Scientists at AOML and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) are employing advanced ‘Omics techniques to holistically examine the effectiveness of ongoing efforts to restore coral reefs throughout the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS) under the ambitious Mission: Iconic Reefs initiative.
The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary consists of 350 miles of the only North American barrier reef – the Florida Coral Reef – stretching from the Dry Tortugas to Port St. Lucie. An estimated 5 million visitors travel to the Florida Keys every year, where 54% of jobs are tied directly to the marine ecosystems, along with billions in economic contributions to the state of Florida from tourism alone.
However, coral reefs face global decline due to exacerbated ocean acidification, rising sea surface temperatures, disease, and additional environmental stressors.
The NOAA-led, partner driven project Mission: Iconic Reefs was launched in 2019 to restore seven strategically-selected reefs covering three million square feet – or 52 football fields – within the Florida Keys to self-sustaining levels over 20 years.
The seven Mission: Iconic Reefs (M:IR) within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNMS)
Restoration is ongoing, and scientists with AOML’s ‘Omics Team, led by CIMAS Associate Scientist Stephanie Rosales, Ph.D., are examining how effective these efforts have been to date in helping the reef ecosystem recover using non-traditional techniques.
While traditional techniques mostly depend on SCUBA diving visual surveys of fish and invertebrates, Dr. Rosales, and her team are collecting seawater samples at Mission: Iconic Reefs to analyze the free-floating genetic material shed by marine organisms into the environment, known as environmental DNA (eDNA).
Scientists at AOML collect seawater samples across Mission: Iconic Reefs within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary to then extract eDNA when they return to the lab.
eDNA complements visual surveys since its collections can be conducted more frequently than visual surveys as it is less field intensive. It also can capture more cryptic animals missed by visual surveys.
Visual survey techniques also do not capture the microbial life – the viruses, bacteria, and complex planktonic communities – that act as key indicators of an ecosystem’s health. Analyzing eDNA found in seawater allows the team to detect all forms of life in a specific region, from bacteria to fish and keystone species that may indicate the reef is recovering successfully with time.
Comparing what they see at these sites with unrestored reefs, Rosales and the team hope to gain key insights into how these efforts benefit reef ecosystems in the long term and support the Mission: Iconic Reefs initiative. The hope is that the rich biodiversity that coral reefs are known to host will return to these Mission: Iconic Reefs sites as restoration efforts continue, and that eDNA will be able to capture this change.
“M:IR is an impressive initiative, and monitoring its impact using novel techniques like eDNA will help us understand which efforts are most effective in restoring this important ecosystem.” – Stephanie Rosales, Ph.D.
This graphic conveys how coral restoration efforts may influence the biodiversity found on a coral reef. While the goal is to encourage species returning to reef ecosystems, eDNA samples extracted from seawater on coral reefs allows scientists to analyze the effectiveness of restoration.