MIAMI—Researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science were awarded $6 million to establish the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Restoration Hub, a first-of-its-kind research project focused on restoring the valuable and vulnerable coral reefs of Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and National Coastal Resilience Fund provided the initial $3 million grant, which was matched by various donors including local and federal governments, corporate, foundations and the University of Miami’s Laboratory of Integrative Knowledge (ULINK).
The three-year effort will be led by UM Rosenstiel School Professors Diego Lirman and Andrew Baker and partners from UM College of Engineering, NOVA Southeastern University, SECORE International, The Florida Aquarium, the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science as well as UM Rosenstiel School Professor Brian Haus. The project brings together world-class scientists at the forefront of reef restoration, restoration science, coastal resilience, science communication, and community engagement. The Coral Restoration Hub will be the first time that a collaborative reef restoration program will bring together experts in the fields of asexual and sexual coral propagation as well as restoration, climate adaptation, and coastal resilience.
The team will restore 125 acres of reef habitat in Miami-Dade and Broward counties by growing and planting over 150,000 coral colonies and larvae from five coral species, three of which are currently listed as threatened. The effort will also include enhancing coral abundance and cover, genetic and genotypic diversity and reef connectivity.
“Rebuilding the lost abundance, diversity, connectivity, and structure of corals and coral reefs through science-based active propagation and restoration is critical to both the ecology and economy of Southeast Florida,” said Lirman, an associate professor in the UM Rosenstiel School’s Department of Marine Biology and Ecology. “Our restoration framework is based on propagating and outplanting climate-resilient corals to restore ecological and economic services and function along these vulnerable and valuable shorelines.”
The program will be amplified through the involvement of citizen scientists from the University of Miami’s Rescue-a-Reef Program, where volunteers will work side-by-side with restoration scientists and the public-facing labs and displays at Frost Museum of Science and the Florida Aquarium.
This ambitious program combines reef restoration and climate adaptation to employ cutting-edge coral gardening restoration approaches as well as new techniques such as disease mitigation, larval restoration, symbiont inoculations, herbivore reintroduction, managed relocation, stress hardening, and wave modeling towards the common goal of enhancing reef and coastal resilience.
“These innovative approaches to coral restoration put Florida at the leading edge of global efforts to develop and test interventions to increase the persistence and resilience of coral reefs,” said Andrew Baker, an associate professor in the UM Rosenstiel School’s Department of Marine Biology and Ecology. “Its time to try these approaches now to help us buy time for reefs as oceans continue to warm over the coming decades.”
“This award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Coastal Resilience Fund recognizes our world-class scientists as the best team to advance this novel and collaborative approach to restore Florida’s valuable coral reefs,” said UM Rosenstiel School Dean Roni Avissar.
The coral reefs of Southeast Florida are facing devastating losses from the combination of climate change, disease, poor water quality, and other factors. These critical ecosystems support valuable commercial and recreational fishing as well as Florida’s tourism industry. The coral reefs in Southeast Florida generate $2 billion in annual revenues and support 70,400 jobs. In addition, Southeast Florida’s reefs play an important role in protecting people and property from the effects of hurricanes, such as flooding and storm surge, along the highly urbanized coastlines of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale during hurricanes.
