We are happy to announce the publication of our first stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) intervention manuscript, “Assessing the effectiveness of two intervention methods for stony coral tissue loss disease on Montastraea cavernosa” in Scientific Reports. Master’s graduate and current Coral Research Technician Erin Shilling is the first author on this study, which includes the majority of her Master’s thesis research.

The full article is open-access and can be downloaded here.
Additional coverage can be found in Science News and FAU's press release. 

This experiment compared chlorinated epoxy and antibiotic methods to treat SCTLD lesions to study how successful they were at potentially halting the lesion/overall disease progression when compared to untreated, SCTLD-affected controls. We found that while the antibiotic treatment (which is comprised of amoxicillin combined with an ointment “Base 2B” made by Ocean Alchemists LLC) was 95% effective at healing individual lesions, it unfortunately did not prevent the colonies from developing new SCTLD lesions over time. These findings are still extremely promising in the face of the SCTLD outbreak, which continues to spread throughout the Caribbean and for which the cause remains unknown.​

​This project was made possible through a collaborative effort and funding through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Coral Disease Advisory Committee. Additional financial support for this research was provided by the PADI Foundation and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation. We would also like to give a huge thanks to Ryan Eckert, Jeff Beal, Alexis Sturm, Michael Studivan, Matt Roy, and Jimmy Nelson for all their contributions to the project. Plus, a big thank you to our amazing collaborators Karen Neely, Brian Walker, Cheryl Woodley, Val Paul, Kristi Kerrigan, and more for their input on experimental design and disease intervention methodology.
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We are excited to share our most recent article published in Scientific Reports “Population genetic structure of the great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, across the Cuban archipelago with comparisons between microsatellite and SNP markers." Voss Lab graduate student Lexie Sturm is first author on the study that also comprises part of her Ph.D. dissertation research at FAU Harbor Branch.       

​The full article is open-access and can be downloaded here.
 
The study stemmed from a collaborative effort between U.S. and Cuban scientists to study Cuba’s shallow and mesophotic reefs and their regional connectivity. On a joint research cruise in 2017, Voss led a team collecting samples of the coral Montastraea cavernosa from shallow (0-5 m) and a few mesophotic (30-150 m) colonies throughout the Cuban archipelago. These samples were then genotyped using nine microsatellite markers and a 2bRAD SNP genotyping approach that generated >9,000 SNPs. By implementing both of these molecular approaches, we were able to better characterize the population genetic structure of M. cavernosa in the region and compare the merits and drawbacks of both marker classes.

Both the microsatellite and the SNP datasets were able to identify significant levels of genetic differentiation among samples from the mesophotic population, Banco de San Antonio, and all other shallow sampling populations. Furthermore, the SNP dataset identified significant levels of genetic differentiation among most of the shallow sites and indicated that differentiation was highest between western and eastern coral populations in Cuba. From the SNP dataset, we were also able to identify a number of samples belonging to a unique genetic cluster. These samples were more commonly from the western populations where strong, oceanic currents dominate the hydrodynamic regime, perhaps connecting these populations to other reefs within the Tropical Western Atlantic region. We are continuing to generate SNP-based genetic datasets for other M. cavernosa populations in the region to evaluate regional metapopulation dynamics and to assess genetic connectivity between Cuba and other populations in the U.S., Mexico, and Belize. 

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 and student funding from the NSF GRFP, Women Divers Hall of Fame, and Florida Sea Grant Scholars program.  We are grateful to all of our American and Cuban colleagues who participated or facilitated this collaborative research expedition and follow-up molecular analyses.  Special thanks go to the co-authors of the study including PhD student Ryan Eckert at Harbor Branch, Juliett González Méndez from Cuba's National Center of Protected Areas,  and Dr. S. Patricia González Díaz, director of the Center for Marine Research at the University of Havana.
 

FAU's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute has launched the Behind the Science Seminar Series, giving those interested in marine science and engineer a chance to learn more about our research and faculty. Dr. Voss recently participated in the series through a live-streamed interview that is available on Harbor Branch's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGv-vokHjww&t=66s.  

In 2019, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries partnered with the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration to expand our understanding of sanctuaries through deep-water exploration and research shared in real-team via telepresence. Aboard the R/V Manta, academic research scientists, Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration staff, and Flower Garden Bank National Marine Sanctuary staff ventured into the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana. There, they explored areas that have been proposed for sanctuary expansion and investigated the biodiversity and connectivity of mesophotic coral ecosystems. Dr. Joshua Voss served as the science lead on the first leg of the expedition.  He recently partnered with NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research, NOAA Sanctuaries, and Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants to present highlights from the expedition and recounts their important discoveries. The video is available at www.youtube.com/watch?v=eetsWxKeGh0.  

For this study we identified the microscopic dinoflagellate algae (Family Symbiodiniaceae) found within M. cavernosa colonies across a depth gradient from 10–35 m. ​All M. cavernosa sampled were previously genotyped (Eckert, Studivan, and Voss 2019) and we found a strong genetic break between deep (25 and 35 m) and shallow (10 and 16 m) populations. We used the ITS2 ​region of Symbiodiniaceae ribosomal coding DNA and the newly-developed SymPortal (Hume et al. 2019) analysis frame work to identify putatitve Symbiodiniaceae taxa associated with these previously genotyped corals.

Shallow and deep M. cavernosa populations in our Belize study sites harbored different Symbiodiniaceae. Shallow populations had much more variable Symbiodiniaceae compared to deep populations. Notably, this split follows a similar trend to the host population genetic structure, with differences between shallow populations (back reef/ reef crest) and deeper populations (fore reef/ reef wall).

