Seawater is once again flowing at KML!

But first a brief glimpse behind the scenes these last 4 months:
As another hurricane season drew to an end, the beginnings of the new seawater system unfolded and we could finally focus on the task at hand.

October 2008 behind the KML wetlab

November 2008:
Laying drain pipes, setting up and leveling a variety of tanks and wet tables and plumbing them to the drain.

The pipes had to be carefully covered with dirt - 1 wheel barrow load at a time

Mike and Bill carefully selected and moved large tanks into position with equipment on-hand

A new view of the outer wet lab under the shade lattice with more tanks in place

Old Shallows 4 had to be cleaned out, repaired, sealed, and painted with a special epoxy paint to prepare it for our new seawater holding pond

Bill is the master-mind behind the building of the seawater intake system - affectionately called "the octopus" (well, it really has only 6 legs but it is a very impressive tangle of PVC!) Seawater was actually pumping into Shallows 4 by Christmas!

Three 3-hp Jacuzzi pumps draw water from the lagoon in front of the wetlab through a common uptake manifold to 3" outflow pipes over the 1000 gal settling tank in Shallows 4

Three smaller 3/4-hp Jacuzzi pumps send seawater from Shallows 4 to the various tanks

Seawater lines plumbed to the tanks - Bill had seawater running to the first 10 tanks New Years Eve 2008!! More tanks will soon be on-line and ready to fill.

Cleaning old Shallows 5 took a solid week, with help from several of the Marathon Lab staff. Three years of post-Wilma muck and debris had to be shoveled out. Major cracks were patched, old marcite chipped away and removed. A 2" trash pump sucked out the last of the sludge from the pit.

January 16, 2009 we had water running through the entire system... ....overflowing into the large Shallows (formerly Shallows 5).

A variety of odd critters have already made it their home!

A new boat at the KML dock

Happy New Year at KML! We are excited to announce the newest boat in our fleet, the R/V Diodon (Yes, the spiny puffer fish!).
This 30' Island Hopper, powered by twin Yamaha 4-stroke 250 hp engines, will carry up to 23 snorkelers comfortably to all of the various marine habitats around the Middle Keys.

Thus far, we have taken her on a 24 mile run to East Cape Sable to assist our SEAKEYS staff in tending their northwest Florida Bay C-man station.

Invertebrate class from NSU visits KML

Students from Nova Southeastern University recently came to KML to study invertebrates in the field with their instructor, Dr. Charles Messing. They explored creatures at Old Dan Bank.....
...and snorkeled off-shore near Long Key State Park.

New dive gear washdown area

Fall has been a busy time at KML, both on and off the water. New and returning researchers have been on-site conducting their studies and have been very excited at the progress of the rebuilding projects. We have housed several classes in our dorms and taken visiting groups out to explore the nearby marine habitats.

Divers and snorkelers can now enjoy the use of our new gear wash-down area at the end of a day on the water. We have 2 large tubs for wet-suits and dive BC's and fins. In addition, there are now 3 smaller tubs designated just for regulators, masks and snorkels, and camera equipment. Fresh-water showers are also available for a quick rinse-off.




Future plans include a second wash-down area to be constructed out near our wet lab.

SEAKEYS Monitoring Program at KML

By Jon Fajans, SEAKEYS Program Manager & Andrew Crowder, SEAKEYS Research Assistant

SEAKEYS, which stands for Sustained Ecological Research Related to the Management of the Florida Keys Seascape, is a research framework for scientists organized by the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO) in 1989, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Keys Marine Lab provides the SEAKEYS program a base for its operations. As part of SEAKEYS, FIO, in cooperation with the National Data Buoy Center (NDBC), established six enhanced Coastal Marine Automated Network (C-MAN) environmental monitoring stations. The program is now sustained annually through grants from NOAA and the EPA.

Renovated SEAKEYS building at KML (formerly the Conch Lab)

The SEAKEYS C-Man stations, located throughout the Florida Keys and the Bay, provide a wealth of oceanographic and weather data used by marine ecosystem managers and scientists conducting research. Scientists investigating topics like coral bleaching and algae blooms are not the only people that depend upon the real-time data provided by the oceanographic stations. Boaters, anglers, and divers, including commercial operators, also take advantage of being able to check the wind speed and direction on the internet before they leave the dock.

