Mote Magazine – Spring 2015

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Events Calendar

A Lifesaving Transplant for Coral Reefs Red Tide Riddles Uncovered Behind the Scenes: How Do Your Algae Grow?

Introducing Oceans of Opportunity Mote Milestones New Exhibit: Oh Baby!

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Mote Magazine (ISSN 1553-1104) is published by Mote Marine Laboratory, a world-class nonprofit organization devoted to the ocean and its future. By telling the stories of sea science, Mote hopes to enhance public understanding of marine research and conservation.

PRESIDENT & CEO

Michael P. Crosby, Ph.D. ASSISTANT VP, COMMUNITY RELATIONS & COMMUNICATIONS

Stacy Alexander EDITOR

Nadine Slimak GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Alexis Balinski CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hayley Rutger, Richard Morin CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Alexis Balinski, Joe Berg, FWC

MOTE 2015 EVENTS CALENDAR

FEBRUARY Feb. 2 n ANNUAL SPECIAL LECTURE SERIES begins. 7:30 p.m. each Monday through March 9 at Mote. Series sponsored in-part by Bob and Jill Williams.

Details/tickets online at mote.org/lecture.

Feb. 02 n SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION opens for Mote Members and former campers.

Feb. 05 n LEGACY BREAKFAST to honor those who have committed their support to Mote through planned giving.

Feb. 09 n SUMMER CAMP REGISTRATION opens for non-members.

Feb. 14 n OPENING — our newest special exhibit exploring ocean animal reproduction, offspring and families. This family-friendly exhibit will invite visitors to discover ocean animal “romance,” babies of many species and the survival challenges facing new generations. These topics are central to marine research around the globe, including Mote’s world-class science.

Feb. 18 n CELEBRATING SCIENCE TEACHERS, a special invitation-only reception for science teachers to meet & mingle and learn about Mote education programs. Sponsored by the Mote Advisory Council.

Feb. 27 n TEA FOR THE SEA, a celebration of our marine science research with Mote’s Women’s Giving Circle. Email Erin Knievel, eknievel@mote.org, or call 941.388.4441, ext. 415, for sponsorship and tickets.

MARCH Mote Magazine is proud to recognize Sarasota Magazine as its publishing partner.

For information on sponsorship, please contact Sarasota Magazine at 941-487-1109.

SPRING 2015 • VOLUME 69 INFO: 941-388-4441 • M O T E . O R G COVER PHOTO

March 20 n PARTY ON THE PASS — a casual evening of good food, good fun and goodwill supporting Mote. Mote Aquarium. mote.org/party.

APRIL April 4 n 29TH ANNUAL RUN FOR THE TURTLES proudly sponsored by Positive Tracks (sanctioned race). 5K includes 1-mile fun-run/walk. Siesta Key Public Beach, 928 Beach Road. mote.org/run or register at active.com.

April 4 n 6TH ANNUAL FLORIDA KEYS OCEAN FESTIVAL AND WATERFRONT CRAFT SHOW, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, 35 East Quay Road, Truman Waterfront, Old Town, Key West & 3rd Annual Tuna Trot Run for the Reef. keysoceanfest.org.

JUNE June 6 n WORLD OCEANS DAY FAMILY FESTIVAL — celebrate our world ocean with a day of games and crafts focused on green practices, marine science and conservation. Free with regular admission. mote.org/worldoceansday.

OCTOBER Oct. 23 n NIGHT OF FISH, FUN & FRIGHT — buoys and ghouls of all ages are invited to dress up in costume at Mote Aquarium to discover creatures from the deep in a safe and fun trick-or-treat zone. mote.org/halloween.

State Rep. Holly Merrill Raschein, R-Key Largo, visited Mote’s underwater coral nursery with Mote President & CEO Dr. Michael P. Crosby.

Photo by Joe Berg/Way Down Video.

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Oct. 31 n OCEANIC EVENING, our annual black-tie fundraiser supporting Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium’s marine research, education and outreach programs. Email Erin Knievel, eknievel@mote.org, or call 941.388.4441, ext.

415, for sponsorship and tickets.

A LIFESAVING TRANSPLANT FOR CORAL REEFS

BY RICHARD MORIN

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avid Vaughan plunges his right arm down to his elbow into one of nine elevated tanks where thousands of tiny colonies of coral are growing at an astonishing rate in shaded seclusion next to the Mote Tropical Research Laboratory.

