CASE Magazine, Spring 2021, Special Issuu

ARTS SCIENCES EDUCATION FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY 2021 LIFE BELOW WATER

H e ade d f o r

e x ti nct io n ?

GLOBAL FINPRINT CAPTURES SHARKS ON VIDEO, P A V I N G W AY F O R N E W E R A O F C O N S E R V AT I O N

CONTENTS

Headed for extinction?

Scientists reveal sharks are in trouble with first Global FinPrint data release

16 20

Late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen funded FIU’s groundbreaking shark, ray census research Times Higher Education ranks FIU’s impact on life below water

2

Meet marine evolutionary biologist Heather Bracken-Grissom

Shark fin DNA yields clues on the fin trade

18

24

Water may once again flow freely into the southern Everglades

6

Is there hope for Biscayne Bay?

28

Seagrasses are key to keeping carbon safely stored in the ocean

FROM THE DEAN

Mike Heithaus, Dean

For years, we have used this venue to bring you inspiring stories of the incredible work and impact of our faculty, students, and staff — and the people and partners who help make it happen. Even with a global pandemic, we are doing everything we can to make a difference for our students, our community and our environment — in our own backyard, on every continent and in every ocean. It is my pleasure to share with you this special issue of Arts, Sciences & Education focused on our environmental work.

For me, this work is very personal. Five years ago, colleagues and I had the honor of partnering with Paul G. Allen Philanthropies (PGAP) to create the Global FinPrint Project. It all started when Paul asked the question “what’s happening to all the sharks and what can we do?” With the help of more than 100 scientific collaborators, hundreds of volunteers, incredible partnerships with PGAP and other environmental organizations, and working closely with local fishing communities and governments, FIU has completed the most comprehensive study of reef sharks and rays in the world.

FinPrint is just an example of the amazing work being done by faculty, students and staff in FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education every day. We are making sure nature and people thrive in a changing world. Our Institute of Environment is pioneering critical research from ridge to reef to develop solutions for the environmental crises we face today, and providing the scientific foundation to prevent future ones. Our legacy is our impact. That impact — and the one we will make in the future — is one of the reasons FIU was designated as Florida’s University of Distinction for Environmental Resilience and ranked as the #9 university in the world for positive impact on Life Below Water by Times Higher Education.

FIU has brought clean water solutions, education, training and outreach programs to developing countries throughout the world. Our proven track record and successful partnerships resulted in FIU receiving a United Nations UNESCO Water Chair in Water Security and Gender Equity. The UNESCO Chair has brought together dozens of nations to address cybersecurity threats on water security infrastructure and connected more than 500 experts across the world to use science to tackle the challenges of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Closer to home, our monitoring programs span decades, chronicling changes to ecosystems, effective mitigation strategies and long-term impacts of short-term climate events. We've provided the science to inform the largest environmental restoration project on the planet — the Florida Everglades.

The National Science Foundation’s Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Program is based at FIU in partnership with 25 other U.S. institutions.

Our Medina Aquarius Program is dedicated to the study and preservation of marine ecosystems worldwide, featuring the Aquarius Reef Base, the world’s only undersea research and education laboratory.

Faculty and students in our NSF-funded Center of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) on Aquatic Environmental Chemistry and Environment have developed innovative technologies to quantify newly discovered contaminants in the field. This center has provided research, education and training opportunities for 78 graduate and 155 undergraduate students as well as 15 postdoctoral fellows, 75 percent of whom are from underrepresented groups.

These efforts and countless others would not be possible without the collaboration of academic, community and government partners or the support of philanthropists and granting agencies that share in our vision of an inspiring and sustainable future. Thank you for your continued support, collaboration and vision. Together we will change the world.

Mike Heithaus Dean, College of Arts, Sciences & Education Professor, Department of Biological Sciences Florida International University Arts, Sciences & Education is a publication produced by the College of Arts, Sciences & Education and the Division of External Relations, Strategic Communications and Marketing at Florida International University.

