Benthic Ecology Lab
Dr. Diego Lirman
Marine Biology and Fisheries
UM / RSMAS
Research Associates:
Travis Thyberg (MPS)
Stephanie Schopmeyer
Graduate Students:
Brittany Huntington
Rolando Santos
Ford Drury
Undergraduate Students:
Caitlin Hill
LIRMAN LAB
DISTURBANCE ECOLOGY
RESTORATION
RESILIENCE
BENTHIC ECOLOGY LAB
ORGANISMS / HABITATS?
SCALE?
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
WHERE?
The Role of Coral Nurseries in
the Restoration of the
Threatened Staghorn Coral
Acropora cervicornis
Schopmeyer, S., Lirman, D., Huntington, B., Thyberg,
T., Drury, C., Herlan, J., Santos, R., Young-Lahiff, C.,
Hill, C.
Stephanie A. Schopmeyer
Senior Research Associate
UM/RSMAS
In-situ Acropora nurseries
Original BNP
Nursery (2007)
New BNP Nursery
(2009)
# Fragments
465
609
Max Colony Size
7.7m
1.3m
Live Tissue
234.3 m (23x)
56.1 m (5x)
Annual Growth Potential
104.3 m/yr
88.1 m/yr
Scar Restoration/Outplanting
• Restore damaged Acropora population from ship grounding
• Outplanted 6 nursery reared genotypes
• 92% survival- increased healthy tissue (3x) after 8 months
May 2011
Sept 2010
Damselfish study
• Determine effect of damsel predation/formation of algal
lawns on growth and productivity on A. cervicornis
• Field surveys within BNP/nursery manipulation
experiments
Linking corals to habitat:
a multi-scale, cross Caribbean investigation using
a landscape ecology approach
Brittany Huntington
PhD candidate
How landscape heterogeneity determines
patterns of species diversity?
Remote
sensing
α+β=γ
Coral
Ecology
Diversity
theory
Pattern
Application
Identifying patterns of
coral diversity
Linking diversity
patterns to variations
in reef landscape

Process
Testing the link
between corals
 reef landscape

Improving marine
reserve evaluation
Improving coral
community
monitoring
Travis Thyberg
Senior Research Associate/MPS
Student
Shallow Water Positioning System (SWaPS)
Travis Thyberg- Senior Research Associate/MPS Student
• To monitor and assess affects of freshwater
regime changes over time
• Work conducted in shallow boundary areas
(less than 500m from shore)
• All surveys conducted using digital camera
(either boat or swimmer based)
• High density site surveys conducted biannually
(each image geo-tagged)
• Randomized site selection annually
Tt declining, Hw and Rm stable, MA highly dynamic
MPS internship work with UM-Lirman Lab
and Biscayne National Park Water Quality.
Seagrass drivers:
Salinity - variable/stable
Nutrient availability/loading
Distance from shore:
Terrestrial origin?
Do Buoys act as bird stakes?
Biomass nutrient sampling
Rolando O. Santos
PhD Candidate
Seascape Ecology – Bridging the gap between
applied ecology and coastal management
SAV Seascape Dynamics
Ecological Implications
vs
Understand the relationship between ecological good and services,
and changes in size, arrangement, and quality of habitats
Sheltering
Foraging
Sheltering
Foraging
Some Results……
a
p < 0.05
d
p < 0.05
e
p < 0.05
f
b
c
Some Results……
TT Wet
Hw Wet
55.00
50.00
45.00
Area (km^2)
40.00
35.00
30.00
35.88
37.06
Unsuitable Area
Suitable Area
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
13.67
14.84
Thalassia testudinum
Halodule wrightii
5.00
0.00
* HS using high occurrence threshold
16.00
Unsuitable
Suitable
Proportion of the landscape (%)
15.00
14.00
13.00
12.00
11.00
10.00
9.00
TT
8.00
HW
7.00
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00
Unsuitable
1.00
Suitable
0.00
Zone 1
Zone 2
Zone 3
Zones
Zone 4
Crawford Drury
MBF
Coral Feeding Experiment
Ford Drury- MBF
• Fed & Unfed, Shaded & Unshaded combined for 4
treatments using Acropora cervicornis and Porites
furcata
• Growth Measured via Buoyant weight and Linear
Extension
• 5 measurements taken over 117 days
• Preliminary results indicate that light treatment
influences A. cervicornis, while feeding treatment has
the greatest impact on P. furcata. This indicates
different feeding strategies in these two species.
Feeding Results
Acropora - Light vs.
Shade
Porites – Fed Vs. Unfed
Additional parameters are being investigated including chl a density, zooxanthellae
density, and stable isotope ratios.
Algal Growth Experiment
• Macroalgal blooms in Biscayne Bay can disrupt
localized habitats and outcompete seagrasses in
the area
• One algae of particular interest is Anadyomene
spp.
• Anadyomene stellata & Anadyomene pavonina
are being grown in the lab under different light,
nutrient, and temperature conditions to help
understand what induces localized blooms like
those seen in northern Biscayne Bay
Scoring Experiment
Caitlin Hill
UM Undergraduate Student
• Increase productivity of A. cervicornis by
inducing branch formation at lesion sites
• 4 treatments: control, two scores, two scores with
no apical, four scores alternating sides