“Now this is the exciting part. You ready for this?” he asks, straining to be heard over the relentless hiss of filtered saltwater squirting from a maze of pipes and plastic tubing into the shallow fiberglass tank the size of a dining-room table.

Dr. Vaughan, a marine biologist who is Executive Director of the laboratory, retrieves a flat rock from the bottom. A chocolatebrown colony of brain coral, nearly 8 inches wide, has grown on the stony surface, its distinctive fleshy, serpentine folds nearly covering the rock.

Other species grown from tiny coral seeds in the Mote lab have developed even faster — up to 50 times their normal rate.

Dr. Vaughan and a Staff Biologist, Christopher Page, say this quick-grow technique, called microfragmenting, may make it possible to mass-produce reef-building corals for transplanting onto dead or dying reefs that took centuries to develop — perhaps slowing or even reversing the alarming loss of corals in the Florida Keys and elsewhere.

“This is real,” Dr. Vaughan said. “This potentially can be a fix.”

Other scientists are excited, too. While there are other efforts around the world to grow new coral, “this is easily the most promising restoration project that I am aware of,” said Dr.

A year ago, the colony began as inch-and-a-half-wide coral fragments cut with a band saw from the same parent colony. As if doused with a growth elixir, these coral “seeds” began to grow 25 times as fast as they would in the wild.

Billy Causey, a coral expert who oversees all federal marine

And when arranged a few inches apart on the rock, the minicolonies quickly advanced across the surface and fused to become a single grapefruit-sized organism that continues to grow.

“Dave and Chris are buying us time,” he added. “This will keep

sanctuaries in the Southeastern United States, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

corals out there” until “we can come to understand what is happening to coral on the larger scale.”

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Replanting: (left) Scientists transplant microfragments of corals in Mote’s restoration site off Big Pine Key. Growing: (right) Hundreds of microfragments of corals grow in a raceway at Mote’s laboratory on Summerland Key.

Still, even Dr. Vaughan’s cheery optimism has its limits. A quarter of the earth’s corals have disappeared in recent decades, and the Mote scientists say no one can predict what will happen if the oceans continue to warm, pollution and acidification increase, overfishing further decimates species beneficial to coral, and land runoff continues to reduce the amount of life-giving sunlight that reaches the bottom.

“We do not know if this is a fix-all,” Page said. “At worst, we’re buying a little time. At best, we could restore the ecosystem.”

LIVING ROCKS On a breezy, sun-washed day, Dr. Vaughan, 61, welcomed a visitor to the Mote laboratory here, about 25 miles up the road from Key West.

He wore the uniform of the Keys — shorts, flip-flop sandals and a billowy white shirt. His shoulder-length hair, sun-bleached beard and weathered face speak of a lifetime working in the sun and saltwater.

For the past three years, he and Page have focused on “massive” corals, the species that create most of the structure on a living reef.

These corals have proved less susceptible than other species to the effects of rising ocean temperatures, pollution and changes in water chemistry.

But unlike fast-growing branching corals, massive species like brain, star, boulder and mounding corals naturally grow less than 2 inches a year — so slowly they are nicknamed “living rocks.”

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Scientists and marine aquaculturists are successfully growing staghorn and other branching corals in offshore nurseries for replanting in the wild. But until now, the slow growth rate of massive corals has stymied all efforts to produce these species in sufficient quantities for reef restoration.

The research facility over which Dr. Vaughan presides looks more like an oil refinery than a laboratory. A pump sucks up ancient seawater trapped in the porous limestone 80 feet below ground.

The water is first treated in two 1,000-gallon fiberglass tanks to remove traces of ammonia, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.

Then it flows through a maze of 4-inch PVC pipes and into 30 outdoor 180-gallon fiberglass tanks, called raceways. A fine-mesh canopy over the tanks shades them from the subtropical sun.

In nine of these raceways, more than 7,000 brain, star, boulder and mounding corals grow in neat rows on different surfaces: cement pucks, specially manufactured ceramic wafers, or travertine tiles from the local Home Depot. Each had grown from a microfragment about the size of a pencil eraser.

THE ‘EUREKA MISTAKE’ Dr. Vaughan stumbled upon the microfragmenting idea eight years ago. He was transferring colonies of elkhorn coral between aquariums in his lab. He reached to the bottom of a tank to retrieve a colony growing on a 2-inch concrete puck.

