Coral reefs provide habitat for a diverse range of fishes, invertebrates and other organisms; protect shorelines from the damaging effects of extreme weather events; and provide a wide variety of other benefits. However, coral reefs are under threat from local anthropogenic threats such as overfishing, coastal development, and sedimentation in addition to global phenomena such as global warming, sea level rise and ocean acidification.

​At BARCO LAB we seek to gain insight into coral reef ecology and place reef perturbations in the context of human activities in order to understand how reef function and dynamics can be maintained under rapid environmental change. We perform research across a broad range of spatial and temporal scales. The majority of our research is focussed in the Caribbean, but we also work in the Gulf of California and other areas further afield including the Indian Ocean. We adopt an open approach to research, adapting our techniques to the problem at hand, combining field-based studies and large-scale data analysis.