Scientists believe that development in Florida is directly related to the decline of some of the once-pristine coral reefs off the state's coasts.

A local student studying a reef halfway around the world is hoping to find parallels as he watches what happens to a pristine reef off the Red Sea as development creeps in.

Zaki Moustafa, who will be a junior at Dreyfoos School of the Arts in the fall, is there now, gathering new data on the remote coral reef. While his family has traveled annually to Egypt to visit relatives, Moustafa's summers have become focused on science.

Two years' worth of data led Moustafa to the third-place spot in zoology at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May. Moustafa, who spends summers in the coastal area of Egypt, believes he'll see vivid changes as a new shipping port is built about 10 kilometers north of the reef, he said before leaving on his trip.

"It will be interesting to see how people moving to the area will affect it," he said. "I'm already seeing changes with the shipping port. Thousands of gallons of oil spilled as they were trying to repair an underwater pipeline."

This summer, he expects to see the longer-term effects of that damage, he said.

Last summer, Moustafa installed temperature sensors. He was eager to retrieve them and look at the year's worth of data.

This year, he also planned to start documenting the fish species and a more detailed sediment analysis.

The question Zaki won't be able to answer for a while, though, is whether there's relevance to local scientists.

"I'm wondering if the data gathered there will be valuable at all to scientists in South Florida," he said.

Look for the analysis next year in the annual science fair, he said.