Joshua Voss, Ryan Eckert, Lexie Sturm, and Ashley Carreiro had an engaging and stimulating week with colleagues at the recent 2023 Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems Gordon Research Conference in Ventura, California.  This conference brings together the world's leaders in mesophotic research for a week of exchanging ideas and pushing the limits of the field. Josh presented in the Connectivity session and served as the discussion leader for the Disturbances session as well. Ryan, Lexie, and Ashley gave oral presentations in the early career focused Gordon Research Symposium as well as poster presentations in broader GRC.  We are very proud to announce that Ryan was awarded Best Overall Student Presentation for the conference, receiving a beautiful Shearwater Teric dive computer in recognition of his achievement. 

We are incredibly grateful to all our colleagues for such an outstanding event, particularly conference chair Marc Slattery from Ole Miss, and vice-chairs Tyler Smith from University of the Virgin Islands, and Heather Spalding from College of Charleston.  Ryan was elected to co-chair the next Mesophotic GRS, and Josh will rotate into the roles of vice-chair and then chair over the next two Mesophotic GRC cycles along with friend and colleague Gretchen Goodbody at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute.  

Congratulations to Voss Lab graduate students Lexie Sturm and Ashley Carreiro on their graduation! 

Lexie has earned her Ph.D. in Integrative Biology for her outstanding research on focused on assessing the population genetic structure of the great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, and their algal symbiont communities across shallow and upper-mesophotic reefs throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic. She combined field-based approaches including ROV, scuba, and technical diving surveys and sample collection with lab-based molecular techniques including microsatellites, RADseq SNP genotyping, and ITS2 sequencing approaches to expand our knowledge of the population dynamics of M. cavernosa and their algal symbiont assemblages.  Her work characterized the fine-scale genetic structure of this species in Flower Garden Banks, Cuba, Mexico, and the Florida Keys.  Lexie begins her NOAA Knauss Fellowship in early 2023 and will remain involved with the Voss Lab and FAU Harbor Branch in ongoing collaborations and technical diving missions.

Ashley earned her M.S. in Marine Science and Oceanography and focused on the environmental drivers of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Southeast Florida.  Her time series experiments demonstrated that unlike other coral diseases, nutrient amendments in Southeast Florida did not exacerbate coral tissue loss or disease spread.  These surprising results suggest that other factors such as temperature or host susceptibility may play more critical roles in driving SCTLD dynamics.  Ashley has been hired as a laboratory technician and will continue to lead and support coral disease research in south Florida and mesophotic coral exploration and characterization through our technical diving team.

Voss Lab Ph.D. candidate, Lexie Sturm, successfully defended her dissertation with the support of her lab mates, colleagues, friends, and family in an in-person and broadcast seminar on August 22. During her time at Harbor Branch, Lexie combined multiple field-based approaches including ROV, scuba, and technical diving surveys and sample collection with lab-based molecular techniques including microsatellites, RADseq SNP genotyping, and ITS2 sequencing approaches to study the ecology of shallow and mesophotic (30—150 m) coral communities. The ultimate goal of her dissertation research was to characterize the population genetic structure of the great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, and their algal symbiont communities across shallow and deeper, mesophotic reefs throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic. Lexie hopes that the high-resolution and geographically diverse genetic datasets she generated will be used by other researchers and reef managers alike to: assess the refugia potential of mesophotic coral populations, generate baselines of natural genetic diversity which can be used as benchmarks for restoration and outplanting, and to optimize and support the implementation of international networks of coral reef marine protected areas.
 
This project was funded primarily through the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology and Lexie was also supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and scholarships from Florida Sea Grant and Women Divers Hall of Fame. Following her graduation in December, Lexie is thrilled to continue working at the intersection of coral reef science, conservation, management, and policy as a Knauss Fellow in NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program!

