Coral Reef Restoration

Ian Combs

Ian Combs

Senior Biologist – Coral Nursery Manager

Ian is the coral nursery manager at the Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research & Restoration (IC2R3) on Summerland Key. Ian manages the propagation, care, outplanting and monitoring of corals housed at Mote’s ex situ coral nursery. Ian also designed and implemented the capture, generation, and analysis workflows for Mote’s Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry and Large Area Imaging capabilities which he is applying to a wide variety of uses ranging from quantifying coral growth rates to better understanding the ecological impacts of coral restoration

Education

2019 | M.Sc Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University - Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

2014 | B.Sc Marine Science, University of Delaware

Publications

Edwards, C. B., Viehman, T. S., Battista, T., Bollinger, M. A., Charendoff, J., Cook, S., Combs, I., Couch, C., Ferrari, R., Figueira,
W., Gleason, A. C. R., Gordon, S., Greene, W., Kuester, F., McCarthy, O., Oliver, T., Pedersen, N. E., Petrovic, V., Rojano, S.,
Runyan, H., Sandin, S. A., and Zgliczynski, B. J. (2023). Large-area imaging in tropical shallow water coral reef monitoring,
research, and restoration: A practical guide to survey planning, execution, and data extraction. NOAA National Ocean Service,
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. NOAA Technical Memorandum NOS NCCOS 313. https://doi.org/10.25923/5n6d-kx34

Shilling, E.N., Combs, I.R. & Voss, J.D. Assessing the effectiveness of two intervention methods for stony coral tissue loss disease on Montastraea cavernosa. Sci Rep 11, 8566 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86926-4

Combs IR, Studivan MS, Eckert RJ, Voss JD (2021) Quantifying impacts of stony coral tissue loss disease on corals in Southeast Florida through surveys and 3D photogrammetry. PLoS ONE 16(6): e0252593. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252593

Coral reefs provide more than $2.7 trillion in services to economies worldwide—but we're losing these important ecosystems quickly. Mote scientists are spearheading coral reef restoration using cutting-edge science.