“Part of the coral had grown over the back side and had attached to the bottom of the aquarium,” he said. When he grabbed it, “it

broke off and left two or three polyps behind. I thought I just killed those. But oh, well, I moved the puck over.”

A week later he happened to glance at the abandoned polyps — the individual hydra-shaped, genetically identical organisms that make up a coral colony — on the bottom of the aquarium.

“I noticed that those one to three polyps were now five to seven polyps,” he said. “They not only had lived — they had grown and had doubled in size.”

It was, he said, “my eureka mistake.” He cut a few more polyps from the original colony and placed them on other pucks. “And they grew like crazy. The coral seems to want to repair itself quickly and grow back over its lost ground before something else takes its territory.”

But it wasn’t until Page was hired in 2011 that Dr. Vaughan first applied this insight to the large-scale production of massive corals.

Page, 29, had raised corals in an aquarium as a teenager in Buffalo. He knew that hobbyists and live-coral dealers routinely split growing colonies into pieces to sell or trade. “This was something that could be done,” he said. “I had done it as a hobbyist. It was a chance to apply what I had done on a much larger scale and actually accomplish something big.”

Three years later, he said, he can produce 1,000 microfragments just 1 centimeter square (one-sixth of a square inch) in four days.

And with more space and adequate funding, he added, “the sky’s the limit.”

Will these coddled corals survive in the wild? Early tests have been encouraging. More than a year after they were transplanted to offshore test sites, 134 of 150 colonies grown from microfragments continue to flourish, Page said.

Last year, he planted eight fragments of brain coral on 18 dead coral “heads” — colonies of genetically identical polyps — each about two feet wide.

“They’re doing well,” he said. “They’re sheeting over the entire structure really nicely. In a year or maybe two from now, you will see one continuous colony that would have taken 15 to 30 years to grow” in the wild.

And Dr. Vaughan said he planned to place 200 coral tiles on a dead 1,000-year-old coral head “the size of a Volkswagen” in hopes of restoring it in just a year.

“Sounds like science fiction, doesn’t it?” he said with a chuckle.

CREATING A CORAL THICKET In June, Mote scientists won federal approval to begin their most ambitious project yet — to create a living coral thicket on the limestone skeleton of a dead reef half a mile off Big Pine Key, just east of Key West.

They have started planting 4,000 nursery-raised corals — symmetrical brain, boulder star, great star and massive starlet — on the 2.5-acre test site. Those species will join more than 1,000

Staghorn Coral: (left) A member of the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge transplants a staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, fragment grown in Mote’s nursery to a site off Big Pine Key. Star Coral: (right) These colonies of mountainous star coral, Orbicella faveolata, have been grown using a new technique developed at Mote, which for the first time is working on large-scale restoration of boulder corals in the FLorida Keys.

Joe Berg/Way Down Video.

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staghorn coral raised in Mote’s offshore nursery by a team led by another Staff Scientist, Erich Bartels.

The goal, Dr. Vaughan said, is to create “in a very short period of time a reef like the reefs we remember” from decades ago.

The project, among the largest coral restorations ever attempted, is the first large-scale effort in the Keys, and one of the few in the world, to restore massive corals in the wild, Dr. Vaughan said. It is partly supported by a $35,000 grant from the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

By late October, the Mote team had transplanted a total of 720 nursery corals to the offshore site in three separate plantings roughly a month apart.

The first planting, on July 25, was a disaster. Parrotfish found the nursery-raised corals particularly tasty. While some colonies were untouched, most “got chomped,” Page said.

The researchers adjusted their technique. Instead of transplanting corals directly from the nursery to the test site, they temporarily placed them under wire cages near their intended permanent homes.

“They are doing fantastic,” Page said. “Predation significantly decreased after they acclimatized to site conditions” and were then relocated to the test site — perhaps because of subtle shifts in the color of the colonies, changes in their internal chemistry or other factors. (Color matters, the scientists found. Predators seemed to pass up darker corals in favor of fluorescent green ones.)

Planting will continue indefinitely. The researchers want to identify the corals that fare best, and to determine the ideal length of time needed to acclimate each species to make them less attractive to hungry fish.

If successful, they plan to use their nursery-raised corals to restore other degraded reef sites throughout the Keys and train others to set up their own coral factories.