Voss Lab graduate students Sydney Bell and Haley Davis recently made an unfortunate yet important discovery on the reefs of Bonaire: the first reported potential observations of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in the region. SCTLD was first identified and characterized in south Florida, but sadly has now been documented in several locations throughout the wider Caribbean. As of May 2022, SCTLD had not been reported yet in Bonaire nor in nearby Aruba or Curaçao. Initial surveys in June 2022 at four dive sites identified four species with active disease lesions, all of which are species known to be highly susceptible to SCTLD: Colpophyllia natans, Dendrogyra cylindrus, Meandrina meandrites, and Diploria labyrinthiformis. Our team quickly notified collaborators at Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA) and the Dutch Caribbean Nature Association (DCNA) to share data and help inform subsequent monitoring and response efforts. STINAPA and DCNA have also taken aggressive steps to help reduce the potential spread of SCTLD to other reefs in Bonaire, including temporary dive site closures.

​To learn more about FAU Harbor Branch’s coral disease research and intervention efforts visit https://vosslab.weebly.com/coral-health--disease.html.
​And for more information about coordinated SCTLD tracking and response in the wider Caribbean visit https://www.agrra.org/coral-disease-outbreak/. ​

We're very happy to announce that ​Voss Lab Ph.D. Candidate Alexis Sturm has been awarded a NOAA John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship. The Knauss Fellowship provides a unique educational and professional experience to graduate students or recent graduates who have an interest in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes resources and in the national policy decisions affecting those resources. She is one of six Florida graduate students among the 83 Knauss finalists selected for 2023!   

This is the second Knauss Fellowship awarded to a Voss Lab student.  Danielle Dodge Farelli was also selected as a Knauss Fellow in 2018 and has continued her professional career with NOAA, now serving as the Assistant Chief of Staff for NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
 
Lexie is looking forward to the placement week where she will interview with multiple offices across agencies throughout the Executive Branch including NOAA, EPA, and NSF, and will match into her host office. During her year-long appointment with the federal government, Lexie aims to connect her passions for marine science, management, and policy and to continue applying and supporting cutting-edge research for a purpose.
 
Prior to starting as a Knauss Fellow, Lexie will be defending her dissertation entitled Genetic structure of shallow and mesophotic populations of a dominant, broadcast spawning coral, Montastraea cavernosa, in the Gulf of Mexico and Western Caribbean on August 22nd at 2 PM.

​Congratulations Lexie!

The entire lab was thrilled to attend the 15th International Coral Reef Symposium in Germany this summer. More than 1100 coral reef scientists from 80 countries participated in this outstanding scientific conference.  In addition to the excellent presentations, plenary lectures, poster sessions, and workshops, ICRS 2022 also included a number of cultural, artistic, and networking events in beautiful and historic Bremen. 

​Our FAU Harbor Branch team was very well represented with 10 presentations:

• Joshua Voss et al. Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem Exploration and Characterization in the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Cuba, and Mesoamerica
• Ryan Eckert et al. Genetic connectivity and algal symbiont communities of shallow and mesophotic Stephanocoenia intersepta populations in Florida
• Alexis Sturm et al. Genetic connectivity patterns among shallow and mesophotic Montastraea cavernosa coral populations in the Gulf of Mexico and Western Caribbean
• Erin Shilling et al. Intervention strategies for diseased corals in Southeast Florida and potential impacts on mucus microbial communities 
• Allie Klein et al. Stony coral tissue loss disease susceptibility and resistance: Genomic and microbiome factors in Orbicella faveolata 
• Gabby Pantoni et al. Can coral restoration combat coral losses to stony coral tissue loss disease in the northern region of Florida's Coral Reef? (DEP/FWC)
• Sydney Bell et al. Can Genomic Information Help Predict Coral Restoration Success? 2bRAD Sequencing in a Multi-Species South Florida Coral Restoration Experiment 
• Ashley Carreiro et al.  Assessment of nutrient enrichment effects on stony coral tissue loss disease progression and microbial communities in Montastraea cavernosa corals
• Haley Davis & Joshua Voss. Hyposalinity thresholds for stony corals Montastraea cavernosa and Porites astreoides in southeast Florida 
• Michael Studivan et al. Optimizing stony coral tissue loss disease intervention strategies through whole-transcriptome gene expression profiling 

We are excited to share our most recent article now out in Frontiers in Marine Science entitled “Depth-Dependent Genetic Structuring of a Depth-Generalist Coral and its Symbiodiniaceae Algal Communities at Campeche Bank, Mexico.” This paper was led by Voss Lab graduate student, Lexie Sturm, it is her third first-author paper and third data chapter of her dissertation.
 
