The Ambassadors of the Environment program at The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua is available to hotel guests as well as the surrounding community. Located on the northwest coast of the beautiful island of Maui, the second youngest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, this site is ideal for exploring the natural wonders of Hawaii’s coral reefs, tide pools, marine mammals, coastal bluffs, and rainforests.

1.
Ambassadors of the Environment
Kapalua
A collaboration between

2. Coral reefs are like cities under the sea because they have
power plants, farms, recycling, public housing, public health,
advertisement, managers AND corals are the construction crew
that creates the buildings.

3. Each resident of the reef has a job and all these
residents do the work necessary to keep the reef
functioning. In many ways it is like a city under the sea.

4. This big mound is a lobe coral.
Corals are made by small
animals, called coral polyps.
Corals are the architects and
construction crews of the reefs.
The reef structure is made of
coral skeletons.

5. Each little flower is an individual coral polyp. All of these
individual coral polyps create the coral colony. It is coral colonies
that become the buildings of this city under the sea.
They are coral buildings.

6. Notice that this coral is green. The color is due to tiny algae
living inside the coral’s tissues. These algae, called
zooxanthellae, perform photosynthesis. They use sunlight to
make food that helps corals build the reef structure and food
that also supports the reef food web.

7. There are many types of corals with a diversity of architectural styles.
The different colors are due to the different varieties of algae living
inside. So the coral buildings of this city under the sea have roof-top
gardens or power plants AND the waste of the animal serves as fertilizer
to help the algae grow.

8. Almost every surface of the reef is collecting solar energy and making food.
Here brownish algae cover the hard bottom. Like the zooxanthellae living
inside the corals, these algae create food from raw materials and sunlight.
Notice the scrape marks that from a grazer that feeds on this algae

9. Parrotfish are the lawn mowers of the coral reef.
They graze on algae and keep it from overgrowing the reef.
As they graze they scrape off part of the reef and erode the limestone.

10. Parrotfish grind up the algae along with bits of reef and then poop sand.
This parrotfish can make 200 pounds of sand each year

11. When your family takes a walk on a beautiful tropical beach,
you may want to remind them that some of the sand
they are walking on is parrotfish poop.

12. These sea urchins are also part of the landscape management team.
They graze on algae and help keep the reef from being overgrown with
weeds. This is important because nutrients from agriculture, fertilizer and
sewage and promote excessive growth of algae and can smother a reef.

13. Green turtles and surgeonfish also help control the growth of algae.
All of these herbivores use the energy in their food to keep themselves alive.
They are important links in the reef’s food web transferring energy in algae
through herbivores and up to carnivores.

14. Hawkfish that sit and wait for food to come by
and triggerfish that swim around looking for food are predators.
They are the next link in the food web.

15. Eels come out at night to explore the reef in search of sleeping fish and
other prey. They may look scary, with their mouths open, but they have
to keep their mouths open to breathe – to pass water across their gills.

16. Large predators embody the energy from the sun
that passed from algae to herbivores
and through a series of predators,
ending up with fish like this grouper and sharks.

17. Predators, such as sharks, prey on smaller fish.
They keep the populations under control
and maintain ecological balance on coral reefs.

18. Sea cucumbers are the sanitation engineers of the reef.
They are the clean-up crew as they crawl over the reef and feed.

19. They ingest sand, digest waste organic matter
and release the sand cleaner than it was before.
They are good recyclers.

20. This slipper lobster, other crustaceans, worms
and bacteria also digest waste organic material,
keeping the reef clean and healthy

21. This slipper lobster, other crustaceans, worms
and bacteria also digest waste organic material,
keeping the reef clean and healthy

22. Here we see that energy from the sun powers the food web from
algae to large predators. The material of the reef gets recycled
ending up as nutrients that help algae grow.

23. The reef has an incredible diversity of species. Each has its own
way of living and each contributes to the health of the reef

24. Nudibranchs are snails without shells,
using bright coloration as “advertisement!”
The bright colors say to hungry fish,
“Stay away! I’m poisonous!”

25. Sea urchins demonstrate reef diversity. Notice the different types of
spines of these urchins. Pencil urchins, upper right, have thick spines
that are too much trouble for trigger fish to bite through.

26. These urchins are like “termites” that excavate holes
and chambers in the reef,
creating great places for other creatures to hide.

27. These urchins decorate themselves with debris for camouflage.
Notice the 2nd one on the right.

28. Corals are not the only animal on the reef that is home to others.
Look closely at this urchin and see if you can find someone
living among the spines.

29. This is a commensal (resident)
shrimp perfectly adapted to
live and hide among the spines
of this urchin.

30. Another example of diversity is the family of butterflyfish.
Many have a spot called a false eye to distract predators from their
real eyes. As you can see, some species also have a dark line over their
real eye to further confuse a predator.

31. Surgeonfish have a sharp “scalpel” at the base of their tail.
They call attention to this defensive weapon
with a warning, bright white coloration.

32. This Achilles surgeonfish calls attention to its scalpel.
Your eye is drawn to the razor sharp spine
that can easily cut a finger to the bone.

33. The opposite of warning coloration is camouflage.
Can you see the eye of this frogfish?

34. Now do you see the eye. Notice the mouth is facing up.
These fish have a little spine, just above the eye, that looks like a worm.
When it is wiggled small fish come to investigate and are gobbled up

35. Some fish have diversity in their coloration.
These goatfish rest on the bottom and have a greenish color with a yellow
stripe or a blotchy coloration seen in the fish at the upper right.

36. These two goatfish are at the doctor’s office. To attract the attention to
the yellow and blue cleaner wrasses that pick off parasites, the goatfish
stand on their heads and even extend barbels (chin whiskers) on the left.

37. This goatfish just changed to pink,
presumably to make it even more clear that it needs service
and to make it easier for the cleaners to find parasites.

38. At night these goatfish have another coloration – blotchy red pajamas.

39. This spiky crown-of-thorns sea star eats corals.

40. Crown-of-thorns evert their stomachs to digest coral
outside the sea star’s body.

41. BUT the coral has a pal that fights to protect the coral
from crown-of-thorns. When the predator comes the resident crab
emerges and pinches off the sea star’s tube feet.

42. After the crab has pinched off a few of the sea star’s tube feet the
predator moves on to another coral that may not have a protective crab.

43. Humans are part of this story because when we allow nutrients from
sewage, fertilizer and land run off to enrich coastal waters, we enable
more baby crown-of-thorns babies to survive.
This can result in a population explosion that results in
entire reefs being killed by these sea stars.

44. So these beautiful sea stars may or may not be a problem for reefs.
It depends on how humans understand and manage
their connections to reefs.

45. Excessive nutrients can also enable algae to overgrow corals.
This problem can be even worse when people harvest too many
herbivores like parrotfish, surgeonfish and even sea urchins
that some people eat.

46. We are all connected to reefs through the energy we use.
Carbon dioxide from burning petroleum is causing global warming
and ocean acidification. When the water becomes too warm corals
lose the algae that provide them with food, turn white and may die.
This is called coral bleaching. Acidification also makes it more difficult to
make their skeletons.

47. The diversity of species keeps this city under the sea healthy.
Corals have solar collectors (algae) and create the buildings of this city.
Waste is recycled. Grazers and predators keep things in order. Partnerships
are important to many species. People are part of this ecosystem .
We can do it harm or protect it – its up to us.