Resources

We seek to be your go-to for learning about anything related to Guam’s coral reefs! Explore resources from us, our partners, and other related organizations.

New and Featured Resources

  • Help Guam's Corals During Bleaching

    The ocean is getting very warm this summer and we are unfortunately expecting to see some coral bleaching. To learn how you can help, please check out this guide and share it with others!

    Check it out

  • Micronesia Challenge Guam Resource Repository

    Looking for more resources on all things related to conservation issues in Guam? Check out this awesome resource repository created by the Micronesia Challenge! Explore resources related to life on land, life blow water, climate action, and cross-cutting issues.

    Check it out

  • GCRI Virtual field trip and digital storybook portal!

    GCRI is proud to unveil our brand new virtual field trip and digital storybook portal right here on our website’s Resources page. These field trips and storybooks are all about exploring Guam’s marine habitats and are designed for students but are fun for all ages! Scroll down on this page to the’ Teacher and Students’ section, or click the button below to explore.

    Check it out

  • Coral Reef Data Visualization Tool - NOAA

    Did you know that 62% of surveyed Guam residents in 2016 had never snorkeled before? And did you know that in 2014, surveyed reefs in Guam had nearly the same percent of coral cover as algae cover? These and more interesting facts are what you can find using this new data visualization tool created by the NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program!

    Check it out

  • Guam Coastal Adventure Activity and Coloring Book

    Learn all about Guam’s coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests with this fun and educational activity book! Published in 2022 by the Guam Coral Reef Initiative.

    Check it out

  • A Decade of Change on Guam's Coral Reefs 2023

    This recent report compiles 10 years of coral reef survey data into key findings about the current health of Guam’s coral reefs. Published August 2023 by the University of Guam Marine Laboratory’s Long-term Monitoring Program.

    Check it out
  • Screenshot of the guide with a colorful reef fish

    Micronesian Fish Species Fact Sheets

    This guide highlights 30 important Micronesian fish species and shares information on population health, species roles on the reef, and specific recommendations for fishery management. Published by the Pacific Islands Managed & Protected Area Community in 2023

    Check it out

  • Guam Reef Life

    This website has a comprehensive list of local species with photos, local reef information, and high-quality photos to give a glimpse into the beauty of Guam’s reefs, among other things.

    Check it out

  • Guam Underwater on iNaturalist

    See what kinds of marine species are observed in Guam’s waters in real time! Guam Underwater is a community page of iNaturalist, a citizen science platform where anyone can upload photos of animals or other life forms observed in the wild and have other users help to identify the species.

    Check it out

  • Coral Reef Lesson Plans and Materials

    Teachers and homeschooling parents! Are you looking for lessons to teach your students about the ocean and coral reefs? Look no further than Reef Relief’s lesson plans and educational resources page! There you will find tons of great resources to teach the next generation about the importance of protecting our reefs.

    Check it out

Let’s find what you are looking for:

Links to learn more

A small yellow fish swimming above brownish-purple coral underwater

Coral Reefs

Green seagrass blades underwater in the blue ocean

Seagrass Meadows

Mangrove roots growing in the shallow silty water with green leaves growing all around

Mangroves

Clear, turquoise water along the forested coastline

Marine Preserves

A man and a woman walking along a grassy path in the hills with blue sky and clouds in the background

Land, Rivers, & Streams

Vibrant turquoise water with blue sky and clouds

The Ocean

Teacher & Student Resources

Virtual Field Trip Portal

GCRI’s virtual field trips are interactive presentations with clickable elements that lead to photos and videos of local marine life and environments, simulating real-life snorkeling and exploration. These virtual field trips are geared towards students in elementary school and up and promote inquiry-based learning, observation, and curiosity. Virtual field trips can be facilitated without any prior preparation by teachers, librarians, and parents, or can be self-guided for students along with an optional accompanying scavenger hunt guide downloadable from the ‘Extras’ section below.

Virtual field trips are not only meant for kids - they are fun for all ages!

Digital Storybooks

GCRI’s digital storybooks are similar to virtual field trips but are meant for a younger audience (generally 3rd grade and younger). Digital storybooks only require a simple swipe or click to flip to the next page and do not have clickable elements. These storybooks promote place-based education and curiosity in the context of a fun, kid-friendly story! Digital storybooks are meant to be facilitated by parents or teachers and include an attached educator outline guide.