Joe Berg/Way Down Video.

Underwater: State Rep. Holly Merrill Raschein, R-Key Largo, visited Mote’s Tropical Research Laboratory on Summerland Key last year and had the opportunity to dive in Mote’s coral restoration nursery. She came away educated and inspired. “Mote’s Tropical Research Lab is absolutely incredible,” she said. “The groundbreaking research Mote has been able to produce with limited resources in their lab on Summerland Key is amazing. Their multifaceted research approach and big-picture focus foretells a bright future for our reefs.”

MOTE FIGHTING DECLINES IN CORAL HEALTH Worldwide, coral species are facing severe threats from warming ocean waters, ocean acidification, pollution and disease. Many reefs are in significant decline — with losses of up to 90 percent for some species.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced in the fall of 2014 new protections for coral with the listing of 20 new species as “threatened” — including five species found in the Florida Keys where Mote Marine Laboratory has been studying coral ecosystems and developing new restoration methodologies for more than 15 years.

Florida’s reef — the only barrier reef system in the continental U.S. — underpins the state’s marine ecosystems, draws $6.3 billion to our economy and protects our coastlines from major storms.

The reef is at the heart of Mote’s world-class research focused on the conservation and sustainable use of our ocean’s natural resources. As the southernmost marine laboratory in the continental U.S., Mote’s lab in the Keys is uniquely positioned to support the study and restoration of Florida’s coral reef system.

But as Page noted, time is running out. “This may be our last, best chance,” he said.

While Mote scientists are attacking the issues that coral species face on a number of fronts, the Keys lab also serves as an important and unique base of operations for other researchers from around the world who are also working to restore and protect reefs.

— This story originally appeared in The New York Times ‘Science Times’ section. It is reprinted here with permission from The New York Times Co.

Learn more about Mote coral research online at mote.org/coraloverview.

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Sampling: (left) A research team prepares to submerge a rosette of Niskin bottles to collect water samples from a variety of depths in the water column.

Red Tide Riddles Uncovered

BY HAYLEY RUTGER

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here are picky eaters and then there’s the organism that causes Florida red tide, which scientists have recently shown is a micro-scopic omnivore that can use nutrients from a dozen sources.

This new research published as a special edition of the scientific journal Harmful Algae shows that food sources that support Karenia brevis, the organism that causes Florida’s red tides, are more diverse and complex than previously known.

The five-year group of studies aimed to reveal which nutrients support blooms of K. brevis and the extent to which coastal pollution might contribute to red tide in Southwest Florida. Understanding all the factors that contribute to blooms is important for reducing their impacts on coastal communities, where they can significantly affect public health and local economies, researchers say.

The multi-partner project was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms Program (ECOHAB) and documented the microbiology, physiology, ecology and physical oceanography factors affecting red tides in new detail. Fourteen research papers, including several from Mote Marine Laboratory scientists, were published in the special issue of Harmful Algae, which provided

a synthesis of results and offered suggestions for resource managers addressing red tide in coastal Southwest Florida.

“Right now, we have few options for controlling or reducing red tide blooms, so we have to focus on how we can help communities mitigate the impacts,” said Dr. Cynthia Heil, Senior Research Scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, who co-edited the special issue of Harmful Algae and was formerly with Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Research Institute. “Data go a long way toward increasing our understanding. The complexities we found also show why the continuation of large-scale, multi-faceted collaborative research is necessary to understand why Florida red tides are so frequent and harmful in this region. These studies also pointed to the need for expanding coastal observing systems that can help predict the movements of blooms once they are formed. That way, resource managers can help coastal residents prepare for impacts.”

For the project, the researchers studied four K. brevis blooms (2001, ’07, ’08 and ’09, plus the non-bloom year 2010) and documented 12 nutrient sources in Southwest Florida waters that feed blooms. The research even found several new nutrient sources never before associated with K. brevis.

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“K. brevis is an adaptable and flexible organism,” said the journal’s co-editor, Dr. Judith O’Neil, Research Associate Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. “One of the most interesting things that hadn’t previously been taken into account is this organism’s ability to not just use sunlight, like plants, but to also consume other single-celled organisms.

Additionally, its migratory behavior and directed swimming allows K. brevis access to nutrient sources everywhere it finds them — at the surface, bottom and throughout the water column.”

