Sediment source and dose influence the larval performance of the threatened coral Orbicella faveolata
The effects of turbidity and sedimentation stress on early life stages of corals are poorly understood, particularly in Atlantic species. Dredging operations, beach nourishment, and other coastal construction activities can increase sedimentation and turb...
Novel metagenomics analysis of stony coral tissue loss disease
Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has devastated coral reefs off the coast of Florida and continues to spread throughout the Caribbean. Although a number of bacterial taxa have consistently been associated with SCTLD, no pathogen has been definitive...
Retrieval of nearshore bathymetry from Sentinel-2A and 2B satellites in South Florida coastal waters
This study examines the relatively high-resolution MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) onboard Sentinel-2A and 2B for generating bathymetric maps through a ratio transform model in South Florida (United States). Atmospheric correction of imagery is implemented...
Juvenile reef fish growth and survival related to subregional patterns of primary production
For coral reef organisms with bipartite lifecycles, the ontogenetic shift from the pelagic larval stage to the benthic environment is often associated with high mortality that may be influenced by the local environment as well as individual traits that al...
Radiocarbon in otoliths of tropical marine fishes: Reference Δ14C chronology for north Caribbean waters
Reef fishes support important fisheries throughout the Caribbean, but a combination of factors in the tropics makes otolith microstructure difficult to interpret for age estimation. Therefore, validation of ageing methods, via application of Δ14C is a maj...
Dynamics of predator-prey habitat use and behavioral interactions over diel periods at sub-tropical reefs
Anthropogenic climate change compromises reef growth as a result of increasing temperatures and ocean acidification. Scleractinian corals vary in their sensitivity to these variables, suggesting species composition will influence how reef communities resp...
Oceanographic habitat and the coral microbiomes of urban-impacted reefs
Coral reefs are in decline worldwide. In response to this habitat loss, there are efforts to grow, outplant, and restore corals in many regions. The physical oceanographic habitat of corals—such as sea temperature, waves, ocean currents, and available lig...
Genotypic variation in disease susceptibility among cultured stocks of elkhorn and staghorn corals
Disease mortality has been a primary driver of population declines and the threatened status of the foundational Caribbean corals, Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis. There remain few tools to effectively manage coral disease. Substantial investment is f...
Rhodobacterales and Rhizobiales Are Associated With Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease and Its Suspected Sources of Transmission
In 2014, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) was first detected off the coast of Miami, FL, United States, and continues to persist and spread along the Florida Reef Tractr (FRT) and into the Caribbean. SCTLD can have up to a 61% prevalence in reefs a...
Impact of risk perception on household willingness-to-pay to restock the threatened staghorn coral
This study aims to examine whether individuals' attitudes toward the anthropogenic risks facing staghorn corals and coral reef ecosystems off the Southeast (SE) coast of Florida influence their valuation of coral reef ecosystem services and willingness to...
Integrating Coral Restoration Data With a Novel Coral Sample Registry
In the past decade, the field of coral reef restoration has experienced a proliferation of data detailing the source, genetics, and performance of coral strains used in research and restoration. Resource managers track the multitude of permits, species, r...
Reef-scale trends in Florida Acropora spp. abundance and the effects of population enhancement
Since the listing of Acropora palmata and A. cervicornis under the US Endangered Species Act in 2006, increasing investments have been made in propagation of listed corals (primarily A. cervicornis, A. palmata to a much lesser extent) in offshore coral nu...
Ecosystem Status Report for the U.S. South Atlantic Region
The U.S. South Atlantic Ecosystem Status Report (ESR) is intended to support ecosystem-based management in the South Atlantic region by providing quantitative, scientific information about the ecosystem to scientists, managers, decision-makers, and stakeh...
Operational Ecoforecasting for Coral Reefs Using Artificial Intelligence and Integrated Near Real-Time Environmental Data
A synthesis of information products about environmental stressors provided in near real-time can serve environmental managers who seek to act decisively before stressors become unmanageable. We have created ecological forecasts, i. e., ecoforecasts, based...
Symbiont composition and coral genotype determines massive coral species performance under end-of-century climate scenarios
The recent decline of coral health and substantial loss of coral cover along Florida’s Coral Reef (FCR) results from local stressors such as degraded water quality and disease outbreaks in addition to anthropogenically driven global stressors including oc...
A quantitative assessment of the status of reef fish communities from a large-scale probability survey in southern Florida
Numerous reef fish monitoring programs worldwide produce the data necessary to describe the status and trends of coral reefs; however, quantitative description of status at ecosystem scales has been challenging. Our goal was to use southern Florida’s cora...
Improving estimates of coral reef construction and erosion with in situ measurements
The decline in living coral since the 1970s has conspicuously slowed reef construction on a global scale, but the related process of reef erosion is less visible and not often quanti fied. Here, we present new data on the constructional and deconstructiona...
Machine-learning-based proteomic predictive modeling with thermally-challenged Caribbean reef corals
Coral health is currently diagnosed retroactively; colonies are deemed “stressed” upon succumbing to bleaching or disease. Ideally, health inferences would instead be made on a pre-death timescale that would enable, for instance, environmental mitigation ...
Twenty-year record of white pox disease in the Florida Keys: importance of environmental risk factors as drivers of coral health
Declining coral populations worldwide place a special premium on identifying risks and drivers that precipitate these declines. Understanding the relationship between disease outbreaks and their drivers can help to anticipate when the risk of a disease pa...
Shared phylogeographical breaks in a Caribbean coral reef sponge and its invertebrate commensals
AimTo test whether phylogeographical barriers in the brooding sponge Callyspongia vaginalis match breaks previously identified in the Caribbean. We also compared patterns of subdivision in the sponge to those of three of its commensals, the broadcast spaw...
Soundscape ecology is an emerging field in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and provides a powerful approach for assessing habitat quality and the ecological response of sound-producing species to natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Little is...
Corals and Their Microbiomes Are Differentially Affected by Exposure to Elevated Nutrients and a Natural Thermal Anomaly
Nutrient pollution can increase the prevalence and severity of coral disease and bleaching in ambient temperature conditions or during experimental thermal challenge. However, there have been few opportunities to study the effects of nutrient pollution du...
Census of heat tolerance among Florida's threatened staghorn corals finds resilient individuals throughout existing nursery populations
The rapid loss of reef-building corals owing to ocean warming is driving the development of interventions such as coral propagation and restoration, selective breeding and assisted gene flow. Many of these interventions target naturally heat-tolerant indi...
Physical connectivity between Pulley Ridge and Dry Tortugas coral reefs under the influence of the Loop Current/Florida Current system
The Pulley Ridge and Dry Tortugas coral reefs are among the most pristine, but also fragile, marine ecosystems of the continental United States. Understanding connectivity processes between them and with surrounding shelf and deep areas is fundamental for...
Sediment source and dose influence the larval performance of the threatened coral Orbicella faveolata