Experimental Reef Lab

The Experimental Reef Lab

A tool for simulating dynamic future conditions on contemporary reef organisms

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Who We Are

The Experimental Reef Lab (ERL) at the University of Miami was designed and built by AOML and the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Science (CIMAS) for the purpose of finely manipulating temperature and pH to mirror projected ocean conditions. Using custom-built technology, conditions can be controlled with a precision up to an order of magnitude higher than other contemporary systems. The lab has 16 completely independent aquarium systems which can each be programmed for changes in pH, temperature, and light. One of the unique features of the lab is the fully automated logging and control system, facilitating real-time manipulation of dynamic levels for temperature, pH, and/or light treatments.

| Ian Enochs, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

| Michael Studivan, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator

| Ana Palacio, Ph.D.

Assistant Scientist

| Michael Jankulak

Data Manager

| Albert Boyd

Coral Carbonate Chemist

| Nash Soderberg

Research Associate

| Allyson DeMerlis

Doctoral Candidate

| Patrick Kiel

Doctoral Candidate

| Taylor Gill

Mission: Iconic Reefs Climate Monitoring Coordinator

| Kenzie Cooke

Undergraduate Student

| Anthony Burke

Research Associate

Top News

Sediments a Likely Culprit in Spread of Deadly Disease on Florida Coral Reefs, Study Finds

MIAMI—A new study found that seafloor sediments have the potential to transmit a deadly pathogen to local corals and hypothesizes that sediments have played a role in the persistence of a devastating coral disease outbreak throughout Florida and the Caribbean.

MIAMI—A new study found that seafloor sediments have the potential to transmit a deadly pathogen to local corals and hypothesizes that sediments have played a role in the persistence of a devastating coral disease outbreak throughout Florida and the Caribbean.

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It can be hard to stay upbeat as a marine biologist, especially with the onslaught of existential threats like climate change facing the planet. Coral reefs are arguably the ecosystem that stands to lose the most with respect to climate change, namely because the resident organisms are highly sensitive to elevated temperatures. Furthermore, the limestone-based reef framework itself is diminishing before our eyes due to the accompanying  rise in carbon dioxide levels (which decreases oceanic pH, leading to ocean acidification). That being said, there are corals out there that display resilience, continuing to thrive in habitats that would appear decidedly marginalized to even the untrained eye.
Featured image for the 2021 International Coral Reef Symposium web story
Ian Enochs, pictured with his wife and son, awarded with the DOC Silver Medal Award.
Florida Coral Disease April 2018

Virtual Tour

Ian Enochs explains coral science to visiting class. Photo Credit: NOAA.

Imagined and Built in 3D

Independent Tank Systems Custom Built with 3D Printers

View on SketchFab

Automated Logging and Control System

One of the unique features of the lab is the fully automated logging and control system, facilitating real-time manipulation of dynamic levels for temperature, pH, and/or light treatments. Scientists have used the Experimental Reef Lab’s system to study how certain genotypes of corals may be more resilient to temperature stress, how daily pH fluctuations enhance coral growth, and how ocean acidification will lead to accelerated reef erosion.

One independently controlled tank containing staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) for an experiment.

Design of tank system for automation, finely-tuned control of temperature and pH, replication, and statistical independence.

Semi-recirculating seawater for statistical independence and real-time automation.

Light system of tanks.

Real-time feedback using solid state pH probes.

Real-time feedback using using communication systems.

Driving Innovative Science

With Experimental Design

AOML’s Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division has taken a visionary approach to answering our most pressing questions about coral reef health by stepping outside of science and embracing new technology to engineer in-house solutions. This lab was built with in-house materials and technology from the Advanced Manufacturing and Design Lab. Visit the lab page. 

