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
Leg 1 Science Personnel:
Leg 2 Science Personnel:
Post By: Lexie Sturm
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
