"We previously presented the first experimental evidence that chronic nutrient exposure leads to increases in both disease and bleaching in scleractinian corals. Despite those findings, it remained unclear whether excess nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), or t...

"This report summarizes the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) surveys during four cruises from 2012 to 2015 which characterizes the mesophotic coral reef ecosystems at Pulley Ridge and Tortugas. This research is part of a grant funded by the NOAA National C...

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...

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...

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...

"Herbivorous fish can benefit reef-building corals by controlling algae that compete with corals for space, but different species of herbivores have different and complementary impacts on benthic communities. Many herbivores are targeted in reef fish fish...

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...

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...

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...

Given the rapid, global decline in the health and abundance of coral reefs, increased investments in restoration-based interventions -including asexual and sexual propagation- are being made by coral reef scientists at research institutions, but also at z...

Deep water ports are human built coastal structures that by definition welcome ship traffic and disturbance. Evidence is accumulating that enhanced port activities such as dredging or deepening have negatively affected nearby natural habitats. Port Evergl...

As stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) swept through the Florida Reef Tract, one of the most severely impacted species was the iconic pillar coral, Dendrogyra cylindrus. As the species’ population experienced a precipitous decline, a collaborative res...

The decline of elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, has been ongoing for decades, but the causes of decline and the resulting population status continue to be topics of study. Past efforts to categorize stressors have ranged from spatially and/or temporally f...

In recent decades, the Florida reef tract has lost over 95% of its coral cover. Although isolated coral assemblages persist, coral restoration programs are attempting to recover local coral populations. Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Ac...

Considered one of the most devastating coral disease outbreaks in history, stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is currently spreading throughout Florida’s coral reefs and the greater Caribbean. SCTLD affects at least two dozen different coral species ...

As coral reefs decline, restoring lost coral populations has been hampered due to the paucity of genetic information available for many coral species. In the Caribbean, the symmetrical brain coral Pseudodiploria strigosa, a prominent framework builder of ...

High-latitude coral reef communities have been postulated as the first areas to undergo reorganisation under climate change. Tropicalisation has been identified in some high-latitude communities and is predicted in others, but it is unclear how the reside...

With the unprecedented degradation and loss of coral reefs at multiple scales, the underlying changes in abiotic and biotic features relevant to the three-dimensional architecture of coral reefs are critical to conservation and restoration. This study cha...

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is a widespread and deadly disease that affects nearly half of Caribbean coral species. To understand the microbial community response to this disease, we performed a disease transmission experiment on US Virgin Isl...

Genotype-by-environment interactions (GxE) indicate that variation in organismal traits cannot be explained by fixed effects of genetics or site-specific plastic responses alone. For tropical coral reefs experiencing dramatic environmental change, identif...

Despite their well‐recognized importance in driving ocean physics and biology, submesoscale (diameter 15 km) show strong seasonality with occurrence frequency decreasing from Lower Keys to Upper Keys, submesoscale eddies show little or no seasonality with...

Acute disturbances and chronic pressures have an important and increasing influence on the structure of coral reef communities. For the viability of benthic taxa such as stony corals, a balance between loss following disturbance and recovery is vital. Cor...

Coral reefs worldwide are in a state of decline, but the population status and impacts of stressors for rare species are generally not well documented using broad-scale monitoring protocols. We fate-tracked all known colonies of the pillar coral, Dendrogy...

Exploitation impacts and management options for 15 coral reef fish species central to the commercial and recreational fisheries of the southern Florida USA coral reef ecosystem were evaluated using a length-based risk analysis (LBRA) framework. Population...

Simultaneous time series of current velocity profiles are used to characterize flow structures over intermediate-depth coral ecosystems in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Understanding of temporal variability and spatial coherence in flow is necessary to esta...