$1.95M in FL Dept of Environmental Protection Funds to Address Coral Reef Disease
Brian Walker, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist in the Halmos College of Arts & Sciences (HCAS) at the Oceanographic Center (OC) and leads the GIS & Spatial Ecology Lab at NSU. His currently-funded work by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) focuses on addressing stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) affecting South Florida’s reefs. This disease has led to the death of the largest, oldest coral colonies in the region, which are important both for their role in providing shelter for many marine species—including lobsters, urchins, nurse sharks, and fish—but also for South Florida’s ecotourism and recreational diving. See below some links to his ongoing projects, and read more below about his DEP-funded work.
Coral Disease Intervention Storymap
Coral Disease Intervention Dashboard
Tell me briefly about your recent grant-funded projects.
We have new and renewed funding from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) focused on addressing coral disease in Florida. This funding spans five awards (totaling over $1.95M), each with a different focus and group of collaborators.
Large Orbicella faveolata colony near Hallandale, FL.
The first, and largest, is the SCTLD Resistance Research Consortium (RRC) that involves eleven investigators from nine institutions with expertise in genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, proteomics, histopathology, microbiomes, and endosymbionts, all focused on better understanding relationships between SCTLD resistance and environmental stress. Additionally, a recent grant to Identify environmental and human drivers of SCTLD has enabled a collaboration with Gareth Williams at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University and Jeffery Maynard at SymbioSeas to study links between the frequency of disease over time and environmental variables such as inlet water flow and water quality data. Another project focuses on Coral Disease Intervention which has been ongoing since 2018 and was recently renewed. This funding supports treating corals with antibiotics to stop the disease and includes collaborations with Val Paul at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce to test probiotics and Josh Voss at FAU’s Harbor Branch to accomplish other SCTLD research.
We are also subcontracted with University of Miami to help revive the large corals that were lost. We are growing corals in tanks that will be used to restore the previously dead corals with living tissue.
Who is working with you on these projects?
The GIS & Spatial Ecology research lab at the NSU Oceanographic Center contains eight graduate students (Kristin Anderson, Samantha Buckley, Brooke Campbell, Brooke Enright, Liz Fromuth, Reagan Sharkey, Katie Toth, and Sasha Wheeler) and three NSU alumni (Alysha Brunelle, Thomas Ingalls, and Hunter Noren–shown below diving) who conduct the majority of the field work across these projects. Eight of these positions are full-time NSU employees. I also work with many collaborators both inside and outside NSU. I am working closely with NSU researchers Drs. Karen Neely, Joana Figueiredo, and Abby Renegar on these projects.
Additionally, I want to recognize and thank Dr. Robin Krueger and Renee Potens in the NSU Center for Collaborative Research (CCR) for their invaluable recent support providing critical materials to accomplish the SCTLD RRC project.
NSU alumnus, Hunter Noren collecting coral tissue for the RRC project.
How do these projects connect with your other work at NSU?
About six years ago coral disease hit our region. At that time my work had previously involved coral reef mapping, including colonies of coral that were over 300 years old. When this disease hit South Florida’s coral, I pivoted to focus on this emerging area of concern. I was able to build off the preliminary baseline data I had collected on these old corals, which began to die off with this new disease. To accomplish this big undertaking, I worked closely during planning stages with DEP, which did a lot of legwork to prioritize this issue in Florida and form a large collaboration of research universities, aquariums, and pharmaceutical companies to intervene with antibiotics to treat the SCTLD.
Building on knowledge from the intervention work, I moved into coral reef disease research and built strong collaborations with many experts in the field to utilize their knowledge to help solve this problem. Now we visit about 100 corals monthly to track spatial and temporal disease patterns, save the colonies from outbreaks, and study why some corals co-located with those that die are actually resistant to the disease.
What advice do you have for other grant seekers at NSU?
My advice is that when you recognize a forthcoming opening in an area, as I did with the emergence of coral disease, do not shy away from shifting your research to investigate new fields. Prior to the coral disease issue several years ago, I had never anticipated working on coral diseases. However, working closely with a funder (DEP), collaborating with other organizations and experts, and leveraging the baseline reef data I had from the region, we were able to propel a whole new line of research.
Also, reaching out can be challenging but don’t overlook your neighbor. We were able to partner with NSU’s CCR to accomplish a critical step in our intervention work, which would have been difficult to accomplish otherwise.
What is the next grant proposal or project on your agenda?
My main goal in the near-term is to continue our ongoing coral disease projects and publish our data and findings in peer-reviewed journals. We also have several grant proposals submitted to investigate the relationship between water quality and coral reef disease. Additionally, I am working on guest editing a special issue for the Bulletin of Marine Science highlighting research advances from large-scale coral reef ecosystem surveys.