Coral Reef Science and Monitoring Program
Erich Bartels
Staff Scientist, Program Manager
This Program monitors and assesses reef processes and environmental factors that influence reef health. Current projects include monitoring ultraviolet light penetration of reef waters and the influence of environmental factors, monitoring harmful algal blooms and other marine events and assessing their potential impacts on the reef environment and developing a community-based coral bleaching monitoring and assessment program.

Studies are conducted through the Staghorn Nursery and Restoration Project, BleachWatch, the Marine Ecosystem Event Response and Assessment (MEERA) Project and Red Tide and Harmful Algal Bloom monitoring. The program also supports other Mote research programs and visiting scientists, providing services such as sample collections, underwater surveys, video documentation, and instrument deployment and maintenance.
The Coral Reef Science and Monitoring Program includes:
  • Staghorn Coral Nursery and Restoration: Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestiment Act and NOAA’s Restoration Center have supported the expansion of Mote's staghorn coral nursery and restoration efforts. The in-water nursery is designed to offer young corals an optimum chance at growth for later reef restoration projects. The Project is undertaken in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and other partners.
  • Florida Keys BleachWatch: In coordination with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, the Florida Keys BleachWatch program uses volunteer observers to report coral bleaching events throughout the Florida Keys. Coral bleaching is the corals’ loss of their symbiotic algae (called zooxanthellae). While this is a natural event that occurs to some extent every year in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, records indicate that bleaching events may be increasing in frequency and severity
  • Marine Ecosystem Event Response and Assessment (MEERA): The early detection and assessment of biological events in the Florida Keys is important to maintaining and conserving reef health. With an early warning provided through this network of volunteer observers, research efforts and management actions can be coordinated to respond quickly to unusual events.
  • Red Tide and Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring: Samples are collected and water quality measurements are routinely taken at stations throughout the Lower Keys to determine if Karenia brevis, the organism that causes Florida’s red tide, is present.
Tropical Research Laboratory
Mote performs much of its coral reef research from its field station in the Florida Keys. The Tropical Research Laboratory, located on Summerland Key (mile marker 24) is available to visiting researchers as well. The Lab maintains a full-time research and marine operations staff to provide support for any field or laboratory based research project in need of assistance.

The Tropical Research Laboratory offers
  • Fully furnished accomodations
  • Dry lab
  • Outdoor wet lab
  • Classroom/conference room
  • Click to learn more
The Living Reef
Mote hosts The Living Reef Exhibit at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center in Key West, Florida. This exhibit showcases coral reef research as part of an overall visitors' center that explores the unique ecology of the Florida Keys. The Eco-Discovery Center includes free admission.
Protect Our Reefs
Florida has the only barrier coral reef system in the continental U.S. It's like having the Grand Canyon underwater — a natural treasure that took millions of years to create and deserves our protection.

If you're a Florida driver, you can help make research, education and conservation happen by purchasing a Protect Our Reefs license plate for your car or boat trailer. You can even purchase a Reef Plate as a gift for your favorite reefanatic.
Funds raised through sales of the Protect Our Reefs plate support a special grants program administered by Mote Marine Laboratory. These grants support Florida-based research designed to help us understand some of our most pressing reef problems, find ways to conserve and protect our reefs and to help educate the public about the reef’s importance and how they can help.

  
Are you just urchin to help?
Hard corals, soft corals and the vital marine communities they support could use our help. And we could use yours. Now. So dive deep and don't hold back! Please click to donate today.

About Us

Mote Marine Laboratory has been a leader in marine research since it was founded in 1955. Today, we incorporate public outreach as a key part of our mission. Mote is an independent nonprofit organization and has seven centers for marine research, the public Mote Aquarium and an Education Division specializing in public programs for all ages.

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