Latest news with #RosenstielSchool
CBS News
16-07-2025
- Science
- CBS News
Crossbreeding corals from Honduras could help protect Florida's coast. Here's how it was done.
Miami — Marine scientists in Miami are hoping to restore Florida's coral reef by taking coral from Honduras and crossbreeding it. Warming ocean waters have had a devastating impact on the coral reefs of the Sunshine State. Efforts are underway to save the third-largest barrier reef system in the world, including the use of lab-grown corals and the removal of healthy corals, but scientists are now trying a method that they say has never been done before. "It's the first time ever in the world that an international cross of corals from different countries have been permitted for outplanting on wild reefs," Dr. Andrew Baker, a marine biologist at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine Science, told CBS News on a boat ride near Miami. There are dozens of stony coral species along Florida's 350 miles of reefs, from the Florida Keys up to the St. Lucie Inlet. Two of them are listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, one of which is the Elkhorn coral. The Elkhorn species helps form the skeleton of a healthy reef, but according to Baker, more than 95% of the Elkhorn coral off Florida has been wiped out by a combination of factors, including rising temperatures fueled by climate change, increased coastal development and disease outbreaks "Over the last 50 years or so, we've lost more of these Elkhorn corals, culminating in 2023 when we had this really warm summer," Baker said. "And in order for that population to recover, it was determined that we need more diversity from outside the Florida population." So, scientists and conservationists started looking off the Caribbean coast in Honduras, specifically Tela Bay, where Elkhorn coral live in "the kind of conditions where corals have to be really tough to survive," Baker said. To crossbreed the Elkhorns, scientists with Tela Marine, a Honduras-based aquarium and marine research center, carefully plucked coral from the reef in Honduras. Permits were then needed to transport the coral fragments into the U.S. Once they arrived in Florida, scientists with the University of Miami and the Florida Aquarium in Tampa worked to create the "Flonduran" Elkhorn, as it was nicknamed by Baker. Earlier this month, the crossbred species were planted for the first time in Florida, underneath protective umbrellas to deter predators. "And if these corals can live through the next marine heat wave, then that is critical for our coastal protection on the coast of Florida," said Keri O'Neil, the director of coral conservation at the Florida Aquarium. With robust and healthy corals, South Florida's coastal communities are better protected from flooding because the reefs help break up hurricane-fueled waves. The planting of the first Flondurans is just the start of what's needed to rebuild. "We need to now scale this up and be out planting hundreds of thousands of baby corals all throughout the reef," Baker said. "And there are ways to do that, but we've got to gear up and get going."
Forbes
19-06-2025
- Science
- Forbes
How Miami's Waters Are A Lifeline For Hammerheads
An eight-year study highlights Biscayne Bay as a vital nursery and seasonal refuge for great ... More hammerhead sharks, underscoring its importance across life stages and for long-term shark conservation. In the warm, shallow waters just off the city of Miami, is a haven for one of the ocean's most iconic yet critically endangered marine predators. Hidden beneath the skyline, among seagrass beds and mangrove shorelines, Biscayne Bay serves as a sort of 'cradle' for the great hammerhead shark, a new study from the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science confirms. It turns out that juvenile great hammerheads, during their most vulnerable years, rely heavily on the bay as a nursery habitat. The great hammerhead shark (Sphyrna mokarran) is the largest species of hammerhead, easily recognized by its wide, T-shaped head and tall, curved dorsal fin. Reaching lengths of up to 20 feet (6 meters), these sharks are found in warm, coastal waters around the world. Their unique head shape enhances their ability to detect prey, especially stingrays buried in the sand, and plays a crucial role in their hunting strategy. Despite their formidable size and hunting abilities, great hammerheads are critically endangered due to overfishing, habitat loss, and their sensitivity to capture stress. They often fall victim to bycatch in commercial fisheries and are targeted for their fins. Unlike other sharks that roam vast distances, great hammerheads display strong site fidelity to certain coastal habitats, particularly during juvenile stages. Researchers examined the feeding and habitat patterns of 62 great hammerhead sharks sampled between 2018 and 2025. Using multi-tissue stable isotope analysis (a non-lethal technique that measures the chemical 'fingerprints' left by food sources in muscle and blood plasma) the team tracked both the recent and long-term dietary habits of these animals, allowing them to understand how hammerheads use Biscayne Bay across different life stages. What they found was striking. 