PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A DEVELOPMENT SITE, AND THE CONTENT DOES NOT REFLECT THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION.

Data Type: Sponsored Research

Genetic and biophysical modelling evidence of generational connectivity in the intensively exploited, Western North Atlantic red grouper (Epinephelus morio)

Understanding the connectivity of reef organisms is important to assist in the conservation of biological diversity and to facilitate sustainable fisheries in these ecosystems. Common methods to assess reef connectivity include both population genetics and biophysical modelling. Individually, these techniques can offer insight into population structure; however, the information acquired by any singular analysis is … Read more

NOAA RESTORE Science Program: Evaluation of Gulf of Mexico oceanographic observation networks, impact assessment on ecosystem management and recommendations: Spatio-Temporal Ecosystem Modeling (NCEI Accession 0205678)

This dataset includes outputs from an ecosystem model, which is a tool for regional science managers to explore marine spatial planning scenarios in the context of static and dynamic environmental covariates. The dataset includes predicted fish biomass from the Ecopath with Ecosim and Ecospace model set up over the Florida Reef Tract, during eight scenarios … Read more

RESTORE Research: Evaluation of Gulf of Mexico oceanographic observation networks, impact assessment on ecosystem management and recommendations: Simulated Current Velocity, Temperature, Salinity, and Elevation from Hydrodynamic Modeling for 2015 (NCEI Accession 0194303)

This dataset is based on archives from the University of Miami’s high-resolution (1/50 degrees, 1.8km) configuration of the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM) in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM-HYCOM 1/50) for the year of 2015. The GoM-HYCOM 1/50 used realistic river forcing parameterization with daily river discharge obtained from the Army Corps of Engineers and … Read more

Reconciling economic impacts and stakeholder perception: A management challenge in the Florida Gulf Coast fisheries

As global fisheries management shifts towards ecosystem-based management, responsible organizations and governments must also address the socio-economic impacts of this shift. This study evaluates potential impacts of such management shift with a case study of Pulley Ridge (PR), an ecologically rich area in the Gulf of Mexico, on fishermen and economies of Florida’s Gulf Coast. … Read more

Montastraea cavernosa corallite structure demonstrates distinct morphotypes across shallow and mesophotic depth zones in the Gulf of Mexico

This study assessed morphological variation of the depth-generalist coral Montastraea cavernosa across shallow and mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) using thirteen corallite metrics. While corallite structure differed significantly across sites, we observed that mean corallite diameters were smaller and spacing was greater in mesophotic corals as compared to shallow corals. Additional … Read more

Ecophysiology of mesophotic reef-building corals in Hawai’i is influenced by symbiont-host associations, photoacclimatization, trophic plasticity, and adaptation

Mesophotic reef corals remain largely unexplored in terms of the genetic adaptations and physiological mechanisms to acquire, allocate, and use energy for survival and reproduction. In the Hawaiian Archipelago, the Leptoseris species complex form the most spatially extensive mesophotic coral ecosystem known and provide habitat for a unique community. To study how the ecophysiology of … Read more

Genetic connectivity dynamics of the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta, across the Florida reef tract and Gulf of Mexico

Resolving the genetic connectivity of coral reef taxa is necessary to understand the community dynamics of these increasingly threatened ecosystems. Herein, we assess the fine scale genetic connectivity of six populations of the Atlantic giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta (Schmidt, 1870), using microsatellite markers. This survey included populations from across the Florida Reef Tract and … Read more

Characterizing population structure of coral-associated fauna from mesophotic and shallow habitats in the Caribbean

Symbiotic relationships are a common phenomenon among marine invertebrates, forming both obligatory and facultative dependencies with their host. Here, we investigate and compare the population structure of two crustacean species associated with both shallow and mesophotic ecosystems: an obligate symbiont barnacle (Ceratoconcha domingensis), of the coral Agaricia lamarcki and a meiobenthic, free-living harpacticoid copepod (Laophontella … Read more

Population connectivity of the plating Agaricia lamarcki from southwest Puerto Rico

Identifying genetic connectivity and discrete population boundaries is an important objective for management of declining Caribbean reef-building corals. A double digest restriction-associated DNA sequencing protocol was utilized to generate 321 single nucleotide polymorphisms to estimate patterns of horizontal and vertical gene flow in the brooding Caribbean plate coral, Agaricia lamarcki. Individual colonies (n = 59) … Read more