Students

Click on the photo to view the resource!

Teachers

Guam-STEM Design Challenge QUESTS for Guam Educators!

    • Guam-STEM QUESTs are island-focused design challenges written for the Guam Department of Education (GDOE) by Global GreenSTEM.

    • K-12 students participate in a QUEST where they use science, technology, engineering, math, and cultural ways (Guam-STEM) to design projects that help solve or explain problems that affect us here on Guam.

    • Each QUEST is aligned to a specific grade’s Next Generation Science Standards.

    • All kinds! Some STEM QUESTs focus on issues that we are working on here at the Guam Department of Agriculture.

    • Below you will find links to QUESTS that are directly or somewhat relevant to Guam’s coral reefs.

      • To see the complete list of QUESTS and short summaries of each, CLICK HERE

    • GDOE has given permission to share these QUESTS so we can encourage and support more educators who want to teach these island-based learning experiences.

    • Please contact Global GreenSTEM with any questions, ideas, suggestions, or requests for additional information or guidance. They are the developer and professional development provider for the Guam-STEM QUESTs with GDOE.

    • Contact GDOE to find out when the next Guam-STEM professional development sessions will be offered.

Students ask QUESTIONs about an island issue that Guam cares about.

Students UNCOVER & EXPLORE the science/engineering/cultural ways to understand the problem and design a solution.

Students then design and execute a project to help SOLVE the problem and share their project to TEACH others.

Elementary School

Middle School

High School

Coral reef lesson plans created by GCRI

A bright orange hermit crab held up to the camera by a hand

In the News

Management Plans & Reports

Infographics & Brochures

A green sea turtle resting on the sand surrounded by brown soft coral

Scientific Papers

The latest publications from the University of Guam Marine Lab:

Considering a career in the marine sciences?

Sources Cited

  • Bijma J, H-O Portner, C Yesson, and AD Rogers. 2013. Climate change and the oceans – What does the future hold? Marine Pollution Bulletin 74:495-505

  • Burdick D. 2016. The status of Guam’s shallow coral reefs. Presented at the 36th US Coral Reef Task Force meeting, 23 September 2016. Hagatna, Guam

  • Burdick, D., Brown, V., Asher, J., Gawel, M., Goldman, L., Hall, A., ... & Zgliczynski, B. (2008). The state of coral reef ecosystems of Guam. The state of coral reef ecosystems of the United States and Pacific freely associated states, 465-509.

  • Burdick, D., Raymundo, L., Drake, D., & Hershberger, A. (2023). A decade of change on Guam’s coral reefs. In Guam Coral Reef Initiative Resources. University of Guam Marine Laboratory.

  • Colgan M. 1987. Coral reef recovery on Guam (Micronesia) after catastrophic predation by Acanthaster planci. Ecology 68(6):1592-1605

  • Cheney DP. 1974. Spawning and aggregation of Acanthaster planci in Micronesia. Proceedings of the Second International Coral Reef Symposium 1: 591-594

  • Digital Atlas of Northern Guam | WERI | IREI. (n.d.). Digital Atlas of Northern Guam | WERI | IREI. Retrieved May 12, 2023, from https://north.hydroguam.net/background-NGLA.php

  • Digital Atlas of Southern Guam | WERI | IREI. (n.d.). Digital Atlas of Southern Guam | WERI | IREI. Retrieved May 12, 2023, from https://south.hydroguam.net/geographic-overview.php

  • Dixon I. 1996. Renewed crown-of-thorns threat. Marine Pollution Bulletin 32(3): 252

  • Grecni, Z., W. Miles, R. King, A. Frazier, and V. Keener, 2020: Climate Change in Guam: Indicators and Considerations for Key Sectors. Report for the Pacific Islands Regional Climate Assessment. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center, https:// www.eastwestcenter.org/PIRCA-Guam.

  • Hoot WC, A Sturm, A Loerzel, D Burdick, L Raymundo. 2017. Coral damage and disease along human use gradients in Tumon Bay, Guam. Presented at the 8th Island Sustainability Conference, 19 April 2017. Center for Island Sustainability. Tumon, Guam.

