Coral Health & Disease

Several stressors including climate change and infectious diseases have caused significant losses in living coral, particularly in Florida, leading to ecosystems on the brink of functional extinction.  The Coral Health & Disease Research Program studies the susceptibility and resistance to these...

Coral Reef Restoration

Mote Marine Laboratory scientists have restored more than 216,000 corals to Florida’s Coral Reef—an exciting milestone. Starting in 2020, several of our restored corals spawned, engaging in sexual reproduction to produce new generations of corals. Mote’s corals were the first of any massive or...

Sharks & Rays Conservation Research

The Sharks & Rays Conservation Research Program is dedicated to studying the biology, ecology and conservation of sharks and their relatives, the skates and rays. These fishes comprise about 1,000 species worldwide, many of which are threatened by overfishing and environmental impacts. REPORT A...

Manatee Research

For over 30 years, the Manatee Research Program (MRP) has been involved in a host of research efforts involving manatee behavioral ecology, abundance and distribution, and population demographics, as well as habitat studies. This research provides timely, scientific-based information to guide conservation...

Sea Turtle Conservation & Research

[caption id="attachment_8267" align="alignright" width="400"] A sea turtle nest marked with yellow stakes and pink flagging tape on Turtle Beach, Siesta Key, Florida[/caption] Mote Marine Laboratory’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program (STCRP) has documented sea turtle activities and the...

Marine Immunology

Research in the Marine Immunology Program focuses on basic and applied research on the health and immune systems of marine vertebrates, including cartilaginous fishes (sharks, skates, and rays), Florida manatees, and sea turtles. Basic immunological research with marine species explores how immune systems...

Environmental Laboratory For Forensics

The ELF lab explores a range of organismal and environmental health issues. Over the past 18 years, the ELF lab has been funded over $6.5 million to carry out oil spill and industrial contaminant pollution research, nationally and internationally. [gallery columns="4" ids="6308,6310,8527,8529"]   While...

Benthic Ecology

Benthic ecology is the study of organisms that make up bottom communities (sediments, seagrass communities and rock outcrops) in lakes, streams, estuaries and oceans, to determine environmental health and conduct environmental impact studies. Mote's Benthic Ecology Program has conducted many projects...

Phytoplankton Ecology

The Phytoplankton Ecology program studies the ocean's phytoplankton community, with an emphasis on the West Florida Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. Our staff focuses on the biology and ecology of phytoplankton, both as individual species and as a diverse community of many species interacting with each other,...

Ecotoxicology

The mission of the Ecotoxicology Research Program is to investigate the source, fate and effects of toxic substances in the environment, including natural biotoxins (harmful algal toxins) and chemical pollutants (pesticides, petroleum, industrial contaminants, pharmaceuticals). To develop and implement...