Graduate student Julie Ellis floats above a kelp forest in this photo taken by associate professor Jon Witman.
The research trip was the final journey in a global diversity study led by Witman that has counted rock reef species in 11 regions of the world: Indopacific (Palau), Southwest New Zealand, Australia (Norfolk Island), Eastern Caribbean, Gulf of Maine, Patagonia, Antarctica, Galapagos Islands, Pacific Northwest, Seychelles Islands and South Africa.
Witman has conducted the study over 10 years with Ron Etter of the University of Massachusetts and Franz Smith of the Catholic University in Santiago, Chile. Although Witman has yet to publish papers on global diversity, his preliminary research shows that about 60 percent of species in a region are present at individual cliffs, a greater ratio than Witman had thought. That means that the rocky reefs are populated by larvae that float in from the surrounding region - an argument for the protection of entire regions from the disturbances of anchors, fishing and diving.
"It might be better to preserve a cluster of islands, not just one," Witman said.
As a result of his research, Witman was invited to participate in setting up a marine reserve in the Galapagos.
Now that the divers have hung up their wet suits, they are taking on the task of counting the species captured on 35 mm slides. The counting takes one hour per slide on a projector in Witman's office.
Siddon said the trip broadened his view of underwater invertebrate communities; he had seen sea squirts the size of tennis balls in the Gulf of Maine, but in South Africa the living water pumps were the size of footballs.
"You hit the water and go, 'Holy smokes!'" Siddon said.
When diving conditions were too rough, the group went to the fynbos, a region on land with the highest number of plant species in the world.
"We didn't know we would be as excited about it as we were. It was magnificent," Siddon said.
Nothing in books prepared Ellis for the spectacle of seeing dung beetles at work in their natural habitat - piles of elephant dung.
Ellis and Siddon are using the knowledge and slides gathered from their trip to
illustrate their lectures. Ellis is a teaching assistant for an insect biology
course and Siddon is a teaching assistant for Witman's ecology class.
The students and Witman counted the species captured on 35 mm slides such as this one taken in the waters off South Africa.
The Brown team used the University of Capetown as the center for their three-week trip in January.
"It was great to collaborate and interact with scientists in another country," Ellis said. "I was able to meet a couple of people who have similar interests. It turns out I might have interesting collaborations with these people."
Siddon also presented his thesis research on lobsters and crabs at the International Temperate Reef Symposium in South Africa, and took a side trip to the Kalahari Desert.
Witman hopes his research will be the start of a long-term monitoring project. He also plans to focus on measuring the effect of large-scale processes like El Niño, which increases water temperature and decreases food supply.
Although the global diversity project began a decade ago, Witman waited to apply for funding until he'd gathered plenty of data to show that the approach was feasible.
If he'd applied sooner, he doubted his request to finance trips to beautiful places for diving and photography would be taken seriously. He received a National Science Foundation grant of $215,000 for three years ending in March 2001.