A series of three workshops will be held and are designed to develop an interdisciplinary study of the viability of coral reef ecosystems under strong anthropogenic stress. Using the establishment of a new marine reserve network in the Bahamas as a case study, an attempt will be made to determine which specific reserve implementations and additional zoning policies are most important for maintaining ecosystem function across the network. In doing so, the study of oceanographic and biological processes will be the basis for setting contextual limits, and investigation of resource use by humans will be used to model management options. Participants from such disciplines as statistics, oceanographic modeling, population genetics, marine ecology, theoretical population biology, anthropology, and economics will be brought together tol analyze ways to integrate theoretical and empirical information across important spatial and temporal scales. Based on the results of the workshops, a complete report of discussions will be created and distributed and educational materials (especially for Bahamian teachers and U.S. graduate students) will be developed.