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Laura Dinehart, Senior Associate Dean, School of Education and Human Development Heather Russell, Senior Associate Dean, School of Environment, Arts and Society Walter Van Hamme, Senior Associate Dean, School of Integrated Science and Humanity Maricel Cigales, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies Maureen Donnelly, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Rita Teutonico, Associate Dean of Research Deborah Hasson, Assistant Dean of Accreditation and Assessment Hector Junco, Assistant Dean of Operations Maria Rosado, Senior Director of Academic Support Services Stephanie Cox, Executive Director of Development Stephany Alvarez-Ventura, Senior Development Officer JoAnn C. Adkins, Editor, Arts, Sciences & Education Magazine Barbarita Ramos, Senior Graphic Designer Aileen Solá-Trautmann, Graphic Designer Writers Ayleen Barbel Fattal Nathalie Medina Angela Nicoletti Chrystian Tejedor Photographers Ivan Santiago Dean’s Advisory Board Gonzalo Acevedo, Co-chair Kevin Senecal, Co-chair Richard Standifer, Co-chair Mariel Acosta-Garcia Sandy Batchelor Suleyman Demir Steven Dinh Frank V. DuMond Sharon Fine Robert Fitzsimmons Paul D. Landrum Grace Lohn Brian Machovina Olga Melin Michael Mendez John Mills Esther Moreno Michael Rosenberg Sevi Sari Dan Tasciotti Fiorella Terenzi Cenk Tuncay Mine Üçer FIU Board of Trustees Dean C. Colson ’09, Chairperson Rogelio Tovar ’92, ’94, Vice Chair Cesar L. Alvarez Jose J. Armas Leonard Boord Donna J. Hrinak Natasha Lowell T. Gene Prescott Claudia Puig Chanel T. Rowe ’14 Marc D. Sarnoff Faculty Member Joerg Reinhold, Chair, FIU Faculty Senate Student Member Alexandra Valdes Student Trustee, MMC

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 1

FIU RANKS No. 9

in the world for impact on life below water

By JoAnn C. Adkins

F

IU has been ranked No. 9 in the world for positive impact on life below water by The Times Higher Education 2020 Impact Rankings.

The university ranked third in the United States and is the only institution in the state of Florida to make the list.

Faculty, students and staff in FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education work across a variety of disciplines on water-related research and education throughout the world. Its Institute of Environment is leading projects that support and safeguard the survival of key ecosystems and species in both freshwater and saltwater environments. Researchers are addressing sea level rise, the environmental and economic realities of climate change, management strategies for sustainable fisheries, and providing the science to ensure marine animals, aquatic plants, coral reefs, and the places they all call home remain healthy.

“Our globally recognized research programs develop realistic and scalable solutions to the environmental crises we face today and are the scientific foundation for preventing future ones,” said Mike Heithaus, marine scientist and dean of the College of Arts, Sciences & Education. His work in Shark Bay, Australia is the most detailed study of the ecological role of sharks in the world and has been used as the underpinning for effecting positive policy changes.

“We work with governments and the public to ensure the solutions that are implemented lead to healthy ecosystems that support the livelihoods and well-being of the people that rely on them,” he said.

The ridge-to-reef approach in environmental research at FIU is conducted on every continent, collaborating with partners locally and internationally. Efforts have led to significant policy changes on conservation, expanded protections for endangered species, improved sanitation and access to clean water in developing nations, and improved protections for vital natural resources.

In the field, scientists are studying animal behavior, overfishing, by-catch, habitat destruction, ocean acidification, pollution and ways to protect

2 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

seagrasses, one of the world’s greatest assets for storing carbon. Projects encompass long-term processes such as climate change and impacts of catastrophic events such as an oil spill. Researchers are even planning research missions to study the impacts of social distancing on the health of the oceans amid the coronavirus pandemic.

To do their work, research teams develop and deploy cutting-edge technologies including animal-borne cameras, baited remote underwater video, satellite tags, biosensors, customized sonar and drones that fly and ones that run across or under the water. They are innovating in the lab, developing new techniques for rapid DNA testing to disrupt illegal wildlife trafficking.

FIU marine scientists are part of some the most ambitious multi-institution research initiatives in the world including the Northwest Passage Project, exploration of the ocean’s twilight zone, and investigations into the scattering layers that account for the largest animal migration on the planet, a daily vertical ascent for food from the deep sea to shallow water. They contribute to the National Science Foundation’s Assembling the Tree of Life project, using genetics to uncover the evolutionary history of crabs, shrimps and lobsters.

