No apparent cost of disease resistance on reproductive output in Acropora cervicornis genets used for active coral reef restoration in Florida by Hanna R. Koch, Yuen Azu, Yuen Azu, Erich Bartels, Erinn M. Muller

“…Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the reproductive output of A. cervicornis genets with known white-band disease resistance or susceptibility by quantifying the number and size of oocytes within colonies maintained within Mote Marine Laboratory’s offshore coral spawning nursery in the Lower Florida Keys, USA. We also quantified the number of eggs and sperm packaged within gamete bundles that were collected during the August 2020 spawning event. …”
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Phenotypic diversity within two toxic dinoflagellate genera : environmental and transcriptomic studies of species diversity in alexandrium and gambierdiscus by Pitz, Kathleen Johnson

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Discovery and Anti-Inflammatory Activity of a Cyanobacterial Fatty Acid Targeting the Keap1/Nrf2 Pathway by Fatma H. Al-Awadhi, Emily F. Simon, Na Liu, Ranjala Ratnayake, Valerie J. Paul, Hendrik Luesch

“…The monounsaturated fatty acid 7(<i>E</i>)-9-keto-hexadec-7-enoic acid (<b>1</b>) and three structurally related analogues with different oxidation states and degrees of unsaturation (<b>2</b>–<b>4</b>) were discovered from a marine benthic cyanobacterial mat collected from Delta Shoal, Florida Keys. Their structures were elucidated using NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. …”
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Divergent responses of the coral holobiont to deoxygenation and prior environmental stress by Sara D. Swaminathan, Julie L. Meyer, Maggie D. Johnson, Maggie D. Johnson, Valerie J. Paul, Erich Bartels, Andrew H. Altieri

“…We outplanted Acropora cervicornis fragments of known genotypes from an in situ nursery to two sites in the Florida Keys spanning an inshore-offshore gradient. After four months, fragments from the outplanted corals were transferred to the laboratory, where we tested differences in survivorship, tissue loss, photosynthetic efficiency, Symbiodiniaceae cell density, and coral microbiome composition after persistent exposure to one of four oxygen treatments ranging from extreme deoxygenation (0.5 mg L-1) to normoxia (6 mg L-1). …”
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Different Physiology in the Jellyfish <i>Cassiopea xamachana</i> and <i>C. frondosa</i> in Florida Bay by William K. Fitt, Dietrich K. Hofmann, Dustin W. Kemp, Aki H. Ohdera

“…The jellyfish <i>Cassiopea xamachana</i> and <i>C. frondosa</i> co-occur within some habitats in the Florida Keys, but the frequency with which this occurs is low. …”
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Age, Growth, and Natural Mortality of Graysby, <i>Cephalophilis cruentata</i>, from the Southeastern United States by Michael L. Burton, Jennifer C. Potts, Andrew D. Ostrowski, Kyle W. Shertzer

“…Growth morph analysis revealed two regionally distinct growth trajectories: von Bertalanffy growth equations were <i>L_t</i> = 388 (1 &#8722; <i>e</i>^{&#8722;0.12(t+5.73)}) for fish from North Carolina through southeast Florida (northern region), and <i>L_t</i> = 267 (1 &#8722; <i>e</i>^{&#8722;0.17(t+6.20)}) for fish from the Florida Keys (southern region). When growth was re-estimated using a fixed <i>t₀</i> value of &#8722;0.75 to estimate for smaller fish, growth equations were <i>L_t</i> = 349 (1 &#8722; <i>e</i>^{&#8722;0.26(t+0.75)}) and <i>L_t</i> = 250 (1 &#8722; <i>e</i>^{&#8722;0.43(t+0.75)}) for fish from the northern and southern regions, respectively. …”
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Intra-habitat structural complexity drives the distribution of fish trait groups on coral reefs by Noelle K. Helder, John H.R. Burns, Stephanie J. Green

“…From May to July 2019, we collected high-resolution (1 cm) large- and small-scale intra-habitat (25 m2) structural complexity data across eight reefscapes (∼2500 m2) and conducted co-located fish functional group surveys in the Florida Keys, FL, USA. We used a hierarchical clustering analysis to group 80 observed fish species by four traits related to habitat use (social level, body size, crypsis, activity period) and feeding guild to generate mechanistic predictions about fish-habitat relationships. …”
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Does depth divide? Variable genetic connectivity patterns among shallow and mesophotic Montastraea cavernosa coral populations across the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean by Alexis B. Sturm, Ryan J. Eckert, Ashley M. Carreiro, Allison M. Klein, Michael S. Studivan, Danielle Dodge Farelli, Nuno Simões, Patricia González‐Díaz, Juliett González Méndez, Joshua D. Voss