Image showing UV light over tanks holding Acropora Cervicornis in the Experimental Reef Lab.
Reef Erosion in Acidified Oceans

Bioeroders and calcifying organisms can have significant impacts on coral reefs, especially under changing climate conditions. Using incubation chambers designed and built in AOML’s Advanced Manufacturing and Design Lab, scientists are able to directly measure short-term calcification/dissolution rates of various calcifying and bioeroding organisms. Alkalinity of seawater changes based on the amount of calcification/ dissolution that occurs throughout an incubation period. This means that by analyzing the seawater chemistry at the start and end of an incubation, they use the change in total alkalinity to measure calcification/dissolution that occurred during that period. In addition, the upper chamber can be swapped with a dark-chamber to further quantify day vs night calcification/dissolution rates. These chambers have been successfully used with multiple reef organisms, including coral (Orbicella faveolata), endolithic algae substrate, and bioeroding sponges (Cliona delitrix and Pione lampa).

Subsurface Automated Water Samplers

A sub-surface automated dual water sampler (SAS) for sampling water and analyzing the changes in carbonate chemistry on coral reefs at finer temporal and spatial scales. To lean more about this project, visit its page here.

Subsurface Automated Water Samplers allow scientists to detect nuanced variations on the reef at certain times to better understand the ecosystem. Keep reading to visit the blog post or build your own with instructions below.

Methods for Dealing with Coral Disease

Florida’s coral reefs are currently experiencing a multi-year mortality of corals. This die-off is disease related and has affected 21 species of corals, including both endangered species and primary reef-building corals. These diseases cause tissue losses that affect a whole colony of coral. This phenomenon was first observed in 2014 on Virginia Key, and has since moved to the Lower Florida Keys. Given the rapid spread and widespread mortality, it is imperative to find solutions and minimize the damage to our coral reefs.

In May 2018, an experiment with the University of Miami applied UVC light to diseased coral and subsequently monitored disease progression. Ten parent colonies from two species (four Pseudodiploria strigosa, six Colpophyllia natans) were collected from three sites at Cheeca Rocks. Corals were transported back to the Experimental Reef Lab where they were divided into fragments with a thin margin of diseased tissue at one end. A custom UVC dosing device was engineered and built at the AOML Advanced Manufacturing and Design Lab that delivered a measured dosage of 7100 microwatts cm-2 to submerged coral colonies.

Understanding reef erosion in acidified oceans

Bioeroders and calcifying organisms can have significant impacts on coral reefs, especially under changing climate conditions. Using incubation chambers designed and built in AOML’s Advanced Manufacturing and Design Lab, scientists are able to directly measure short-term calcification/dissolution rates of various calcifying and bioeroding organisms. Alkalinity of seawater changes based on the amount of calcification/ dissolution that occurs throughout an incubation period. This means that by analyzing the seawater chemistry at the start and end of an incubation, the change in total alkalinity can be used to measure calcification/dissolution that occurred during that period. In addition, the upper chamber can be swapped with a dark-chamber to further quantify day versus night calcification/dissolution rates. These chambers have been successfully used with multiple reef organisms, including coral (Orbicella faveolata), endolithic algae substrate, and bioeroding sponges (Cliona delitrix and Pione lampa). View Image

Methods for Researching Coral Disease Transmission

Florida’s coral reefs are currently experiencing a multi-year mortality of corals due to a new disease called Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD). This die-off has affected 21 species of scleractinian corals, including both endangered species and primary reef-building corals. This disease causes tissue losses that can rapidly spread across a whole coral colony. This phenomenon was first observed in 2014 on Virginia Key, and has since moved to the Lower Florida Keys and the greater Caribbean. Given the rapid spread and widespread mortality, it is imperative to find solutions and minimize the damage to our coral reefs.

