And what that allows us to do is to be there continuously sampling and observing events, watching for changes that we would otherwise miss if we were just popping down from the surface. We did one experiment for an 18 hour period where we had a set of divers on the bottom ready to take water samples throughout this whole period. With help from its Environmental Studies Program, we're produced at the Whitaker Center at Florida Gulf Coast University and funded by the Southwest Florida Council for Environment Education. The important study of coral reefs I'm Kevin Pierce with the Florida Environment. Scientists are making use of the world's only remaining underwater laboratory to study the coral reefs in the Florida Keys.
Coral reefs are probably one of the most diverse and important ecosystems on our planet.
Steven Miller is director of the National Undersea Research Center and its Aquarius lab. We know for example that our planet's getting a little warmer. We know our coastal ecosystems are becoming polluted, and coral reefs are really giving us signs and signals that ocean health is not in great shape, so they're important to understand for lots of different reasons. They support a huge, recreational and commercial fishery right here in Florida. And an economy that clicks along at well over a billion dollars a year is directly attributable to clean water and healthy coral reefs here in the Keys.