Investigator for the ECOHAB project. “Until now we had not looked at this many of the 12 sources and their specific quantities simultaneously. Some of the sources, like nutrients released from the sediments, had never been measured in Southwest Florida’s coastal waters until we studied them for this ECOHAB project.”

The findings support the idea that blooms start 10 to 40 miles offshore, away from the direct influence of land-based nutrient pollution, but that once a bloom moves inshore, it can use both human-contributed and natural nutrients for growth. The project blended nutrient studies with physical oceanography, shedding new light on how blooms are brought to shore.

The project’s findings are important for resource managers tasked with reducing bloom impacts on humans and coastal wildlife. “Until now, effective management of harmful algal blooms caused by K. brevis was complicated because we didn’t know enough about how different nutrient sources and forms taken up by K. brevis interacted with the physical environment,” said Matt Garrett of FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, who managed the ECOHAB project. “This project provides data that can help inform management recommendations on how to control nutrient sources and possibly improve forecasting models.”

“Nature is messy, but this project has put several new pieces in place,” said Dr. Kellie Dixon, Mote Senior Scientist and co-Principal

— View abstracts from the journal Harmful Algae at: mote.org/harmfulalgaeabstracts.

“This project provides data that can help inform management recommendations on how to control nutrient sources and possibly improve forecasting models.”

Filtering: (left) Dr. Emily R. Hall of Mote prepares to filter water samples for ECOHAB research. On the Water: (top right) Dr. L. Kellie Dixon of Mote stands in front of a “mesocosm” system designed by collaborator Matt Garrett of FWC to study phytoplankton growth in partially controlled conditions but under ambient temperature and sunlight. Collecting Water: (bottom right) The rosette of Niskin bottles is submerged to collect water samples.

FWC

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Feeding Red Tide This study showed that K. brevis can use nitrogen and/or phosphorus from the following sources (*indicates those sources newly linked to K. brevis through the ECOHAB project).

The researchers concluded that many of these nutrient sources are individually more than enough to support observed blooms, but no single nutrient source is solely responsible for a bloom: •

Undersea sediments;

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Decaying fish;

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Water flowing out of estuaries;

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Deposits from the atmosphere;

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Nitrogen from the air transformed, or “fixed,” into a more useable form by the naturally occurring bacteria Trichodesmium — a type of cyanobacteria, which use energy from sun to make food;

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Waste from zooplankton — small aquatic animals visible to the naked eye;

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The “grazing” of smaller zooplankton, dubbed “microzooplankton” because they can only be seen under a microscope (grazing includes their “sloppy eating” of other tiny life forms, along with their waste);*

Managing Red Tide

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Picoplankton — tiny plants that K. brevis consumes;*

The special issue of Harmful Algae suggested:

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Bacteria transforming nitrogen in the water into more useful forms;*

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Light creating available nutrients from natural, dissolved compounds like tannins in the water;*

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Decay of Trichodesmium blooms;*

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Nitrogen from the air “fixed” by cyanobacteria other than Trichodesmium.*

Mote / FWC

On-Board Analysis: A research team conducts analysis of water samples collected in the field aboard the RV Bellows.

What is Florida red tide?

Florida red tide blooms are higher-than-normal concentrations of the naturally occurring microscopic algae species Karenia brevis, a plant-like organism with toxins that can kill fish and other marine species, make shellfish toxic to eat and cause respiratory irritation in humans. They occur in the Gulf of Mexico, most frequently off Southwest Florida, and can significantly affect public health and the economy.

Reducing controllable nutrient inputs into coastal environments that have been shown to contribute to blooms; Monitoring for oceanography conditions that favor the initiation, transport and export of blooms; Identifying and providing state and federal funding to maintain an operational coastal observing system.

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How Do Your Algae Grow?

COMPILED BY HAYLEY RUTGER, PHOTOS BY ALEXIS BALINSKI

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LIGHTS ON Like terrestrial plants, marine algae use sunlight energy to produce food. In the culture facility, Mote uses grow lights just like those in traditional greenhouses.

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GREEN WITH…

WHAT ELSE? CHLOROPHYLL Algae color comes from several pigments and even the structure of algae cells. Marine algae generally have the green pigment chlorophyll and other accessory pigments.

This green Tetraselmis has lots of chlorophyll.

