Podcast: The bizarre lives of deep-dwelling microbes

September 17, 2020
The bizarre lives of deep-dwelling microbes

Imagine a hole in the ocean floor with a bottom stretching to 350 feet deep, or deeper. That’s the type of environment Mote scientists and colleagues are exploring as they visit the Gulf of Mexico’s blue holes—underwater caves, springs and sinkholes. In this episode, one of our partnering scientists shares what lives in the depths of a blue hole. Dr. Nastassia Patin, Postdoctoral Associate at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies from University of Miami/NOAA, just published a paper on the strange microscopic life found in one of these deep, dark, chilly, acidified and low-oxygen environments: the blue hole known as AJ Hole. When this episode was recorded, Dr. Patin was visiting Mote for yet another sampling expedition to explore the tiny life forms in an even deeper blue hole called “Green Banana.” Join Dr. Patin and podcast hosts Joe and Hayley to discover the “alien” lifestyles of microbes in these deep environments, how blue hole research relates to our lives, and which fun fact blew Joe’s mind…

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Sarasota-Manatee, our marine life needs you

August 26, 2020 Stephannie Kettle
Sarasota-Manatee, our marine life needs you

Residents of Sarasota and Manatee counties, our marine life needs you! Read the guest editorial originally posted in the August 25, 2020 edition of the Sarasota-Herald Tribune. 

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Podcast: We’re learning about ocean acidification, and ‘SOCAN’ you!

August 19, 2020
We’re learning about ocean acidification, and ‘SOCAN’ you!

___________________________________________________________ Today we welcome back our favorite “ocean chemistry nut,” Dr. Emily Hall, manager of Mote’s Ocean Acidification Research Program and Chemical & Physical Ecology Program. Dr. Hall and her colleagues have been scoping out the challenges of acidification—water chemistry changes partly driven by humans—across ocean environments of the U.S. southeast. Acidification is a concern for shellfish, crabs, corals and other marine species populations that support livelihoods. Dr. Hall updates hosts Hayley and Joe on the possible—and sometimes bizarre—impacts of acidification, and how we can help deal with them. That’s the topic of a new research synthesis that she and her partners authored on behalf of the Southeast Ocean & Coastal Acidification Network (SOCAN). Before diving into acidification in the southeast, Dr. Hall shares the latest on another project making international headlines: Exploring the chemically unique “blue holes” in the Gulf of Mexico together with Mote’s Jim Culter and multiple partners who are curious about these deep, naturally acidified environments.

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White shark tagging expedition is starting strong

August 14, 2020 Hayley Rutger

Mote Marine Laboratory Senior Scientist Dr. Bob Hueter is gearing up for his next shark research adventure. Hueter serves as Chief Scientist for the organization OCEARCH, which is undertaking its latest scientific expedition to tag and sample white sharks (commonly nicknamed “great white sharks”)—part of a long term quest to understand the complete life history of these top predators along eastern North America.

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Breakthrough: Restored corals ready to become parents

August 3, 2020 Hayley Rutger

For the first time, massive corals restored to Florida's Coral Reef are ready to become parents in the wild—a breakthrough in Mote Marine Laboratory's scientific efforts to restore critically imperiled coral reefs, the “rainforests of the sea,” to self-sustaining life.

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