NSU Horizons Fall 2011

17 horizons Ph.D. candidate Abby Renegar checks the Oceanographic Center’s outdoor coral nursery where the researchers grow coral, such as staghorn, for restoration. hosted the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium, the largest coral reef research meeting in the world. Held every four years, this was the first time in 30 years that the symposium was held in the United States. “Hosting the conference was huge,” Riegl said. “It put us on the map as a coral reef research heavyweight.” Diminishing Resource Everything done by this heavy- weight is designed to better under- stand and provide information to conservationists and managers that will help preserve and utilize one of Florida’s most important resources— the 43,059 square miles of coral reefs. Once plentiful, these living ecologi- cal systems are now in decline. Threats include ship groundings and anchors, the overgrowth of algae in areas of excessive nutrients, the frequent hunt for aquarium fish, and pollutants carried to the ocean by storm drains and sewers. Corals also are under severe threat by climate change, which can raise ocean temperatures and acidity to lethal levels for corals. As a result, reefs die. This disrupts the ecosystem because they provide shelter, food, and living space for fish and other marine life, as well as a thriving economy for local and regional economies all over the world. This large-scale ecological and physical change will likely worsen in the future. “If the reefs die, the fishing industry will die, and tourism will die,” said Bill Gallo, an architect who is the chair- man of the OC’s Dean’s Development Council (DDC), an advisory board for the dean. “We need to get this message out to the public to raise awareness.” The business community, Gallo said, needs to work closely with NCRI to collaborate on ways to keep healthy populations of coral reefs available for the increase in demand brought by tourism. The council’s goal is to raise funding for scholarships, endowments for faculty chairs, research projects, educational programs, and equipment. The DDC also helps develop programs and establish partnerships. The Road Ahead NCRI researchers see declining reefs as a challenge to overcome. Researchers like Sam Purkis, Ph.D., OC associate professor, and Brian Walker, Ph.D., NCRI research scientist, are developing sophisticated maps of reefs that provide detailed information for other scientists and environmental authorities to make better decisions. Investigators like David Gilliam, Ph.D., OC assistant professor, are tracking pollutants and other threats to save coral reefs in Florida and Mexico. Joe Lopez, Ph.D., associate professor, studies reef sponges and their microbe commu- nities, which also live in the reef ecosystems. Scientists, like Riegl, are using mathematical models to monitor coral reef damage. With the upcoming opening of the Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Eco- systems Science Research Facility, every- one at NCRI sees a bright future. “It will give us more room, and more exposure, and help us attract top researchers and students,” Purkis said. Abby Renegar, M.S., a Ph.D. candidate at the OC, said she is excited that the building will have laboratories equipped with running sea water, allow- ing researchers to maintain thousands of corals and produce coral nurseries on a much larger scale. Dodge sees a future where the OC and all of its programs grow in the number of grants, researchers, and students, as well as in the quality of research, education, and outreach. “We want to make more discoveries and be known as one of the best oceanographic schools in the world.” n Please visit www.nova.edu/ncri/news/ncri_veracruz.html to view a video of NCRI scientists working at the Veracruz Coral Reef System State Park.