St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Publications
Airborne bacteria in Earth's lower stratosphere resemble taxa detected in the troposphere: Results from a new NASA Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC)
Airborne microorganisms in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere remain elusive due to a lack of reliable sample collection systems. To address this problem, we designed, installed, and flight-validated a novel Aircraft Bioaerosol Collector (ABC) for NASA's C-20A that can make collections for microbiological research investigations up to...
David J. Smith; Ravichandar, Jayamary D.; Jain, Sunit; Griffin, Dale W.; Yu, Hongbin; Tan, Qian; Thissen, James; Lusby, Terry; Nicoll, Patrick; Shedler, Sarah; Martinez, P.; Osorio, Alejandro; Lechniak, Jason; Choi, Samuel; Sabino, Kayleen; Iverson, Kathryn; Chan, Luisa; Jaing, Crystal; McGrath, John Using a Bayesian network to understand the importance of coastal storms and undeveloped landscapes for the creation and maintenance of early successional habitat
Coastal storms have consequences for human lives and infrastructure but also create important early successional habitats for myriad species. For example, storm-induced overwash creates nesting habitat for shorebirds like piping plovers (Charadrius melodus). We examined how piping plover habitat extent and location changed on barrier islands in...
Zeigler, Sara L.; Gutierrez, Benjamin T.; Sturdivant, Emily J.; Catlin, Daniel H.; Fraser, James D.; Hecht, A.; Karpanty, Sarah M.; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Thieler, E. Robert Virus-like particle production in atmospheric eubacteria isolates
Culturable eubacterial isolates were collected at various altitudes in Earth’s atmosphere to include ~1.5 m above ground in Tallahassee, Florida, USA, ~10.0 m above sea level over the mid-Atlantic ridge (~15oN), ~ 20 km above ground over the continental United States, ~20 km above sea level over the Pacific Ocean near southern California and from...
Nuria Teigell-Perez; Cristina Gonzalez-Martin; Basilio Valladares; David J. Smith; Griffin, Dale W. Rapid inundation of the southern Florida coastline despite low relative sea-level rise rates during the late-Holocene
Sediment cores from Florida Bay, Everglades National Park were examined to determine ecosystem response to relative sea-level rise (RSLR) over the Holocene. High-resolution multiproxy analysis from four sites show freshwater wetlands transitioned to mangrove environments 4–3.6 ka, followed by estuarine environments 3.4–2.8 ka, during a period of...
Jones, Miriam; Wingard, G. Lynn; Stackhouse, Bethany; Keller, Katherine; Willard, Debra A.; Marot, Marci E.; Landacre, Bryan D.; Bernhardt, Christopher E. Council Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP): Inventory of existing water quality and habitat monitoring, and mapping metadata for Gulf of Mexico Programs
Under the Council-Selected Restoration Component of the RESTORE Act, the Council develops Funded Priority Lists (FPLs) that describe the projects and programs it will fund. Projects and programs funded through this component must be in furtherance of the goals and objectives of the Council’s Comprehensive Plan and address at least one of the...
Meyers, Michelle; Bosch, Julie; Burkart, Heidi; Clement, Chris; Enwright, Nicholas; Giordano, Steve; Jeffery, Chris; Hart, Rheannon; Hile, Sarah; Howell, Jacob; Lee, Michael; Laurenzano, Claudia ; McCloskey, Terrance; Mize, Scott; Monaco, Mark E.; Owen, Kevin; Rebich, Richard; Sample, Thomas; Steyer, Gregory D.; Suir, Kevin J.; Smith, Christopher G.; Watson, Katie; Bosch, Julie; Burkart, Heidi; Chivoiu, Bogdan; Clark, Randy; Clement, Chris; Enwright, Nicholas; Giordano, Steve; Jeffrey, Chris; Johnson, Edward; Hart, Rheannon M.; Hile, Sarah; Howell, Jacob; Laurenzano, Claudia ; Lee, Michael T.; McCloskey, Terrence A.; McTigue, Terry; Meyers, Michelle B.; Mize, Scott; Monaco, Mark E.; Owen, Kevin; Rebich, Richard A.; Rendon, Samuel H.; Robertson, Ali; Sample, Thomas; Steyer, Gregory D.; Suir, Kevin J.; Swarzenski, Christopher M.; Watson, Katie The presence of antibiotic resistance genes in coastal soil and sediment samples from the eastern seaboard of the USA
Infections from antibiotic resistant microorganisms are considered to be one of the greatest global public health challenges that result in huge annual economic losses. While genes that impart resistance to antibiotics (AbR) existed long before the discovery and use of antibiotics, anthropogenic uses of antibiotics in agriculture, domesticated...
Griffin, Dale W.; Benzel, William M.; Fisher, Shawn C.; Focazio, Michael J.; Iwanowicz, Luke R.; Loftin, Keith A.; Reilly, Timothy J.; Jones, Daniel K. iCoast – Did the Coast Change?: Storm-impact model verification using citizen scientists
The USGS provides model predictions of severe storm impacts prior to landfall based on pre-storm morphology and predicted total water levels, including waves and surge. Presented in near real time on the USGS Coastal Change Hazard Portal, they provide coastal residents, scientists, and emergency managers valuable coastal response information....
Morgan, Karen L M; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Stockdon, Hilary F.; Richard J. Snell Microbiomes of stony and soft deep-sea corals share rare core bacteria
Background: Numerous studies have shown that bacteria form stable associations with host corals and have focused on identifying conserved “core microbiomes” of bacterial associates inferred to be serving key roles in the coral holobiont. Because studies tend to focus on only stony corals (order Scleractinia) or soft corals (order Alcyonacea), it...
Kellogg, Christina A. Application of sediment end-member analysis for understanding sediment fluxes, northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana
We analyzed grain-size distributions (GSDs) from a time-series of sediment samples to evaluate sediment transport following anthropogenic sand-berm emplacement at the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. End-member analysis (EMA) was applied to compare the end-member (EM) GSD of a known sediment source to GSDs from surrounding environments and...
Bernier, Julie C.; Miselis, Jennifer L.; Buster, Noreen A.; Flocks, James G. Surrogate model development for coastal dune erosion under storm conditions
Early coastal dune erosion predictions are essential to avoid potential flood consequences but most dune erosion numerical models are computationally expensive, hence their application in Early Warning Systems is limited. Here, based on a combination of optimally sampled synthetic sea storms with a calibrated and validated XBeach model, we develop...
Malagon-Santos, Victor; Wahl, Thomas; Long, Joseph W; Passeri, Davina L.; Plant, Nathaniel G. Temperature mediates secondary dormancy in resting cysts of Pyrodinium bahamense (Dinophyceae)
High‐biomass blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate Pyrodinium bahamense occur most summers in Tampa Bay, Florida, USA, posing a recurring threat to ecosystem health. Like many dinoflagellates, P. bahamense forms immobile resting cysts that can be deposited on the seafloor—creating a seed bank that can retain the organism within...
Lopez, Cary B.; Karim, Aliza; Murasko, Susan; Marot, Marci E.; Smith, Christopher G.; Corcoran, Alina A. 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 quantified. Here we present new data on the constructional and deconstructional side of the carbonate-budget equation in the Florida Keys, U.S.A. We documented Orbicella spp...
Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Toth, Lauren T.; Hudson, J. Harold; Goodwin, William B.; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Bartlett, Lucy (Contractor); Whitcher, Elizabeth M.