Anastasios Stathakopoulos
Science and Products
Coral Reef Ecosystem Studies (CREST)
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...
Measuring Coral Growth to Help Restore Reefs
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...
Climate and the latitudinal limits of subtropical reef development
Climate plays a central role in coral-reef development, especially in marginal environments. The high-latitude reefs of southeast Florida are currently non-accreting, relict systems with low coral cover. This region also did not support the extensive Late Pleistocene reef development observed in many other locations around the world; however,...
Toth, Lauren T.; Precht, William F.; Modys, Alexander B.; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Robbart, Martha L.; Hudson, J. Harold; Olenik, Anton E.; Riegl, Bernhard M; Shinn, Eugene A.; Aronson, Richard B. Reestablishing a stepping-stone population of the threatened elkhorn coral Acropora palmata to aid regional recovery
Recovery of the elkhorn coral Acropora palmata is critical to reversing coral reef ecosystem collapse in the western Atlantic, but the species is severely threatened. To gauge potential for the species’ restoration in Florida, USA, we conducted an assisted migration experiment where 50 coral fragments of 5 nursery-raised genetic strains...
Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Toth, Lauren T.; Bartlett, Lucy A revised Holocene coral sea-level database from the Florida reef tract, USA
The coral reefs and mangrove habitats of the south Florida region have long been used in sea-level studies for the western Atlantic because of their broad geographic extent and composition of sea-level tracking biota. The data from this region have been used to support several very different Holocene sea-level reconstructions (SLRs) over the years...
Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Riegl, Bernhard M; Toth, Lauren T. 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; Whitcher, Elizabeth M. A 3,000‐year lag between the geological and ecological shutdown of Florida's coral reefs
The global‐scale degradation of coral reefs has reached a critical threshold wherein further declines threaten both ecological functionality and the persistence of reef structure. Geological records can provide valuable insights into the long‐term controls on reef development that may be key to solving the modern coral‐reef crisis. Our analyses of...
Toth, Lauren T.; Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Shinn, Eugene A. Plasticity in skeletal characteristics of nursery-raised staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis
Staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, is a threatened species and the primary focus of western Atlantic reef restoration efforts to date. We compared linear extension, calcification rate, and skeletal density of nursery-raised A. cervicornis branches reared for 6 months either on blocks attached to substratum or hanging from...
Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Bartels, Erich; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Enochs, Ian C.; Kolodziej, Graham; Toth, Lauren T.; Manzello, Derek P. Experimental data comparing two coral grow-out methods in nursery-raised Acropora cervicornis
Staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, is a threatened species and the primary focus of western Atlantic reef-restoration efforts to date. As part of the USGS Coral Reef Ecosystems Studies project (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/crest/), we investigated skeletal characteristics of nursery-grown staghorn coral reared using two commonly used grow-out...
Kuffner, Ilsa B.; Bartels, Erich; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Enochs, Ian C.; Kolodziej, Graham; Toth, Lauren; Manzello, Derek P.
The structure and composition of Holocene coral reefs in the Middle Florida Keys
The Florida Keys reef tract (FKRT) is the largest coral-reef ecosystem in the continental United States. The modern FKRT extends for 362 kilometers along the coast of South Florida from Dry Tortugas National Park in the southwest, through the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS), to Fowey Rocks reef in Biscayne National Park in the...
Toth, Lauren T.; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios; Kuffner, Ilsa B.
The relationship between the ratio of strontium to calcium and sea-surface temperature in a modern Porites astreoides coral: Implications for using P. astreoides as a paleoclimate archive
An inverse relationship has been demonstrated between water temperature and the ratio of strontium to calcium (Sr/Ca) in coral aragonite for a number of Pacific species of the genus Porites. This empirically determined relationship has been used to reconstruct past sea-surface temperature (SST) from modern and Holocene age coral archives. A study...
Tess E. Busch; Flannery, Jennifer A.; Richey, Julie N.; Stathakopoulos, Anastasios
Protocols for improving sea-level reconstructions in the western Atlantic
Anastasios Stathakopoulos (Oceanographer) and Lauren Toth (Research Oceanographer) published a new article titled “A revised Holocene coral sea-level database from the Florida reef tract, USA.”
New USGS manuscript documents unprecedented shift in coral species composition of Florida’s reefs
Lauren Toth (Research Oceanographer, SPCMSC), Ilsa Kuffner (Research Marine Biologist, SPCMSC), and Anastasios Stathakopoulos (Oceanographer) led a study published this week showing that the coral species that dominated Florida’s coral reef for the last 8000 years have been replaced by novel species assemblages in recent decades.
Coral-reef research featured in Science Magazine news article
A news feature published last week in Science Magazine highlights research by SPCMSC scientists into the problem of reef erosion in the Florida Keys.
New paper published on Florida Keys coral reef construction and erosion
A team of four scientists from St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center and collaborators from NOAA and Florida Institute of Technology published a paper in the journal Limnology and Oceanography. The research was conducted in the Florida Keys including sites in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Dry Tortugas National Park, and Biscayne National Park.
Scientists to Attend "Reef Futures 2018" Symposium on Reef Restoration
Research Marine Biologist Ilsa Kuffner, Research Oceanographer Lauren Toth, and Oceanographer Anastasios Stathakopoulos will travel to Key Largo, FL, December 10 to 14 to attend "Reef Futures 2018: A Coral Restoration and Intervention-Science Symposium."
New coral reef study to begin at Buck Island National Park Service unit on St. Croix
Scientists travel to Buck Island Reef National Monument to plan a new study and to assess hurricane impacts to the coral reefs surrounding Buck Island.
USGS scientists investigate the millennial-scale history of the "Threatened" elkhorn coral in Dry Tortugas National Park
Dr. Lauren Toth (Research Oceanographer, SPCMSC) and Anastasios Stathakopoulos (Oceanographer, SPCMSC) will collaborate with the National Park Service to complete a week-long expedition to Dry Tortugas National Park to study the occurrence of the elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, within the park during the Holocene.
New Coral Reef Study to Begin at Buck Island National Monument
Research Marine Biologist Ilsa Kuffner, Research Oceanographer Lauren Toth, and Oceanographer Anastasios Stathakopoulos, will travel to Buck Island Reef National Monument for a reconnaissance trip to plan a new study and assess hurricane impacts to the coral reefs surrounding Buck Island.