“…However, exceptions to this pattern include the Northwest Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Keys which exhibited relatively high vertical genetic connectivity. …”
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Bacterial Metabolic Potential and Micro-Eukaryotes Enriched in Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Lesions by Stephanie M. Rosales, Stephanie M. Rosales, Lindsay K. Huebner, Abigail S. Clark, Ryan McMinds, Rob R. Ruzicka, Erinn M. Muller

“…For each species, tissue from apparently healthy (AH) corals, and unaffected tissue (DU) and lesion tissue (DL) on diseased corals, were collected from sites within the epidemic zone of SCTLD in the Florida Keys. Within the micro-eukaryotic community, the taxa most prominently enriched in DL compared to AH and DU tissue were members of Ciliophora. …”
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Changing Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Dynamics Through Time in Montastraea cavernosa by Greta Aeby, Blake Ushijima, Blake Ushijima, Erich Bartels, Cory Walter, Joseph Kuehl, Scott Jones, Valerie J. Paul

“…We examined two Florida sites with different temporal histories of disease emergence; Fort Lauderdale where SCTLD is endemic and the Lower Florida Keys where SCTLD has recently emerged. Our objectives were to (1) assess the potential impact of SCTLD on overall reef condition by surveying reefs in each region, (2) in a single common species, Montastraea cavernosa, examine differences in SCTLD prevalence, colony mortality, and lesion morphology in each region, and (3) look for differences in contagion by conducting transmission experiments using lesions from each region. …”
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Accurate Bathymetric Maps From Underwater Digital Imagery Without Ground Control by Gerald A. Hatcher, Jonathan A. Warrick, Andrew C. Ritchie, Evan T. Dailey, David G. Zawada, Christine Kranenburg, Kimberly K. Yates

“…The system was field tested in July 2019 in the U.S. Florida Keys, in water depths ranging from 3 to 9 m over a variety of bottom types. …”
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Common aquarium antiseptics do not cause long-term shifts in coral microbiota but may impact coral growth rates by J. Grace Klinges, Zachary W. Craig, Marina Villoch Diaz-Mauriño, Dakotah E. Merck, Summer N. Brooks, Alicia A. Manfroy, Abigail S. Clark, Abigail S. Clark

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A phenomic modeling approach for using chlorophyll-a fluorescence-based measurements on coral photosymbionts by Kenneth D. Hoadley, Kenneth D. Hoadley, Grant Lockridge, Audrey McQuagge, Audrey McQuagge, K. Blue Pahl, K. Blue Pahl, Sean Lowry, Sean Lowry, Sophie Wong, Sophie Wong, Sophie Wong, Zachary Craig, Chelsea Petrik, Courtney Klepac, Erinn M. Muller

“…We test a newly developed instrument prototype which utilizes time-resolved chlorophyll-a fluorescence techniques and fluctuating light to characterize Symbiodiniaceae functional traits across seven different coral species under cultivation as part of ongoing restoration efforts in the Florida Keys. While traditional chlorophyll-a fluorescence techniques only provide a handful of algal biometrics, the system and protocol we have developed generates &gt; 1000 dynamic measurements in a short (~11 min) time frame. …”
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Relative sea-level change in South Florida during the past ~5000 years by Khan, Nicole S., Ashe, Erica, Moyer, Ryan P., Kemp, Andrew C., Engelhart, Simon E., Brain Matthew J., Toth, Lauren T., Chappel, Amanda, Christie, Margaret, Kopp, Robert E., Horton, Benjamin Peter