Scientists conducting research in ERL have developed a system designed for housing coral disease transmission experiments. Precise temperature control is achieved by regulating the water around the chambers, and a seawater manifold system directs fresh seawater into every unit. Each chamber is completely independent of the others, and as a result this system enables a degree of replication which is not often seen in coral disease experiments. View Image

Assessing genotypic resilience of critically endangered coral species

CAD Design of the Coral Rapid Assessment of Net Growth (CRANG) system for rapid evaluation of coral genotype performance. The system includes real-time measurement of pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, and automates water sampling for carbonate chemistry analysis. View Image

Variable temperature treatments to enhance coral tolerance to thermal stress

To investigate applied methods for coral restoration, Florida genotypes of staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) were collected from the University of Miami Rescue a Reef in situ coral nursery and brought back to ERL to apply a long-term variable temperature treatment using the automated and independently-controlled tank system. After the three-month temperature treatment, the coral fragments were run through a 32 ºC heat-stress assay in order to assess the efficacy of the prior variable temperature treatment in enhancing their thermal resilience. Researchers found that this prior treatment did indeed enhance their thermal tolerance, allowing corals to persist significantly longer in the heat-stress assay than their control counterparts. Additionally, the corals that had been temperature-treated were more likely to succumb to bleaching, while untreated corals more rapidly succumbed to rapid tissue loss and necrosis. The results of this experiment indicate that thermal stress-hardening is effective for staghorn corals, however more experimentation is necessary to understand how long this thermal resilience is retained. View Image of fragments of staghorn coral introduced to the 32 ºC heat-stress assay after their three-month variable temperature treatment to observe if prior treatment enhanced their thermal tolerance. View Image of average temperature measurements taken at 15-minute intervals over the three month variable temperature regime, demonstrating the capabilities of the automated temperature monitoring system over time. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean.

We are leading stewards of a cleaner, healthier, more sustainable ocean.

We are using state of the art techniques for measuring coral growth and calcification. This video shows how we can assemble hundreds of x-ray images into a 3D model of endangered staghorn coral. This type of analysis allows us to look at skeletal density, structure, and coral growth in very high detail. These aspects of the coral will be influenced by ocean acidification and are important characteristics to consider when establishing management and restoration strategies.

Photo of a wide-branching Acropora Cervicornis on the reef.

Featured Publication

Marked annual coral bleaching resilience of an inshore patch reef in the Florida Keys: A nugget of hope, aberrance, or last man standing?

Annual coral bleaching events, which are predicted to occur as early as the next decade in the Florida Keys, are expected to cause catastrophic coral mortality. Despite this, there is little field data on how Caribbean coral communities respond to annual thermal stress events. At Cheeca Rocks, an inshore patch reef near Islamorada, FL, the condition of 4234 coral colonies was followed over 2 yr of subsequent bleaching in 2014 and 2015, the two hottest summers on record for the Florida Keys. In 2014, this site experienced 7.7 degree heating weeks (DHW) and as a result 38.0% of corals bleached and an additional 36.6% were pale or partially bleached. In situ temperatures in summer of 2015 were even warmer, with the site experiencing 9.5 DHW. Despite the increased thermal stress in 2015, only 12.1% of corals were bleached in 2015, which was 3.1 times less than 2014.

Partial mortality dropped from 17.6% of surveyed corals to 4.3% between 2014 and 2015, and total colony mortality declined from 3.4 to 1.9% between years. Total colony mortality was low over both years of coral bleaching with 94.7% of colonies surviving from 2014 to 2016. The reduction in bleaching severity and coral mortality associated with a second stronger thermal anomaly provides evidence that the response of Caribbean coral communities to annual bleaching is not strictly temperature dose dependent and that acclimatization responses may be possible even with short recovery periods. Whether the results from Cheeca Rocks represent an aberration or a true resilience potential is the subject of ongoing research.

Reef Mosaic, Bleached Reef (transect 1) shown October 9th. Photo Credit, NOAA.Bleached Reef (Oct 9)
Recovered Reef Shown November 6th (transect 1) Photo Credit, NOAA.Recovered Reef (Nov 6)

Gintert, B. E., Manzello, D. P., Enochs, I. C., Kolodziej, G., Carlton, R., Gleason, A. C., & Gracias, N. (2018). Marked annual coral bleaching resilience of an inshore patch reef in the Florida Keys: A nugget of hope, aberrance, or last man standing?. Coral Reefs, 1-15.