Just last year, biologists were awarded a coveted NSF Big Ideas grant for epigenetics research into how corals adapt to climate change. FIU is also the main research partner for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and a research partner with Rookery Bay Research Reserve.

FIU is also home to the Medina Aquarius Program featuring FIU Aquarius, the world’s only underwater research laboratory. The facility allows scientists to live and work underwater for extended periods of time. Aquarius also offers unique training opportunities for NASA astronauts and others. The Medina Aquarius Program also offers community-based programming for schools all across the world and has reached more than 1 million children, engaging them in the excitement of science and discovery.

Scientists in the Institute of Environment are also members of key local, national and international environmental initiatives including: • Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation • Global Lake Ecological Research Network • Florida Blue-Green Algae Task Force • Miami-Dade County Biscayne Bay Task Force • International Blue Carbon Policy Working Group • Science Advisory Committee for Pew Environment’s Global Shark Program • IUCN Cetacean and Shark Specialist groups • Expert Panel on cetacean bycatch of the International Whaling Commission • Southeast Regional Climate Change Compact Sea Level Rise Projection Work Group The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings assess universities against the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) across the areas of research, outreach and stewardship. SDG 14 — Life Below Water — measures the social and economic impact of each university’s support for aquatic system. The 2020 rankings include 766 universities from 85 countries.

MARINE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS • The Medina Aquarius Program features the world’s only underwater research laboratory, where scientists can investigate ocean acidification, wildlife health, and the catastrophic loss of coral reefs — all while living 60 feet below the ocean’s surface.

• Global FinPrint identifies hot spots and troublespots for shark and ray conservation, and works with governments to ensure healthy shark populations and coral reef ecosystems.

• Partnering with officials in Hong Kong, FIU researchers are conducting DNA analysis on shark fins in Asian markets to disrupt illegal trafficking and trade. These efforts have led to the capture of illegal shipments of endangered species, including a recent $300,000 shipment of European eels at a Hong Kong port.

• The S.A.R.A.H. initiative is a partnership between FIU and the International SeaKeepers Society to combat the growing plastic problem. Utilizing private yachts, special nets are towed behind the vessels to gather samples of even the tiniest bits of plastic debris in the water for FIU analysis and tracking.

• The National Science Foundation’s Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Program is based at FIU in partnership with 25 other institutions across the United States.

• To address local, national and global water security issues, FIU and UNESCO have partnered to establish the UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Water Security.

• FIU researchers are studying the effects of water fragmentation on the quantity, quality and timing of river flow in the Amazon River Basin. Found in areas undergoing a boom in hydropower dam development, their work is helping inform better conservation and management of these precious freshwater resources.

• The Center for Aquatic Chemistry and the Environment is tackling environmental contamination through research and education and is a National Science Foundation Center of Research Excellence in Science and Technology.

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 3

HIGHLIGHTS EXPLORERS CLUB FELLOW For his contributions to scientific knowledge, exploration, discovery and science communications, Mike Heithaus has been named an Explorers Club fellow.

Well-known internationally through his research on large sharks, sea turtles and dolphins, Heithaus also serves as dean of FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education.

The Explorers Club is an international professional society that promotes and supports the scientific exploration of land, sea, air and space. Members have included men and women who were first to the North Pole, first to the South Pole, first to the summit of Mount Everest, first to the deepest point in the ocean, and first to the surface of the moon. Heithaus received his formal invitation this spring.

Renowned oceanographer and Explorers Club member Sylvia Earle wrote in support of Heithaus’ nomination, emphasizing his use of cutting-edge technologies including drones and animal-borne cameras to study dolphins, seals, sharks, turtles and whales. She also noted his long-term research in Shark Bay, Australia.

