More than a half-dozen scientists plus supporting technicians, graduate students, and summer interns were part of an expedition that ran through early August to establish baseline assessment and document the impacts of oil and dispersants. News crews were there to capture the research mission and included NBC, CNN and BBC.

This newly discovered deepwater coral reef in the first living Lophelia coral reef to be documented on the west Florida shelf. Thickets of living coral 3-4 feet tall provide essential habitat for a myriad of crabs, shrimps and juvenile fish. A commercially important golden crab, Chaceon fenneri, finds food and refuge among the branches.

A Quick Look Beneath the Surface: The Florida Shelf Edge Exploration (FLoSEE) Expedition

Tammy Frank, Dennis Hanisak, John Reed & Amy Wright
Wednesday, September 22, 4 and 7 p.m.

About the Speakers

In all, more than 40 scientists, technicians, and students from 10 institutions participated in the 2010 FLoSEE Expedition.  Today’s speakers are the FLoSEE project leaders, all research professors at HBOI/FAU.  Dr. Tammy Frank, a visual ecologist, worked on benthic-pelagic coupling in deep coral ecosystems.  Dr. Amy Wright, natural products chemist and head of Marine Biomedical and Biotechnology Research at HBOI/FAU, led the project on new biomedical resources.  John Reed, an expert on deep-sea corals, was responsible for developing the FLoSEE cruise plans, selecting dive sites, and leading the mapping of deepwater and mesophotic reefs.  Dennis Hanisak, a marine botanist, worked on the mesophotic reef project and led the education project to provide new at-sea opportunities for the next generation of marine scientists. 

About the Lecture

The Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research and Technology, based at HBOI/FAU, sponsored the Florida Shelf Edge (FloSEE) Expedition to characterize the mesophotic and deep reefs off of Florida’s coast and to assess their condition prior to potential impacts from the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill.  From July 9 to August 9, 2010, the R/V Seward Johnson deployed the Johnson-Sea-Link research submersible, on shelf-edge reefs from Miami to Pensacola.  Other collections were made via a CTD water sampling rosette, MOCNESS plankton tows, and at shallower reefs, SCUBA.  

The four project leads for this expedition will provide a highly visual, “quick-look” report.  Discoveries included new deep-water coral reefs; high density of important fish populations in several Marine Protected Areas; new records of lionfish, an invasive species from the Indo-Pacific; and key target species for our marine biomedical program. The last leg was the first of a series of “Ocean Discovery” cruises for training of graduate students.  The results of this expedition will be explored in greater detail in the 2011 Ocean Science Lecture Series.  See the FLoSEE website for additional information, including images and daily blogs: http://cioert.org/flosee/.

To return to the OSLS 2010 main page, CLICK HERE.