Rick McPherson
Source: Terrain.org
Issue No. 23: Winter/Spring 2009

The Galapagos Islands, giant tortoises, and finches may provide the popular backdrop for Charles Darwin, whose 200th birthday the world celebrates on February 12, 2009. But as a coral reef ecologist and conservationist, I’m drawn to one of Darwin’s less familiar contributions to our understanding of the natural world. In addition to his fondness for beetles, birds, and barnacles, Charles Darwin was also fascinated by coral reefs. So much so, that he spent the better part of his life attempting to understand their origins.

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