Tortugas Take Two

The FWRI's Finfish group just returned from another successful 10 day trip to the Dry Tortugas National Park aboard KML's R/V Diodon.



The group visited over 60 sites (which included 9 sites at Riley's Hump in the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve over 18 miles from Fort Jefferson) and conducted 65 research dives during the span of 8 days in the field with AVERAGED sustained wind speed just over 20 mph. As you can see below even the fish were impressed with just how very hard the team worked!


The goal of this trip was to again retrieve, download, and replace acoustic receivers (Vemco VR2) at various locations throughout the park that are tracking the movements of tagged fish, mainly snappers and groupers, but are also recording other researchers' animal movements such as sea turtles and sharks.



The early returns of the data have shown that mutton snappers that reside near Fort Jefferson in the newly formed Research Natural Area (RNA) are traveling back and forth between there and the group's sites at Riley's Hump that are known to have spawning aggregations in the summer months.



KML staff was again happy to be involved in this research and looks forward to possible trips with FWRI scientists in the future.

Hot Summer Nights on the Reef

M. faveolata colonies tented in anticipation of the annual mass coral spawning event

Once again, Dr. Mary Alice Coffroth, from the State University of New York at Buffalo, staged her coral spawning research out of KML. Coordinating an army of 30 AAUS divers and snorkelers from multiple institutions, researchers assembled out at Looe Key Reef for the anticipated Acropora palmatta (elkhorn) spawning after the August full moon (Aug 25-28). But no luck this year!

Divers placing mesh nets over coral heads prior to spawning

Meanwhile, another team of divers traveled each evening to Cheeca Rocks on KML's R/V Diodon to capture the Montastrea faveolata (mountainous star coral) spawning event Aug 27- Sept 1. Success! The spawn was brought back to KML's Wet Lab and reared in special chambers of circulating filtered seawater, until ready to settle on ceramic tiles.

First coral rearing Kreisel is up and running!

Coral rearing activities in KML's Wet Lab

The new coral recruits will be used in various experiments to study algal symbiont uptake and selectivity both in the field and at the University of Miami coral nursery.

Divers setting out tiles with newly-settled coral recruits
and

Spectacular sunset from Cheeca Rocks

The Summer of Sharks

This summer KML has been glad to again be a part of Dr. Neil Hammerschlag's shark research.

Dr. Hammerschlag is from the University of Miami's R.J. Dunlap Marine Conservation Program and his work focuses on examining shark biology, population dynamics, and habitat utilization which are all needed to ensure their conservation and improve their management.

The group has gone out 10 times with KML on the R/V Diodon to locations off the reef near Long Key, in Hawk Channel, bayside near Conch Key, and in the Everglades. All trips have been very successful and they have been able to collect data on over 60 sharks and even satellite tag 3 of them (2 Hammerheads and a Bull). Follow the link below to see where Chad, Rose, and Sandy are heading...

http://www.rjd.miami.edu/learning-tools/follow-sharks/

Last month a news crew from CNN accompanied Hammerschlag's group along with a troop of high school volunteers that are always eager to learn more about the ocean's top predators. CNN's story is about how the sharks are responding to the oil spill and the implications it may have. Follow the link below to see the story...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/28/oil.spill.sharks/index.html?hpt=T2

The KML staff is looking forward to assisting the group with their upcoming research trips next month.

The evolution and development of polyclad flatworms

The tiger flatworm, Maritigrella crozieri on the ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata.

A team of researchers from University College London (Professor Max Telford, Dr Kate Rawlinson, Fraser Simpson), University of North Florida (Kevin Olsen) and Cambridge University (Dr Andrew Gillis) are staying at KML for a month. They are collecting embryos and hatchlings of the tiger flatworm Maritigrella crozieri. This beautiful worm is abundant in the Florida Keys, and is commonly found in association with its favorite food item – the mangrove ascidian Ecteinascidia turbinata.

Andrew examining Ecteinascidia turbinata on the mangrove roots.

Fieldwork involves the collection of sexually mature worms from clumps of Ecteinascidia by snorkeling and kayaking in mangrove creeks. These worms are then brought back to the lab, where their eggs and larval stages are preserved for future genetic analysis.

Kevin diligently cleaning an aquarium of Maritigrella crozieri in KML's Common Dry Lab.

This material will be used as part of a long-term study to better understand how different marine invertebrates develop from a single cell to an adult, often via a series of seemingly very different developmental stages.The team, pictured here enjoying cold drinks from the Midway Café after a hot morning in the mangroves of Tavernier Key. From left to right; Kevin Olsen, Fraser Simpson, Kate Rawlinson and Andrew Gillis.

Sea Star Larvae Research

Earlier this month Professor Isidro Bosch from SUNY Geneseo in New York and KML staff took a trip out to the Gulf Stream between Alligator Reef and Tennessee Reef to collect and isolate sea star larvae using plankton trawls.

The trip was a great success and they were able to isolate over thirty larvae which will make for work that will last over the next month or two.

These larvae are very important to Bosch's research, and normally very difficult to collect. In the past they have been collected from the Sargasso Sea or from the Gulf Stream off Ft. Pierce, well north of the Florida Keys. This is the first time they've been collected this far south, so learning a bit more about their geographic distribution was an added bonus to the large number of specimens collected.

The larvae are of considerable scientific interest to the professor for two reasons...

First, they are able to clone themselves, which is a very unusual strategy among larvae of non-parasitic animals. The cloning process involves many interesting developmental changes in tissues and cell lines, including the action of a group of cells that are akin to stem cells found in many other animals.

Second, the larvae seem to benefit from what might be a mutualistic association with large numbers of bacteria that live under the larval cuticle.

Bosch's immediate goal is to identify the type of bacteria living with the larvae and characterize its physiology. Ultimately the goal is to better understand what if anything the larvae get from the association and whether the bacteria are needed in order for the larvae to clone themselves.

Since the trip Bosch has been able to establish bacterial cultures from the samples collected. The next steps are to extract, amplify, and eventually sequence DNA from the bacteria to help determine what group of microbes they belong to. He has also preserved larvae for genetic work and for studies of clonal development.

For any further details or questions contact Professor Bosch at (bosch@geneseo.edu).

The role of predation on survivorship of coral recruits

Mike Evans, Masters candidate at SUNY Buffalo with Dr. Howard Lasker, has been at KML since early May. He is studying the role of predation on coral recruit survivorship of the gorgonian coral, Briarium asbestinum, and the scleractinian coral, Porites asteroides.

While grazing rarely results in mortality of adult coral, predation on single polyp recruits would presumably kill those individuals, with the potential to impact the abundance of adult colonies.

To assess the effect of predation on recruit survivorship, newly-settled polyps of each species were placed at East Turtle Shoals in one of 5 treatments that excluded different combinations of known coral predators.Hardware cloth cages which totally or partially enclosed settled recruits

Exposed polyps settled on branches (B. asbestinum) or plexi-plates (P. asteroides), floating above or attached directly to cinderblocks

Recruits were counted 3 times per week over a four week period to determine differences in survivorship between treatments and to assess the roles of various predators on coral recruit mortality.