http://www.uga.edu/aboutUGA/research-bombs.html

Link Between Unexploded Munitions & Cancer

by Dr. James Porter, University of Georgia Department of Ecology

http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/harvell/Site/%3C2005_files/Alker04.pdf

Coral Reefs (2004) 23: 397–405 published July 2004

by  Alisa P. Alker, Kiho Kim, Danielle H. Dube, C. Drew Harvell

This study, based on studies in the Florida Keys supported by Reef Relief, finds that sea fans exhibit a purpling response to biotic agents that reduces subsequent damage to the tissue.   There was speculation that this knowledge could be applied to help humans fight disease.  

 http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/harvell/Site/%3C2005_files/Kim04.pdf

Craig Quirolo first observed the presence of a fungus on purple sea fans and documented it as part of his multi-year ongoing Coral Survey.  He alerted Dr. Drew Harvell of Cornell University who became a Reef Relief Scientific Advisor. She and her student, now Dr. Kiho Kim, accompanied Quirolo to the site and thus began a multi-year study of sea fans with assistance from Quirolo.  They identified the pathogen as aspergillosis, commonly found in topsoil runoff and dust, leading us at Reef Relief to implicate the runoff from the Everglades into Florida Bay.

Effects of Nutrient Enrichment 

NOAA’s 2007  National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment Update for the period from the 1990’s to 2004 by multiple authors with chapters by individual authors.

it was the most comprehensive examination ever reported of nutrient-related water quality impacts,

their causes, and expected changes in condition in U.S. coastal water bodies. The results showed that

most estuarine systems exhibited some level of eutrophication impact in the early 1990s. One of the

main aims of the report was to develop a national strategy to limit the nutrient enrichment problems

affecting U.S. estuarine and coastal water bodies.

This updated 2007 report continues to examine eutrophic conditions into the 2000s. It attempts

to look at changes that occurred in the past decade, and analyze the Nation’s progress in addressing

what we now see as a ubiquitous problem. Coastal eutrophication is a global problem not limited

to U.S. coastal waters. This report highlights the nutrient contamination in selected coastal systems

throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia, and China in an effort to share what we know about the

development of eutrophication, and to provide successful solutions to better manage the problem.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2008/12/30/a1a_NEW_CORAL_1231.html

By KIMBERLY MILLER

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The discovery of three deep-sea coral reefs this month by Florida Atlantic University scientists could lead to new protections for delicate ocean habitats off Florida’s east coast.

The never-before identified reefs of Lophelia coral were found during a seven-day expedition that included researchers from the Waitt Institute for Discovery in La Jolla, Calif., and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Mass.

Scientists set out on the mission to test two new autonomous underwater vehicles, one of which can dive as deep as 6,000 meters, or about 19,700 feet, and survey large areas of the ocean bottom.

More than 300 deep-water coral reefs have been discovered during the past 10 years from off Jacksonville’s coast down to South Florida.

But the three reefs discovered during the recent trip, dubbed “Catalyst One,” were a surprise to researchers.

“Over the past 30 years of work out here we never had a good map of the bottom,” said John Reed, a professor and scientist with Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at FAU, in an online journal about the trip. “Our seven-day mission resulted in some spectacular data.”

Reed has studied the deep coral reefs off Florida’s east coast for decades and has discovered reefs in water 1,000 to 3,000 feet deep.

The new reefs were found 35 miles off the coast between Cape Canaveral and Fort Pierce at a depth of about 450 meters, or about 1,500 feet.

Nascent technology on the underwater vehicles facilitated the find. Developed by Woods Hole, the vehicles can get closer to the ocean floor, are faster than previous vehicles and use two kinds of sonar and a special camera to map areas by following a pre-programmed track.

“It’s not tethered to the surface and is more efficient,” said Greg Packard, senior engineering technician for Woods Hole. “This was in essence the first high resolution mapping of the area.”

Because Lophelia coral, which is white and tree-like, grows in water as deep as 10,000 feet, it’s harder to access and less studied than shallow-water coral.

But scientists do know that Lophelia coral relies on strong currents to supply it with plankton for food, and grows slower than coral that has access to sunlight.

Reed is concerned about protecting fragile Lophelia reefs from bottom-trawling fishing and the possibility of offshore drilling.

He intends to submit the three new reefs to the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council in the hope of having them designated a protected area.

Next year, the council will consider a large region off the coasts of North Carolina and Florida for status as a Habitat Area of Particular Concern for deep-water coral reefs. Reed’s research on deep-water reefs was the basis for the proposal.

The special status would not put restrictions on the area, but would identify it for conservation efforts as sensitive to human-induced damage and put it on the map as an environmentally sensitive area.

The discovery of the new reefs, which falls within the area being considered, could bolster the argument for awarding it the designation, according to information about the expedition on Harbor Branch’s Web site.

“Rarely do scientific expeditions produce solid results this quickly,” said Harbor Branch Executive Director Shirley Pomponi. “This is a big win for the resource managers tasked with protecting these reefs.”