The reef fossil record is our only recourse for studying the responses of the reef ecosystem to global climate change; prediction of future responses based on fossil data may subsequently be used to guide present management policies. Thus an understanding of the preservation biases inherent in the fossil record of reefs is essential. This fact has long been known to paleontologists but has only recently been recognized by the biological community. My ongoing studies of Pleistocene and Holocene coral preservation in the Bahamas have thus far been applied to the spectacular Pleistocene reef exposures on San Salvador Island, Bahamas to gauge the rate at which the reef assemblage was buried consequent to changes in sea level (Greenstein & Moffat, 1996). While working on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia, with colleague John Pandolfi (U. Queensland) a comparative study of coral preservation in Caribbean and western Pacific provinces was initiated. While supported by a grant from NOAA's National Undersea Research Program, Pandolfi and I spent ten days during May, 1994 and 1996 as an aquanaut: saturation diving from the Aquarius Underwater Laboratory while working in the deep (100') forereef environment adjacent to Key Largo, Florida. Results of this work include Greenstein and Pandolfi (1997, 2003) and Pandolfi and Greenstein (1997).