2-3 MANY MICROSCOPIC SPECIES There are 13 species of microscopic marine algae in this picture. Algae can have numerous genetic types, or strains, such as the four strains of K. brevis that Mote was growing in late 2014.

One of the main strains historically used in K. brevis research is called the Wilson Clone. It was isolated from a sample collected in 1953 near John’s Pass, Fla., by William B. Wilson, a scientist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Galveston Laboratory.

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ote’s phytoplankton culture facility is a scientific greenhouse for marine algae — including Karenia brevis, the toxic algae species that causes Florida red tide. Scientists from Mote’s Phytoplankton Ecology Program maintain living algae cultures — some decades old — to study the biology, behavior and toxicity of microscopic algae, or phytoplankton. Dr. Vince Lovko, the Program’s Manager, has recently been studying the cultured algae using a chemostat, or continuous culture, system that allows scientists to evaluate how different species respond to different nutrient types and sources in a way that approximates the natural environment.

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WHEN RED ISN’T RED Despite the name “Florida red tide,” K. brevis isn’t always red. In culture, it can look golden or brownish. In the wild, blooms of K. brevis may cause brownish or reddish color at high concentrations, but sometimes no color is visible to the naked eye.

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TENDING THE GARDEN Staff Biologist Val Palubok tends the algae, which live in a nutrientenriched seawater medium. In 2001, Mote scientists were the first to isolate and culture K. brevis samples from New Pass and Manasota Key in Sarasota County. Now these strains are available for study by other scientists around the world through the National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota in Maine.

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Introducing

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s an independent, nonprofit, mission-based marine science research institution, Mote Marine Laboratory has been working since 1955 to explore, understand and unlock the mysteries of the sea to ensure that our planet and its ocean resources are available for generations to come.

What began with one scientist has now become one of the largest leading independent marine research laboratories in the world. Mote Marine Laboratory’s vision is to continue growing the impact of our research and education programs in the coming years, in line with our guiding 2020 Vision & Strategic Plan, and to remain a vital part of the community for decades to come.

Above all else, Mote Marine Laboratory is a marine science research institute having expanded into 24 diverse research programs focused on advancing the frontiers of science, addressing the grand challenges facing our oceans today and identifying and addressing those of the future Yet even as we remain steadfast and true to our mission, we face a defining moment in our history. Inadequate endowed resources leave the future independence of Mote Marine Laboratory dangerously dependent upon diminishing governmental funding and vulnerable to economic fluctuations of annual revenue sources. Mote has

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no state-funded tenured faculty positions nor guaranteed government lines for funding. For the future, a robust Mote endowment is required to provide financial stability through times of economic uncertainty.

In answer to these challenges, the Mote Marine Laboratory Board of Trustees has unanimously endorsed and supported the organization’s first-ever, multi-year, comprehensive fundraising effort — Oceans of Opportunity: the Campaign for Mote Marine Laboratory. This ambitious, $50 million campaign undertaken in the year of our 60th anniversary, is designed to fulfill a carefully formulated plan to ensure Mote’s future for generations to come.

Mote Marine Laboratory cannot fulfill its mission and achieve its 2020 Vision alone. Achieving the critically needed significant growth in Mote’s impacts for science-based conservation and sustainable use of the world’s marine resources will take a shared community commitment for making an investment in the future.

Please join us. Contact Mote’s Development Office to invest in the future of our oceans by supporting Mote Marine Laboratory. 941.388.4441, ext. 309.

We cannot achieve this vision alone.

Please join us.

We are Relentless in Our Pursuit of: • Conserving the precious natural resources of our shared oceans — which are connected to each and every person on the planet;.

• Restoring coral reefs, the rainforests of the sea, in our lifetime; • Developing human cancer therapies and new drugs to fight deadly bacteria; • Providing rapid responses in times of marine ecological emergencies and disasters;

Our Fundamental Values:

• Restoring and sustainably using fish populations;

• Leadership in marine resource conservation and enhancement;

• Developing environmentally friendly, sustainable aquaculture methods to help feed the world;

• Responsible stewardship of natural resources and fiscal assets;

• Serving as first responder to sick or injured sea turtles, dolphins and whales;

• Creativity, collegiality, collaboration and partnership as foundations for achieving common goals;

• Educating our children and enhancing the overall level of ocean literacy in the broader public;

• Service and education for our local, state, regional, national and international communities;

• Sharing the science that will help protect the marine environment and improve the quality of all human life for generations to come.

