NSU Horizons Spring 2016

15 NSU HORIZONS I f the weather is good, chances are you will see graduate students from NSU’s Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography plunging into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, doing their part to restore an endangered coral species. At the Halmos College’s own on-land coral nursery and at 14 outplant sites, from Lauderdale-by-the-Sea to south of Port Everglades, graduate students like Elizabeth Larson and Kate Correia’s fieldwork includes delicately maintaining—sometimes with household items like toothbrushes—the staghorn coral they’ve grown in their nursery. Then, when a coral colony is ready to be planted on ocean reefs, they transport the staghorns in giant garbage bins of saltwater to a designated outplant site. “An outplant day is very exciting, because you get to really see the fruits of your effort,” said Correia, a third-year graduate student. On outplant days, Correia and her fellow students clean the substrate of any algae or sediment that may have accumulated on its surface, then mix together a two-part marine epoxy the size of a Hershey’s Kiss. They stick the coral in the epoxy, place a small nail in the substrate, and tie the corals to the nail. A month later, they return to the site to monitor the corals’ growth and continue regular visits as long as needed. “We go out with data sheets and cameras, take photos, and monitor the health of those outplanted corals, looking at things like disease and bleaching and preda- tion,” Correia said. “It’s a pretty tight ship. Everybody knows what to do before we go out and has done it before; so, they know how things run. It’s usually a full day; and after the outplanting day, it’s a slap on the back that we’ve really done something.” Thanks to grants fromThe Nature Conservancy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NSU students have been participating in outplant events since 2008, officially establishing the Coral Nursery Initiative (CNI) in 2009. The program is a response to the staghorn coral’s 2006 placement on the U.S. Endangered Species Act, because of disease and pollution stress dating back to the late 1970s. “Once a species is listed under the act, there’s a heightened sense of responsibility to initiate efforts to restore the population,” said David Gilliam, M.S., Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences at the Halmos College, who oversees the initiative. “Nurseries are one of those tools that have been embraced by stakeholders as a means to try and help the population recover, by growing in these managed environments and then outplanting products from the nurseries onto the natural reef,” added Gilliam. The assistant professor earned his master’s degree in 1992 and his Ph.D. in 1999, both were from NSU. Coral reefs are the result of thousands of years of coral growth, and staghorn corals, in particular, are vital to the ocean ecosystem. Because of their complex branching structure, they not only create reefs, but they foster habitats for fishes and other vertebrates. Studies by the NOAA have estimated that coral reefs contribute more than $2 million to Broward County’s economy, creating more than 36,000 jobs in fields such as tourism, the restaurant and hospitality industries, and recreational diving and fishing. “Tourists come down for our beaches and our offshore activities,” Gilliam said. “So without our reefs and without our beaches, Florida would be dramatically affected.” Steve d’Oliveira, public information officer for the town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, is well aware of the reefs’ importance. “We have a coral reef within 150 yards off the beach, and we’re very popular with beach divers,” he said. “So we’re trying to do whatever we can to enhance our near-shore marine environment.” D’Oliveira said the town also was aware of NSU’s excellent reputation for coral nursery work. That’s why, in 2014, the Lauderdale-by-the-Sea town commission bequeathed a five-year grant to the Coral Nursery Initiative that is, according to the principal beneficiaries, BY JOHN THOMASON