In the decade that she has been studying marine ecology, Randi Rotjan has seen the destruction of coral reefs from a boom in coastal development, an increase in invasive species such as lionfish, and other changes in the ocean.

As a New England Aquarium scientist, she is collecting real-time data on warming oceans and reef loss in her research as she explores tropical waters near places like Belize, Saudi Arabia, and the Bahamas. Rotjan, 35, has also studied the waters off the Phoenix Islands in the central Pacific, so removed that they are a five-and-a-half day boat trip from Fiji. “But even in such a remote locale”, Rotjan says, “human-induced change is evident.”