• Integrity and ethics in all endeavors.

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MOTE MILESTONES

MOTE MARKS FIRST MAJOR BUSINESS SPIN-OFF

NEW DIRECTOR OF VOLUNTEER & INTERN RESOURCES

In November, Mote’s President & CEO announced the sale of the nonprofit organization’s Siberian sturgeon and caviar production operation to Southeast Venture Holdings, LLC (Seven Holdings).

Robert Rogers — a skilled professional in volunteer management who is committed to environmental conservation — has been selected as Mote’s Director of Volunteer Resources.

Rogers came to Mote after serving since 2011 as Director of Volunteer Services at Feeding America Southwest Virginia.

He also has ties to Sarasota. From 20092011 he was a Program Specialist in the volunteer department of John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, and in 2005 and 2006 he worked with Sarasota’s Senior Friendship Centers.

“The sale marks the first major private business spin-off from Mote research and achieves a major goal for the Laboratory’s 2020 Vision & Strategic Plan,” said Dr. Michael P. Crosby, Mote President & CEO. “This is a great example of how basic research in the field of sustainable land-based aquaculture has led to innovative water recirculation technology that can help sustainably feed the world and help to expand employment in our region.”

Seven Holdings will integrate the fish and caviar operation into its Healthy Earth brand of sustainable foods businesses with Seven Holdings General Partner, Christopher Cogan, as CEO. Healthy Earth was established to develop commercial-scale operations across the entire sustainable foods sector from natural feed supplements and safe biological replacements for harmful chemical pesticides and fertilizers to sustainable aquaculture and agriculture production.

The sale of Mote’s sustainable sturgeon and caviar production operation will include an agreement for research commercialization and investment into Mote’s ongoing sustainable, land-based recirculating marine and freshwater aquaculture research at the 200-acre Mote Aquaculture Park in eastern Sarasota County. The investment will increase Mote’s ability to continue and expand scientific studies there that are needed to discover and improve sustainable technologies for growing seafood for human consumption and restocking declining and depleted fish species in the wild.

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A native of Charleston, S.C., Rogers studied Art History at The College of Charleston and New York University. Raised in an environment with a strong sense of civic responsibility, he began volunteering at an early age and remained committed to community service and collaboration throughout his career in the arts in South America, Europe and the United States. He transitioned to volunteer leadership by working as an organizer for the 1996 Summer Olympics and then leading the volunteer program for AIDS Walk Atlanta in 1997. He has also facilitated the distribution of 60 million pounds of food for Feeding America in Roanoke, Va. during the past three years.

“The opportunity to work with Mote Marine Laboratory combines my passion for volunteerism with my commitment to environmental conservation,” Rogers said. “I consider it a privilege to connect the incredibly generous members of this community with an organization whose mission supports our ocean environments.”

A new Temporary exhibit at Mote!

This family-friendly, educational exhibit invites visitors to discover ocean animal “romance” and reproduction.

Highlights include a baby shark touch pool, babies of many species and "Who Wants to Be a Sea Star"A multi-player, digital interactive game show!

Open Daily 10am - 5pm Free with regular admission

!

Y B A B OH

Life cycles of the Seas

Feb. 14 through sept. 27 PRESENTING SPONSOR

EXHIBIT SPONSOR MOTE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2015 15

1600 Ken Thompson Parkway Sarasota, FL 34236-1004

NON PROFIT ORG. U.S. Postage PAID Lebanon Junction, KY Permit #698

(941) 388-4441 www.mote.org

Are you a Sea Star?

You could be!

At Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, we know the real stars are the people who support our scientific research, education and outreach programs — Mote Members matter.

Mote Members are people around the world inspired by our oceans and invested in protecting them.

Immerse yourself in discovery… become a Mote Member today.

Memberships start at $65 and include unlimited free admission to Mote Aquarium for one year, express entry, discounts on most purchases and popular programs and reciprocal benefits to other aquariums, zoos and museums.

Memberships are 100% tax deductible.

MOTE.ORG/MEMBERSHIP

Connect with us #MoteMarineLab MOTE MARINE LABORATORY, INC. IS REGISTERED WITH THE STATE OF FLORIDA #CH1050, UNDER REQUIREMENTS OF THE SOLICITATION OF CONTRIBUTIONS ACT. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.