Following his successful thesis defense in December, Ian completed his remaining graduate requirements, submitted his thesis to the FAU Graduate College, and graduated on December 12th!
 
Ian has accepted a position as a research technician with the Voss Laboratory effective immediately and will be responsible for managing the lab as well as coordinating the Voss Laboratory’s local field work.
 
Congratulations Ian!

​Voss lab graduate student Ian Combs successfully defended his master’s thesis research in a standing room only seminar on Thursday, October 31. Ian’s project is part of an ongoing collaborative effort to understand and combat stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) throughout southeast Florida. His research focused on monitoring the spread of SCTLD throughout the northern Florida Reef Tract, and characterized the impacts of SCTLD on individual colonies of Montastraea cavernosa using 3D photogrammetry.  Traditional coral surveys combined with the 3D photogrammetry method provided greater insights into the spatial/temporal dynamics and impacts of this disease on individual corals and reef populations than surveys alone.
 
This project was funded primarily by Florida Department of Environmental Protection with additional support from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, EPA, and the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation through the Indian River Lagoon Scholarship program.  Ian will continue working with the Voss Lab on SCTLD-related projects as a research technician.
 
Congratulations Ian!

The Voss Lab led a 16-day Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration Research and Technology (CIOERT) mission exploring shallow and mesophotic reefs off of the Florida Keys, Dry Tortugas and Pulley Ridge aboard the University of Miami’s R/V Walton Smith. FAU-Harbor Branch research professor John Reed served as cheif scientist on the first leg which focused on mesophotic community and habitat characterization using the UNCW Mohawk ROV. Voss Lab graduate students Lexie Sturm and Ian Combs made up “Team Coral” on leg 1. Our primary goals were to survey mesophotic areas of interest, identify and annotate any observed cnidarian species, while also working alongside Team Sponge and Team Algae who were focused on surveying, sampling, and assessing the diversity of these taxa throughout these understudied mesophotic communities. Team Coral was also on the lookout for signs of coral disease, specifically stony coral tissue loss disease, as little is known about the prevalence or dynamics of this disease below 60 feet in depth. 

After a change-out day in Key West, the whole Voss Lab reunited and were joined by other Harbor Branch graduate students and collaborators to begin the diving leg of the cruise, led by project PI and executive director of CIOERT, Joshua Voss. Sampling efforts were split among a shallow team (focused on reefs shallower than 30 m) and a technical diving team (30-60 m). Three species of coral, Montastraea cavernosa, Stephanocoenia intersepta, and Orbicella faveolata and two species of sponge Xestospongia muta and Niphates erecta were collected for population genetics and connectivity assessments. These species are not only relatively abundant across the reefs of southwestern Florida and throughout the Tropical Western Atlantic but also are depth-generalist found on both shallow and mesophotic reefs. These samples will be used to identify genetic structure across the depth ranges of the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas and will contribute to our understanding of population connectivity across reefs in the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean.  We also conducted roving diver surveys to assess coral disease prevalence at shallow and mesophotic reefs and conducted coral mucus sampling of colonies that appeared to be affected by stony coral tissue loss disease.

We thank the staff of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary for working with us on cruise planning, objectives, and permitting as well as all the CIOERT researchers, Harbor Branch graduate students, collaborators, including Jeff Beal (FWC) and Jake Emmert (Moody Gardens), and the crew of the R/V Walton Smith for participating on this cruise and playing integral roles in its success. We can’t wait to start analyzing the mountains of generated data and samples, stay tuned for the cruise report and future mesophotic reef science! Until then, check out the highlights from this cruise on our Flickr page!

CIOERT Expedition Mesophotic Coral Reefs: Connectivity and Health in the FKNMS and Pulley Ridge by the numbers

• 88.8 hours of bottom-time
• 49 site targets
• 9,661 images and screenshots
• 1,156 coral, algae, and sponge samples

Leg 1 Science Personnel: 

• John Reed, Chief Scientist, HBOI-FAU
• Shirley Pomponi, Sponge PI, HBOI-FAU
• Dennis Hanisak, Algal PI, HBOI-FAU
• Stephanie Farrington, Research Scientist/Database Manager, HBOI-FAU
• Alexis Sturm, Coral lead, PhD student, HBOI-FAU
• Ian Combs, Coral disease biologist, masters student, HBOI-FAU
• Megan Conkling, Sponge biologist, HBOI-FAU
• Cris Diaz, Sponge biologist, HBOI-FAU
• Kate Beckett, Algal biologist, HBOI-FAU
• Jason White, ROV pilot/ technician, UNCW
• Eric Glidden, ROV pilot/ technician, UNCW
• Don Liberatore, ROV operator/technician, HBOI-FAU

Leg 2 Science Personnel:

• Joshua Voss, Chief Scientist, Coral PI, HBOI-FAU
• Alexis Sturm, Coral lead, PhD student, HBOI-FAU
• Michael Studivan, Coral biologist, Postdoc, HBOI-FAU
• Ian Combs, Coral disease biologist, masters student, HBOI-FAU
• Ryan Eckert, Coral biologist, PhD student, HBOI-FAU
• Erin Shilling, Coral disease biologist, masters student, HBOI-FAU
• Michael McCallister, Fish biologist, HBOI-FAU
• Jeff Beal, Restoration Specialist, FWC
• Caroline Haymaker, Coral biologist, masters student,  HBOI-FAU
• Juliett Ruggiero, Sponge biologist, masters student, HBOI-FAU
• Jake Emmert, Dive specialist, Moody Gardens
• Stephanie Farrington, Research Scientist/Database Manager, HBOI-FAU

Post By: Lexie Sturm