It was the natural elements that originally destroyed this reef — a storm that pounded the reef like a sledgehammer, breaking off giant hunks of dead coral, hurling them against the living, grinding the bones to a fine white sand. Mother Nature at work creating Phuket's stunning tropical beaches. Were it strictly nasty weather that destroyed the coral, Nalinee Thongtham might be back at the lab peering into her microscope instead of moving big blocks of concrete around the ocean floor.

It was her father, also a scientist and university lecturer, who instilled in Nalinee the love of nature and the sea. Skin diving with Dad, collecting and cataloging sea shells as a child, she found her path early in life. After high school, she attained her BSc in Aquatic Science from Burapha University, in Chonburi, and subsequently earned her MSc in Marine Biology at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.

Now an environmental scientist at the Research Center for Biodiversity, and an expert on Phuket's coral reefs, Nalinee is concerned with any number of other factors that threaten the coral. The concrete blocks are part of an ongoing experiment to re-generate damaged reefs by creating an artificial substrate for the nearly 250 species of native coral to cling to and grow upon.

Ten years ago, she began the first such research experiment, which has enjoyed considerable success. But, however important this work may be, it is also both expensive and labour intensive. As a person deeply in love with the ocean, she would rather see a bigger effort to protect the natural reefs than to see Thailand depend on an artificial solution.

"The chief problem is sedimentation", Nalinee explains. "Rapid, extensive and lucrative coastal development on Phuket has created far too much sediment in the seawater. As heavy rains pour over barren plots of newly developed land and wash out to sea, the sea clouds up with sediment, and the sunlight can no longer penetrate the water. This prevents photosynthesis in natural algae."

A complex symbiotic relationship exists between many species of coral and the algae. Photosynthesis in the algae makes use of carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the coral organism's calcification process. Without the removal of the excess carbon dioxide, coral growth is inhibited. The coral polyps, in return, use the carbohydrates produced by their algal partners. But sediment also directly kills formation of the reef. Certain corals secrete a mucus that helps rid the polyps of sediment, too much sediment will destroy the reefs. Although Nalinee is encouraged by her experiments, she cautions anyone who concludes that she has found a solution to the sediment problem. "If the sediment problem isn't controlled, installing artificial substrates will not be successful."

Here as elsewhere, the real solution is responsible environmental planning, effective and enforceable legislation, and in Nalinee's eyes, the education of Thailand's young people regarding the environment: "The coral reef's importance cannot be over-stated. It provides a vital habitat for a huge array of sea life. Biodiversity depends on hiding places, the nooks and crevices that a healthy reef provides. Without the forest of coral, the sea floor becomes a sandy desert, and a productive fishery disappears."

Ironically, so do the sandy white beaches, and the tourists who come to visit them, and the scuba divers, and the game fishermen and, eventually, all resorts and other businesses created around a thriving tourist industry begin to suffer. The critical time is now. Thai people must fiercely protect their coral reefs for the long-term benefit of all Thai people.

Although the coral reefs have been the main focus of her research, Nalinee is currently at work on her doctoral thesis at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense University, Department of Natural Science and Engineering, by studying the Mangrove forests, and is interested in particular with the Sesame Crab. She explains how the burrows of these small creatures play a vital role in the health of the mangrove forest: "The crabs feed on the falling leaves and litter that rains down from the forest canopy, and are constantly working to drag this material below ground into the chambers of their burrows. This infuses the soil with the rich nutriment of the decaying litter and aerates the ground. Without their work, the nutriment would simply wash out to sea, eventually killing the mangroves."

As she explains this highly symbiotic relationship, one can't help but visualize the crabs as an army of tiny farmers, tending the giant plants that feed them. Nalinee shows me a series of castings she has made of the crab burrows by pouring resin into the small entry holes at the surface. The castings show that the burrows are extraordinarily complex and quite deep. One small crab can do a great deal of work. By performing chemical analysis on the water extracted from these amazing burrows and comparing it to the regular seawater, Nalinee has documented the sesame crab's vital role in keeping the soil rich in nutriment and the mangrove forest healthy.

We spoke about economics, politics and conservation and about how difficult it is to persuade people to take the necessary steps to protect nature. She admits that it can be frustrating to research and identify environmental problems, because she can only tell people what she discovers. She cannot insist that people care. She can't mandate and enforce policies to stop the problems. She must wait and see what happens when people understand her research and its implications.

Sometimes encouraging discoveries are made in the battle to create economic value for conservation efforts. For instance, one of Nalinee's colleagues has discovered that a small tunicate, or sea squirt, which lives among the reefs here, is rich in a substance used to treat cancer in humans. The extract could prove to be an important and valuable export product. If preserving the reef promises the same, or greater, short-term profit as does destroying it, then the choice to conserve becomes a clear winner.

If you ask Nalinee what direction she expects to take, once she has her PhD in hand, her eyes light up. "I think I'd like to continue my work with the reefs and the mangroves here in the area, but I have an ambition to write a textbook on environmental studies for Thailand's school system. I think it's really important that young people learn about the environment. It will be the next generation of students, people who can think differently, that will make the right choices on how to protect the land and sea here."