C-man station LONF1 Florida Bay north of Long Key

The SEAKEYS network encompasses the geographic scale of the Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. The data is transmitted hourly via a Geo-stationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite (GOES) providing near real-time environmental baseline data for researchers, resource managers, and the public. These stations record hourly wind speed, wind direction, air temperature, barometric pressure, sea temperature, salinity, and terrestrial solar irradiance. These data are available on the web at the following sites: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/Florida.shtml and http://www.coral.noaa.gov/seakeys/real_data.shtml.

A seventh monitoring station, a cooperative effort between FIO and the University of South Florida's Coastal Oceanographic Monitoring Program (USF/COMPS), is located in Northwest Florida Bay. This site has been down since hurricanes Katrina and Wilma destroyed the monitoring equipment and is expected to be back online fall 2008. Upon completion this data will also be available by visiting:http://comps1.marine.usf.edu/nfb/index.shtml or one of the websites listed above.

In addition to the rebuilding of the station in Florida Bay, this year the SEAKEYS Program began upgrading all of their stations throughout the Keys to process at a high data rate to accommodate a new suite of sensors that will greatly enhance the data. The oceanographic sensors that will be at all seven monitoring stations are a Falmouth Scientific NXIC-CT sensor, that measures water conductivity, temperature, salinity, and can power up to five other sensors, a Biospherical PAR sensor, which will show the amount of biologically productive light reaching the water that is important for coral growth, and a Falmouth Scientific 1-D wave sensor, that will give tide information and wave heights. Also, there will be Solar Light underwater UVB sensors at Fowey Rocks (FWYF1), Molasses Reef (MLRF1), Sombrero Reef (SMKF1), Sand Key (SANF1), and Pulaski Shoal (PLSF1) which will cover the entire Sanctuary reef tract. UVB rays from the sun are important for photosynthesis in the symbiotic algae found in coral tissues. MLRF1 will also get CO2 and pH sensors for a closer look at the impacts of global climate change on the reefs of the Florida Keys.

In the near future SEAKEYS will also be adding their first buoy creating an eighth station off of Carysfort Reef thanks to a generous contribution from the Ocean Reef Foundation. This station (CRYF1) is a YSI buoy that is over ten feet tall and will be replacing one of the corner buoys of the Sanctuary Protected Area (SPA) at Carysfort Reef near the Gulf Stream. Along with the standard oceanographic and meteorological data that the other SEAKEYS stations provide, the buoy will be equipped with a new Falmouth Scientific 3-D wave sensor that will not only give wave height and direction, but current direction and speed also. In addition, this sensor will provide water clarity readings which will be helpful to the anglers and divers of the Upper Keys. The SEAKEYS staff hopes that this cutting edge science will be well received by the public, which may lead to funding opportunities that would allow them to apply this technology to other locations throughout the Keys, such as deep water wrecks for added dive safety.

For more information about this program visit: http://www.keysmarinelab.org/seakeys.htm

Or contact the program manager at: jsfajans@keysmarinelab.org

Sea Turtle nesting on Long Key

Sea turtle nesting season stretches from May 1st through October 31st here in the Keys.
















The Loggerhead turtles are usually done nesting by early September but "turtlers" continue to monitor the beaches for the occasional Green or Hawksbill nest.

Long Key State Park staff and Save-a-Turtle volunteers have been monitoring the beaches of Long Key since early April. Walking the beaches each morning, they monitor the previous night's nesting activities. Only 10 Loggerhead nests were marked and monitored this year, 3 of which were within the State Park.


The eggs typically hatch 50-75 days later. The 7 nests located outside of the Park averaged 110 eggs per nest with a 54% hatching rate. Losses due to predation were around 15%, and typically are due to raccoons. The nest pictured above was flooded during the high tides and storm surges due to hurricanes (Faye, Gustav, and Ike). Turtlers usually wait at least 10 days after hatching occurs to "dig" the nests and assess hatching success. In cases of poorly-placed nests or in areas were raccoon predation is a concern, they may dig the nest sooner. Any late hatchlings left behind in the nest are scooped up, held for the day, and safely escorted to the water's edge at nightfall.
A grand total of 422 Loggerhead hatchlings left the nests from the Long Key beaches this year.

Introducing the 2008 KML staff

L to R: Lisa, Heddy, Bill, Dave, Cindy, Mike

Lisa Tipsword - operations manager
Heddy MacBain - office assistant (keeps us all in line)
Dave Norman & Bill Ferrell - marine and technical support (the guys who keep KML running!)
Cindy Lewis & Mike McCallister - marine biologists

KML tote bag

A new addition to Keys Marine Lab's line of apparel!

