As enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida, funds from the Save Our Seas Specialty License Plate can be used to:

• conduct scientific research and education on marine plants and animals and coastal oceanography in state marine waters
• collect and analyze long-term data sets on the state's critical marine habitats
• determine changes in populations and communities of marine organisms and their impacts on the use of the state's marine resources
• maintain reference collections of scientific specimens and photographic archives of the state's marine plants and animals
• conduct scientific conferences of relevance to the state's marine resources and their management, utilization, and conservation

Research expenditures in 2008 ($546,939.82) supported the following projects:

Ongoing Projects

Project Title: Ecology of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in South Florida’s Coastal Waters

Principal Investigator: Dr. Brian Lapointe, Research Professor, Center for Marine Ecosystem Health

Project Summary: The objective of this research is to better understand relationships between land-based nutrient pollution and the ecology of harmful macroalgal blooms that impact South Florida’s coastal waters. These blooms are harmful because of the negative impacts of excessive biomass on coral reefs, including reduction in light, hypoxia/anoxia, physical smothering of the benthos, loss of native species and biodiversity, alteration of biogeochemical cycles, and impairment of fisheries habitat. This research focuses on the ecology of these blooms and their seasonal variability in growth, abundance, and biochemical composition. Seasonal field surveys quantify the abundance and nutrition of macroalgae on reefs sites in Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. Laboratory culture experiments are determining the effects and interactions of light, temperature, and nutrient availability on the non-native, bloom-forming Caulerpa brachypus f. parvifolia, first reported in Florida’s waters in 2001.

Project Title: The Indian River Lagoon Research Initiative

Principal Investigator: Dr. Dennis Hanisak, Research Professor and Center Director, Center for Marine Ecosystem Health

Project Summary: The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is a unique, highly diverse, shallow-water estuary of national significance. The lagoon’s water quality has significantly changed over the past eight decades due to watershed alteration and land drainage patterns. This project is identifying water quality gradients related to freshwater discharges, which are the most significant human impacts on this estuary, and determining the relationships of water quality with seagrass and with algal communities. These photosynthetic organisms form the basis of the IRL’s food web, and any changes in them affect other organisms in the system (e.g., fish, shellfish, marine mammals). These important baseline data will help determine long-term changes in the IRL, including documentation of expected positive improvements in estuarine health following the reduction of freshwater inputs due to several IRL-related projects underway in our local communities.

Project Title: Development of a Sustainable Biological Production Method for the Potent Cytotoxic Agent Leiodermatolide*

Principal Investigator: Dr. Peter McCarthy, Research Professor, Center for Marine Biomedical and Biotechnology Research

Project Summary: Leiodermatium, a sponge which grows in deep-water environments off of the coast of Florida, contains a potent chemical which shows promise as an anticancer agent. This research is studying the many bacteria and fungi which live in association with this sponge to determine whether one of them is the true source of this chemical, leiodermatolide. The goal is to culture the microbe in order to produce the quantity of leiodermatolide required for extensive testing without impacting the natural population of the sponge.

*Major support for this research project comes from a two-year grant ($159,929) from Florida SeaGrant. 

Projects Completed in 2008

Project Title: Submersed Plants of the Indian River Lagoon: A Floristic Inventory and Field Guide

Principal Investigator: Dr. Dennis Hanisak, Research Professor and Center Director, Center for Marine Ecosystem Health

Project Summary: Given the rapidly changing environments of the highly diverse Indian River Lagoon, it is essential that a biodiversity inventory and baseline be established for submerged plants. Funds were used to print a comprehensive floristic field guide of nearly 250 species of submerged plants (Littler, D.S., M.M. Littler, and M.D. Hanisak. 2008. Submersed Plants of the Indian River Lagoon. OffShore Graphics, Inc., 286 pages). Besides substantially adding to what is currently known about these ecologically important organisms, the field guide should stimulate additional research and interest on submerged marine plants by resource managers, conservationists, and the broad scientific community, and serve as educational/recreational tools for the interested public.