
In addition to research, I also teach as an adjunct professor at Broward College. My classes include Oceanography,
Environmental Science and Environmental Regulations.
- Title of thesis/dissertation research project:
-
PhD Dissertation: Field Ecology Patterns of High Latitude Coral Communities
Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Bernhard Riegl
Masters Thesis: Responses of Zooxanthellae within Montastrea cavernosa to reduced light and elevated temperature stresses
(2005)
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Bernhard Riegl
- Academic areas of interest:
- Benthic ecology of coral reefs and resource management
- Publications
- Foster KA, Foster JG, Tourenq C, Shuriqi MK (in press, 2009) Spatial and temporal recovery patterns of coral reefs within
the Gulf of Oman (UAE) following the 2007 cyclone disturbance. Proceedings of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida
- Tourenq C, Shuriqi MK, Foster K, Foster G, Chellapermal C, Rein D (2008) First record of a Bowmouth Guitarfish, Rhina
ancylostoma, in northern Oman, with an up-date on the status of elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) in the United Arab Emirates.
Zoology in the Middle East, Vol 44, pp. 114-118.
- Riegl B, Purkis S, Foster K, Foster G (2007) Corals and Coral Reefs in the southeastern Arabian Gulf: Training Manual.
National Coral Reef Institute for Supreme Council for the Environment and Natural Reserves (SCENR) and Environmental Agency -
Abu Dhabi (EAD), 144 pages
- Tourenq C, Shuriqi MK, Foster G, Foster K, Chellapermal C, Lebon S, Rein D (2007) Note on Elasmobranches (sharks and rays) of
UAE and Musandam, Oman, with special mention of Bowmouth Guitarfish or Shark Ray (Rhina ancylostoma). Tribulus, Journal of the
Emirates Natural History Group, Vol 17, pp. 63-69.
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