'Juvenile great hammerheads show a constrained diet and habitat use, potentially feeding heavily on ... More small inshore stingrays early in life,' said Catherine Macdonald, a research associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and the director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Rosenstiel School. 'This reliance on a narrow range of prey and habitats makes juvenile great hammerheads particularly vulnerable to human activity and environmental change.' For their first two years of life, these young sharks depend almost entirely on the bay's inshore habitats and prey. After that, they begin venturing to coastal reefs, but they still return to the bay seasonally, usually between late spring and early summer. Some adult sharks even continue to forage in the area, showing that the bay isn't just important early on but significant throughout their entire lives. Located in one of the most densely populated parts of Florida, Biscayne Bay has been under pressure for decades. Declining water quality, reduced freshwater inflow, and widespread physical degradation — driven by local rapid urban growth — have vastly changed the ecosystem. What was once a pristine estuary has become a hotspot for pollution, habitat loss, and stress. These changes affect all marine life in the bay, but for the young great hammerheads, they may be especially devastating. 'Juvenile great hammerheads show a constrained diet and habitat use, potentially feeding heavily on small inshore stingrays early in life,' said Dr. Catherine Macdonald, a research associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, and the director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program at the Rosenstiel School. 'This reliance on a narrow range of prey and habitats makes juvenile great hammerheads particularly vulnerable to human activity and environmental change.' Their limited diet and strong preference for nearshore habitats means they have fewer options if conditions deteriorate or if fishing pressure increases. And fishing pressure is a real concern, since Miami is a major destination for recreational fishing, and great hammerheads are often caught unintentionally. The species is known to be extremely sensitive to capture stress, to that point that even when released, many individuals don't survive. 'Reducing interactions with these sharks — particularly avoiding catch-and-release fishing in key nursery areas — can dramatically improve survival for this endangered species,' said researcher John Hlavin, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the Rosenstiel School. 'If a shark is accidentally caught, the best action is a quick, in-water release, without photographs that delay the release process.' Every second the shark is out of the water decreases its odds of survival. That's why responsible fishing is critical, Hlavin continues, especially between March and July, when both juveniles and subadults are present in the bay. Avoiding catch-and-release in known nursery areas could greatly reduce mortality for this species. The results of the study also offer valuable information for policy makers and conservationists. Stable isotope analysis revealed how tightly tied these sharks are to the bay's resources, particularly in their early life. This kind of data can be used to create spatial protections, seasonal fishing restrictions, or habitat restoration initiatives. For example, if we know juvenile hammerheads are concentrated in specific parts of Biscayne Bay in certain months, those areas can be prioritized for protection or restricted from fishing during key periods. While protecting open-ocean shark populations is challenging due to their wide-ranging nature, preserving nursery habitats like Biscayne Bay is a tangible, localized way to make a big difference. Biscayne Bay may lie in the shadow of Miami's skyscrapers, but it's also at the heart of this species' survival. It's here, in the shallows, where these young sharks take their first bites. It's here where they learn to hunt, and where they face some of their greatest risks. The future of great hammerhead sharks may depend not just on what happens out in the deep ocean… but on what we choose to protect right here at home.
