Marine Laboratory & Aquarium

Mote Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Philip Gravinese and the Crustacean Ecology Lab had a productive year, conducting new research and publishing results through five first-author publications. The Crustacean Ecology Lab conducts diverse research dedicated to answering questions aimed at determining the tolerance and response of commercially important crustaceans to different environmental stressors.

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Mote Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr. Heather Page and colleagues advanced research on ocean acidification impacts to multiple species and their interactions in 2018. Coral reef ecosystem health has been declining worldwide, and ocean acidification (OA) — decreasing seawater pH owing to human-contributed carbon dioxide entering the ocean — may further challenge reefs. To better predict coral reefs’ fate amid OA, scientists must understand how multiple living things — corals, seaweeds and more — will respond and how their interactions will be influenced. These interactions shape coral reef community structure and resilience to environmental changes.

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Mote Marine Laboratory’s podcast, “Two Sea Fans,” has released 18 episodes so far in 2018, featuring fun and educational, audio-recorded conversations with Mote scientists and their collaborators.

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Science-based coral reef restoration took the spotlight during six Mote Marine Laboratory research presentations at the 2018 Reef Futures Symposium, hosted by the Coral Restoration Consortium during December 2018 in Key Largo. A total of 11 Mote scientists attended, and Mote sponsored the attendance of former Mote interns Aneri Garg from the University of Alberta and Benjamin Young from the University of Miami with full scholarships.

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As the unprecedented outbreak of stony coral tissue loss disease continues affecting more than 96,000 acres of Florida Keys reefs during December 2018, Mote Marine Laboratory and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are co-leading a Restoration Trials Team to determine best practices and impacts of planting nursery-grown corals for research on effective reef restoration.

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Mote Marine Laboratory research in 2018 strengthened the concept that seagrasses could help protect nearby coral reefs from ocean acidification (OA), a chemistry shift occurring as part of global climate change.

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This year, Mote Marine Laboratory staff rebuilt and enhanced their ocean acidification research system in the Florida Keys to double its capacity and incorporate finer-scale controls of experimental conditions, after Hurricane Irma destroyed the previous OA system in September 2017.

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On Nov. 18, 2018, Mote Marine Laboratory scientists and colleagues dove deep into an offshore “blue hole” in the Gulf of Mexico, launching a new round of exploration and research into these underwater caves, springs and sinkholes whose scientific investigation has been pioneered by Mote.

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This year, studies of multiple marine species in Sarasota Bay advanced thanks to the collaborative work of Mote Marine Laboratory, the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP, a Chicago Zoological Society program in collaboration with Mote), New College of Florida, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) at Harbor Branch and Loggerhead Instruments – partners who operate the Sarasota Coast Acoustic Network (SCAN).  The network has two primary components: tracking tagged animals and listening for environmental sounds including those produced by dolphins and fish.

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