“…We reconstruct RSL change during the past ~5 ka using cores of mangrove peat at two sites (Snipe Key and Swan Key) in the Florida Keys. Remote sensing and field surveys established the relationship between peat-forming mangroves and tidal elevation in South Florida. …”
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A meta-analysis of the stony coral tissue loss disease microbiome finds key bacteria in unaffected and lesion tissue in diseased colonies by Stephanie M. Rosales, Lindsay K. Huebner, James S. Evans, Amy Apprill, Andrew C. Baker, Cynthia C. Becker, Anthony J. Bellantuono, Marilyn E. Brandt, Abigail S. Clark, Javier del Campo, Caroline E. Dennison, Katherine R. Eaton, Naomi E. Huntley, Christina A. Kellogg, Mónica Medina, Julie L. Meyer, Erinn M. Muller, Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty, Jennifer L. Salerno, William B. Schill, Erin N. Shilling, Julia Marie Stewart, Joshua D. Voss

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Replacing mechanical protection with colorful faces–twice: parallel evolution of the non-operculate marine worm-snail genera Thylacodes (Guettard, 1770) and Cayo n. gen. (Gastropod... by Rüdiger Bieler, Timothy M. Collins, Rosemary Golding, Camila Granados-Cifuentes, John M. Healy, Timothy A. Rawlings, Petra Sierwald

“…(type species; with type locality in the Florida Keys), C. galbinus n. sp., C. refulgens n. sp., and C. brunneimaculatus n. sp. …”
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Marine turtle hotspots in the Gulf of Mexico and Mesoamerican Reef: Strengthening management and preparedness by Eduardo Cuevas, Eduardo Cuevas, Eduardo Cuevas, María de los Angeles Liceaga-Correa, Abigail Uribe-Martínez, Abigail Uribe-Martínez, Sandra A. Gallegos-Fernández, Sandra A. Gallegos-Fernández, Félix Moncada-Gavilán, Raúl J. González-Díaz-Mirón, Melania C. López-Castro, Vicente Guzmán-Hernández, Martha López

“…The Yucatan Peninsula and central Veracruz in Mexico, along with the Florida Keys and Louisiana coast in the US, harbor the primary hotspots where marine turtles aggregate. …”
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Limited Metabolomic Overlap between Commensal Bacteria and Marine Sponge Holobionts Revealed by Large Scale Culturing and Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics: An Undergraduate Lab... by Jessica M. Deutsch, Madison O. Green, Priyanka Akavaram, Ashleigh C. Davis, Sarth S. Diskalkar, Isabelle A. Du Plessis, Hannah A. Fallon, Emma M. Grason, Emma G. Kauf, Zoe M. Kim, Jeffrey R. Miller, Abby L. Neal, Tatiana Riera, Sofie-Ellen Stroeva, Jollin Tran, Vivi Tran, Azucena Velgara Coronado, Vanessa Velgara Coronado, Benjamin T. Wall, Chung mo Yang, Ipsita Mohanty, Nadine H. Abrahamse, Christopher J. Freeman, Cole G. Easson, Cara L. Fiore, Alison E. Onstine, Naima Djeddar, Shweta Biliya, Anton V. Bryksin, Neha Garg, Vinayak Agarwal

“…In this study, we cultured a large library of bacteria from three marine sponges commonly found in the Florida Keys. Metabolomes of isolated bacterial strains and that of the sponge holobiont were compared using mass spectrometry to reveal minimal metabolomic overlap between commensal bacteria and the sponge hosts. …”
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Exploring marine mammal presence across seven US national marine sanctuaries by Annamaria I. DeAngelis, Sofie M. Van Parijs, Jack Barkowski, Simone Baumann-Pickering, Kourtney Burger, Genevieve E. Davis, John Joseph, Annebelle C. M. Kok, Anke Kügler, Anke Kügler, Marc Lammers, Tetyana Margolina, Nicole Pegg, Ally Rice, Timothy J. Rowell, John P. Ryan, Allison Stokoe, Eden Zang, Leila Hatch

“…As part of a national effort to better understand the soundscapes of NMS, 22 near-continuous passive acoustic bottom mounted recorders and one bottom-mounted cable hydrophone were analyzed within seven NMS (Stellwagen Bank, Gray’s Reef, Florida Keys, Olympic Coast, Monterey Bay, Channel Islands, and Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale sanctuaries). …”
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Evaluation of the New City of Sahand Using the Urban Carrying Capacity Assessment System by Firooz Jafari, Akbar Asghari Zamani, Shiva Sattarzadeh Salehi

“…Assessing the carrying capacity of the Florida Keys. Journal of Population and Environment, 23(4), 405-418. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1014576803251.El Ghorab, H. …”
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