Most of us are of the "reduce, re-use, and recycle" mindset. Now you can have your own KML "green" bag for shopping or travel around town. Handy side pouches for cell phones or water bottles. We now offer our "KML blue" tote bags for a suggested donation of $5.00.

All KML apparel is also available online through the Wildlife Foundation of Florida
http://shop.wildlifeflorida.org

Our Marina Dorm is open again!

KML has weathered Hurricanes Fay and Gustav so far this year. Fay caused a mandatory evacuation for a few days days. Rain and wind (30-45 knots here on Long Key) were a minor inconvenience as Gustav passed. Now we're all watching the approach of Hanna, Ike, and Josephine!












In spite of all that, reconstruction at the Lab has continued and our Marina Dorm is once again open for use. Check out the substantial new stairway and deck over-looking the marina basin!
Each building is being carefully power-washed and painted for a fresh new look - KML Green with Cream trim, blending subtlety with the palms and mangroves along the water's edge.

Can corals change their feeding mode based on environmental conditions?

The feeding ecology of corals of the Florida Reef Tract

Co-PIs Dr. Diego Lirman (University of Miami) and Dr. Mark Teece (State University of New York) were at the Keys Marine Lab during the first week of June 2008, conducting research on the feeding ecology of corals of the Florida Reef Tract. The goals of this project, funded by the Mote Marine Laboratory “Protect Our Reefs” License Plate Grant Funding, are to document: (1) the relative contribution of autotrophic and heterotrophic sources of nutrition and the nutritional status of corals under different environmental conditions; and (2) the role of nutritional sources and status on coral growth and survivorship.

To accomplish these research goals the researchers will use a combination of field collections, field transplants, microcosm experiments, and the application of novel molecular-level biochemical and stable isotopic techniques to determine the relative importance of heterotrophic feeding versus autotrophically-derived organic matter in satisfying the nutritional requirements of the coral host. The results of this study will provide important insights into how corals may be able to adapt to declines in water quality associated with increasing coastal development and environmental change, and will therefore have direct implications for the conservation of corals in Florida and elsewhere.

Recent research has clearly shown that the vulnerability of corals to disturbance can be influenced by their energetic status and that the lipid reserves stored by corals may allow them to increase their resistance and resilience to stress. Moreover, the ability of corals to switch their main feeding mode, from autotrophy to heterotrophy, under marginal conditions marginal (i.e., high turbidity, sedimentation, high nutrients) can provide an adaptive mechanism for sustained growth over the short-term that may be fundamental to corals exposed to multiple stressors. The increased availability of heterotrophic energy and nutrient sources in nearshore coastal habitats has already been linked to higher coral growth, increased energy storage, and increased resilience to disturbances such as coral bleaching. These findings have led to the hypothesis that inshore habitats in the Florida Keys may provide an expanded heterotrophic niche for corals not available to offshore corals that will be tested in the proposed project using molecular-level biochemical and stable isotopic techniques.

With logistic support provided by KML’s science staff, Lirman and Teece completed coral collections at 4 reefs in the Middle Florida Keys. At each reef (2 inshore and 2 offshore reefs), small (2-4 cm²) tissue shavings were collected from 2 abundant coral species, Porites astreoides and Montastraea faveolata, using a wood chisel. Some of the samples were kept for isotopic analyses and the remaining coral chips were used for a reciprocal transplant experiment established between inshore and offshore coral reefs. In addition to the coral tissue, researchers collected water, macroalgae, zooplankton, and sediment samples to analyze the isotopic composition of benthic primary producers and potential coral food sources. All samples were initially processed at the lab facilities provided by the Keys Marine Lab at Long Key, Florida.

In June, 2008, reciprocal coral transplants were performed using tissue chips from colonies from inshore and offshore habitats to document changes in nutritional sources and lipid and protein storage as corals are transplanted to different habitats, and to evaluate the role of nutritional sources and reserves on coral growth and survivorship. Coral chips were glued to terracotta tiles and placed on PVC platforms at Coral Gardens (inshore site) and 11-ft Mound (offshore sites). The growth and survivorship of the transplants will be monitored at bi-monthly intervals, and a subset of transplanted coral chips will be collected after 2, 4, and 6 months for isotopic and lipid analysis.

For information on this project, please contact D. Lirman (dlirman@rsmas.miami.edu) or M. Teece (mteece@esf.edu).