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
230 New Giant Viruses Have Been Found In Most of the Planet's Oceans
Scientists at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science looking at water from the world's oceans discovered something odd: 230 types of giant viruses that were previously unknown. 'Giant' is a relative term here, since we're dealing with viruses, and viruses aren't known to be all that big. But in virus sizes, these new ones are positively enormous. A giant virus (yes, it's a scientific term) can be as large as two microns. For context, if you were to pull out a piece of your hair, it would likely be in the 70 micron range. But for a virus, two microns is Godzilla-sized. And while there are almost certainly many more viruses floating around out there that we don't know about just yet, the scientists who found these new ones are pretty excited about their discovery. It'd be easy to think that finding a bunch of new viruses in the ocean is bad, but it's actually a pretty good thing. Right now many oceans are in the middle of a wide-ranging algal bloom that's full of domoic acid. That's bad for things like seals and sea lions, because domoic acid can kill. But by studying these new giant viruses, researchers are learning a whole lot about how they can deal with things like harmful algal blooms. 'By better understanding the diversity and role of giant viruses in the ocean and how they interact with algae and other ocean microbes, we can predict and possibly manage harmful algal blooms, which are human health hazards in Florida as well as all over the world,' explained Mohammad Moniruzzaman, one of the two authors of the new study. 'The novel functions found in giant viruses could have biotechnological potential, as some of these functions might represent novel enzymes.' Giant viruses don't generally infect humans or animals, instead preferring things like algae or amoebas, so we don't have anything to worry about unless something out of a zombie movie happens to them. They are, however, very important in the grand scheme of things. 'We discovered that giant viruses possess genes involved in cellular functions such as carbon metabolism and photosynthesis – traditionally found only in cellular organisms, said Benjamin Minch, the lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the Department of Marine Biology and Ecology at the Rosenstiel School. 'This suggests that giant viruses play an outsized role in manipulating their host's metabolism during infection and influencing marine biogeochemistry.' Since things like phytoplankton act as a bit of a foundational building block for the ecosystems in the ocean, understanding how these giant viruses interact with them could have sweeping impacts. 'Overall, our work provides new insights into the diversity and functional potential of [giant viruses] in the world's oceans through our addition of 230 genomes with an expanded set of photosynthesis proteins as well as many other metabolic genes,' the paper finished. 'We hope that these new genomes along with protein annotations, will be useful in the expansion of insights into [giant viruses] from further metagenomic datasets across all aquatic ecosystems.'
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
US researchers identify 230 new viruses with surprising effect on ocean health
Tiny ocean organisms like algae, amoebas, and flagellates are key to the marine food chain, and giant viruses that infect them can affect how they grow and survive. In some cases, these viruses may also lead to public health issues, such as harmful algal blooms. In the quest to unravel the varying kind of viruses found inside our planet's large water-bodies, scientists at University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science have uncovered 230 new giant viruses using advanced computing tools and ocean data. Researchers also identified 530 new proteins within these viruses, including nine linked to photosynthesis—suggesting the viruses may interfere with how their hosts convert sunlight into energy. According to Mohammad Moniruzzaman, co-author of the study and assistant professor in the university's Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, gaining a better understanding of the diversity and role of giant viruses in the ocean—and how they interact with algae and other microbes—could help predict and potentially manage harmful algal blooms, which pose risks to human health in Florida and around the world. "Giant viruses are often the main cause of death for many phytoplankton, which serve as the base of the food web supporting ocean ecosystems and food sources. The novel functions found in giant viruses could have biotechnological potential, as some of these functions might represent novel enzymes,"explained Moniruzzaman in a press release on University of Miami's website. Detecting giant viruses has proved to be a challenge so far because current computer methods had limitations. To overcome this, the research team created a new tool called BEREN—a program which offers a simple, all-in-one tool for identifying and classifying giant viruses in sequencing datasets To conduct their study, researchers gathered DNA sequencing data from nine major ocean sampling projects spanning the globe. Using BEREN they extracted giant virus genomes from this data. The scientists then analyzed the genomes using public gene function databases to identify the roles and activities encoded by these viruses. Following this, the results were compared to known giant virus genomes to uncover previously unknown functions and gain deeper insight into their diversity. Benjamin Minch, lead author of the study and a doctoral student at the Rosenstiel School, observed that giant viruses carry genes linked to important cellular functions like carbon metabolism and photosynthesis—processes usually found only in living cells. This finding suggests that these viruses have a significant role in altering their host's metabolism during infection and may impact key marine chemical cycles. The researchers used the University of Miami's Pegasus supercomputer at the Frost Institute for Data Science and Computing (IDSC) to process and assemble large metagenomes, often over a gigabase per sample, allowing them to reconstruct hundreds of microbial community libraries. Minch also noted that the study helped create a framework to improve tools for detecting new viruses, which could enhance efforts to monitor pollution and pathogens in waterways. Findings of the study have been published in the journal npj Viruses.
