Ocean Resources

The microbial community on coral reefs is generally underappreciated given the ubiquity, abundance, complexity, and formative role these prokaryotes serve in the metabolic and chemical processes on reefs. We use microbiological and metagenomic techniques to decipher the roles the microbial community are playing in processes such as coral disease, submarine groundwater discharge, calcification, and...

The coral microbial ecology group has an active research program identifying and characterizing the microbial associates of both tropical and cold-water (deep-sea) corals and their surrounding habitat. Current projects focus on coral disease dynamics, bacterial diversity, and using metagenomics to elucidate the functional roles of coral microbes.

This project uses amplicon sequencing, and functional microarrays to examine the microbiomes of several deep-sea coral species, with priority given to species that are also of interest to the population genetics group: Desmophyllum dianthus, Lophelia pertusa , Enallopsammia sp., and Acanthogorgia sp. The project also uses metagenomics to survey benthic habitats including coral mounds, cold seeps...

The specific objectives of this project are to identify and describe the processes that are important in determining rates of coral-reef construction. How quickly the skeletons of calcifying organisms accumulate to form massive barrier-reef structure is determined by processes of both construction (how fast organisms grow and reproduce) and destruction (how fast reefs break down by mechanical...

Photos of corals affected by black-band disease in the Florida Keys.

The Florida Coastal Mapping Program (FCMaP) is an initiative between Federal and Florida State agencies and institutions to coordinate and facilitate the collection and accessibility of Florida coastal seafloor data in order to fill priority areas and gaps. FCMaP is affiliated with the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) whose activities are guided by the FCMaP Science and Technical Advisory...

This effort focused on understanding the patterns and scalability of roughness and topographic complexity of marine habitats, such as coral reefs.

ATRIS is a benthic-survey tool that simultaneously acquires geo-located, color, digital images with corresponding water depths.

This project focused on developing algorithms for quantifying benthic habitat complexity from images, modeling the structural complexity of the seafloor, and using fluorescence signatures to classify coral reef habitats.

Synchronized field work focused on geochemistry, geology, and metabolic processes overlaid on a habitat map of an entire reef to produce a synoptic overview of reef processes that contribute to carbonate precipitation and dissolution.

It is critical to start measuring calcification rates in a systematic way now, particularly at subtropical latitudes where conditions fluctuate seasonally, so that we can understand how dynamic ocean conditions affect calcifying organisms today and predict possible changes in the future. We established a calcification monitoring network in the Florida Keys and have been measuring calcification...

We investigated coral disease processes and causes by characterizing microbial communities in diseased and healthy representatives of selected coral species both temporally and spatially by employing microarray technology. We tested the diagnostic potential of coral fluorescence for identifying disease-induced physiological stress.