The full article can be accessed here.
 
This study came out of an exciting research expedition and collaboration among Voss Lab researchers and members of the Biodiversidad Marina de Yucatán (BDMY) working group including Dr. Nuno Simões a co-author on the manuscript. We participated on a 2019 dive expedition on the liveaboard M/V Caribbean Kraken to reefs on the Campeche Bank in the southern Gulf of Mexico. During the expedition, we dove and sampled at both Alacranes reef, the largest bank reef in the Gulf of Mexico and a Mexican National Park and at another site to the northeast, Bajos del Norte, a more poorly characterized but biodiverse reef. Diving onboard the active liveaboard with a combination of researchers and tourists had its benefits and challenges. Lexie and her co-author/dive buddy/fellow Voss Lab graduate student, Ryan Eckert only had access to air tanks and therefore were depth-limited. They were also on a strict timeline to collect the corals as the dive itinerary only gave them two days at each reef. Nevertheless, they were successful in collecting all their samples from their target depth zones and were excited to have the opportunity to share their research firsthand with the tourists onboard the trip!
 
Montastraea cavernosa corals were collected across multiple depth zones ranging from the shallow to the upper-mesophotic at 10, 15, 25, and 35 m across Alacranes and Bajos del Norte reefs. Back in the lab, Lexie worked with fellow co-author and Voss Lab graduate student Ashley Carreiro to extract the DNA from these samples. This DNA was used in two different molecular approaches, first the coral host was genotyped using a 2bRAD sequencing approach that generated over 10,000 SNP loci. Then DNA from the coral’s algal symbionts were amplified using Symbiodiniaceae specific primers for the ITS2 region, a common genetic marker for assessing algal symbiont community structure.
 
From this dual genetic dataset we identified depth-dependent genetic structuring of both the M. cavernosa coral host and the algal symbiont communities, identifying the strongest level of differentiation between the shallow (10,15 and 25 m) and upper-mesophotic (35 m) depth zones. Similarly to many of our previous studies, the magnitude of depth-dependent genetic structuring for both the coral and symbionts varied between location and was much stronger at Alacranes than at Bajos del Norte. This is an important result for management of these reef systems as the refugia potential of Alacranes' mesophotic coral populations may be limited, therefore, care should be taken to effectively protect and manage not only the shallow but also the deeper populations at this reef. It is currently unknown if there is a more significant genetic break deeper than what we could sample at Bajos del Norte, but this population's location near the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico and its relatively high levels of vertical connectivity suggest that it may be an important connectivity stepping stone for this regional metapopulation. Stay tuned for Lexie’s next paper to find out!
 
This work was funded by awards from NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research to the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology (CIOERT) at FAU Harbor Branch, an award from the NOAA National Center for Coastal Ocean Science through the Connectivity of Coral Ecosystems in the Northwest Gulf of Mexico project as well as student funding from the NSF GRFP, Women Divers Hall of Fame, and Florida Sea Grant Scholars program. We are grateful to all participants of the research expedition including members of the BDMY research group, the crew of the M/V Caribbean Kraken, and the University of Texas at Austin’s Genome Sequencing and Analysis Facility.

​We had an excellent overall experience in Bonaire and hope to return soon for research on their extensive reef systems. We've been conducting open circuit trimix technical dives on mesophotic reefs for several years, but now our technical dive team has the capacity to conduct CCR dives down to a depth of 200’ using trimix diluent, extending our bottom times and overall flexibility. We'll also save time and cost not having to refill open circuit trimix doubles every day.  Our CCR training will be a major advantage as we continue our research on MCEs in the northwest Gulf of Mexico during an expedition this coming summer in support of our collaborative  Connectivity of Coral Ecosystems project funded by NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and the Office of Ocean Exploration and Research in partnership with the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Meteorologist Glenn Glazer from local ABC affiliate WPBF 25 recently visited FAU Harbor Branch to learn about our research efforts in coral disease intervention and restoration.  He also interviewed FWC partner John Hunt, who helped spearhead the Restoration Team Trials experiment.  

To watch the full segment as aired on ABC, follow this link:
https://www.wpbf.com/article/the-alarming-disappearance-of-our-coral-reefs/39764904