  • Hoot. (2017, December). Guam Crown-of-Thorns Outbreak Response Plan. In https://bsp.guam.gov/wp-bsp-content/uploads/2018/01/Guam-COTS-Outbreak-Response-Plan.pdf. Guam Bureau of Statistics and Plans.

  • Houk P, J Cuetos-Bueno, B Tibbatts, and J Gutierrez. 2018. Variable density dependence and the restructuring of coral-reef fisheries across 25 years of exploitation. Nature Scientific Reports 8:5725. 

  • How are Coral Reef Fish Doing in Guam? (2019, June 25). NOAA. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/how-are-coral-reef-fish-doing-guam

  • Krishnamurthy, P., JYOTHI‐PRAKASH, P. A., Qin, L. I. N., He, J. I. E., Lin, Q., LOH, C. S., & Kumar, P. P. (2014). Role of root hydrophobic barriers in salt exclusion of a mangrove plant A vicennia officinalis. Plant, Cell & Environment, 37(7), 1656-1671.

  • LaRoche, C. K., Goldstein, B. R., Cybulski, J. D., Raymundo, L. J., Aoki, L. R., & Kim, K. (2018). Decade of change in Enhalus acoroides seagrass meadows in Guam, Mariana Islands. Marine and Freshwater Research, 70(2), 246-254.

  • Leal, Maricé and Spalding, Mark D (editors), 2022 The State of the World’s Mangroves 2022. Global Mangrove Alliance.

  • MacNeil, M. A., Graham, N. A., Cinner, J. E., Wilson, S. K., Williams, I. D., Maina, J., ... & McClanahan, T. R. (2015). Recovery potential of the world's coral reef fishes. Nature, 520(7547), 341-344.

  • NOAA. (2023, January 20). Where are marine protected areas located? National Ocean Service. Retrieved May 11, 2023, from https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/mpaloc.html

  • NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (2018). National Coral Reef Monitoring Program: Socioeconomic surveys of human use, knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions in Guam. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Dataset. 09.12.2018

  • Over 216K recorded in visitor arrivals for FY2022 - Guam Visitors Bureau | GVB. (2022, October 13). Guam Visitors Bureau. Retrieved May 8, 2023, from https://www.guamvisitorsbureau.com/over-216k-recorded-visitor-arrivals-fy2022

  • Porter, V., Leberer, T., Gawel, M., Gutierrez, J., Burdick, D., Torres, V., & Lujan, E. (2005). Status of the coral reef ecosystems of Guam. University of Guam Marine Laboratory Technical Report, 113.

  • QMark Research. 2016a. Guam Visitors Bureau: Japan visitor tracker exit profile, FY2016 data aggregation. Prepared for the Guam Visitors Bureau. 106 pp Guam Coral Reef Resilience Strategy 48 June 2019

  • QMark Research. 2016b. Guam Visitors Bureau: Korean visitor tracker exit profile, FY2016 data aggregation. Prepared for the Guam Visitors Bureau. 104 pp

  • Raymundo LJ. 2016. Bleaching on Guam: Recent events and their impacts. Presentation at the Guam Coastal Climate Change Resilience Workshop, Climate change and coastal ecosystems in Guam: Management, sustainability forecasts, and community engagement. Tumon, Guam. 3 March 2016

  • Raymundo, L. J., Burdick, D., Hoot, W. C., Miller, R. M., Brown, V., Reynolds, T., ... & Williams, A. (2019). Successive bleaching events cause mass coral mortality in Guam, Micronesia. Coral Reefs, 38, 677-700.

  • Raymundo, L. J., Licuanan, W.Y., & Kerr, A. M. (2018). Adding insult to injury: Ship groundings are associated with coral disease in a pristine reef. PLoS One, 13(9), e0202939.

  • Shallow Coral Reef Habitat. (2022, February 4). NOAA. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/habitat-conservation/shallow-coral-reef-habitat

  • United States. National Ocean Service (2018). Coral reef condition: A status report for Guam.

  • Waddell, J. E. (2005). The state of coral reef ecosystems of the United States and Pacific Freely Associated States: 2005.

  • Williams I, J Zamzow, K Lino, M Ferguson, and E Donham. 2012. Status of coral reef fish assemblages and benthic condition around Guam: A report based on the underwater visual surveys in Guam and the Mariana Archipelago, April-June 2011. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-PIFSC-33. Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 22 pp + Appendices

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