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Environmental Sciences

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FOLLOWERS ON TIKTOK

university where students can make a difference in the climate crisis College Magazine 2021

2020 TOP 10

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Environment and Ecology Among public universities U.S. News & World Report 2020

5 SharkFest shows featuring FIU scientists Researchers appearing in shows in 2020 are Dean Mike Heithaus, marine biologist and assistant professor Yannis Papastamatiou, marine ecologist and research specialist Kirk Gastrich and Ph.D. student Frances Farabaugh. The show lineup includes: • Sharkcano • Sharks of the Bermuda Triangle • 50 Shades of Sharks • Sharks v. Dolphins: Blood Battle • Raging Bull Shark

Forty seconds is all Tanja Zerulla really needs to explain her biology research to thousands of people. She initially created a video for the wildly popular video sharing app TikTok to explain her research on mosquitofish.

Today, her account — TalksToFish — more than 16,000 followers. To keep up with Zerulla’s research on fish behavior, follow her on TikTok.

• The researchers unraveled some of the most complex mysteries about shark behavior — from their really complicated relationship with dolphins to why they love hanging around volcanos and more. If you missed SharkFest 2020, you can still stream the shows on NationalGeographic.com.

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 5

B

iscayne Bay is as much of the fabric of Miami as downtown’s skyscrapers, the luxury hotels of Miami Beach or the tree-lined streets of Coconut Grove and Coral Gables. But the often serene bay that is a playground for locals and tourists wasn’t as healthy as it seemed. In summer 2020, Biscayne Bay warned us it was in trouble.

The warning signs were sudden and hard to miss.

BRINK

BISCAYNE BAY ON THE

By Chrystian Tejedor

6 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

K

Hundreds of barracuda, eels, lobsters,

drain the Everglades so more land could be used

The institute’s CREST Center for Aquatic

pufferfish, toadfish, rays and snook in the

for farming, commerce, industry and housing.

Chemistry and Environment also deployed two

northern bay died in a single night. By Aug. 10,

Those same canals are still sometimes used to

buoys to monitor the available oxygen in the water

their floating, rotting carcasses were bobbing

lower Lake Okeechobee, flushing nutrient-rich

and to provide a clearer picture of how many

on the surface of the water creating a foul

waters through fertile farmlands around the lake

nutrients are swirling about the bay.

stench between the 79th Street and Julia Tuttle

to urban coastal areas.

causeways. An algal bloom followed. Then white foam appeared.

Along the way, this water collects grass

Researchers want to develop a real-time system to better monitor pollutants as they

clippings, pesticides and more fertilizers from

travel from canals to the coasts. It would be a

lawns. In many places, people also built septic

key first step in predicting harmful algal blooms

quickly deployed autonomous surface vessels

tanks where municipal sewer and wastewater

and their intensity. If funded, it would be the first

and buoys, collecting data to determine what was

treatment systems hadn’t caught up with

meaningful step to saving Biscayne Bay.

happening beneath the surface. They searched for

development. Many homes in Coral Gables, Miami

clues, though they already knew the fish kill and

and Pinecrest still rely on septic

quality monitoring network of buoys stretching

algal bloom were symptoms of a long-simmering

systems today.

from Florida Bay in the west, the Florida Keys

Researchers at the FIU Institute of Environment

problem a century in the making.

Few others could match the institute’s efforts to determine what was happening. It is one of

The resulting toxic stew spews into Biscayne Bay with every rainfall, discharge and flush.

For marine plants at the bottom of the bay,

They’ve proposed building a large water-

to the south and Biscayne Bay to the east. Data from these buoys would be publicly available for residents, tourists and to help decision-

the reasons why the Florida Board of Governors

it fuels their growth. When it gets too hot, as it

makers in government devise better policies and

for the State University System awarded FIU

does in the summer, the organic material eats

management efforts to keep the bay healthy.

a University of Distinction in Environmental

up the available oxygen, said seagrass expert

Resilience. It turbocharged the institute’s focus

James Fourqurean.

on enhancing water quality monitoring for coastal health and resilience.

"If we don't attack this right away, if we

Fish die. Seagrasses die. Mud is kicked up and,

infrastructure, revitalization, this will become a common event and that's not a term I ever want to hear about Biscayne Bay," said Todd Crowl, director of the FIU Institute of the Environment.

CANALS, FERTILIZER AND SEPTIC TANKS

kills, and algae blooms must be addressed by

bay becomes murkier.

curtailing sewage leaks, converting septic tanks to centralized wastewater treatment, cleaning

MONITORING THE BAY The only way to have a clear picture of what’s happening to the bay is monitoring.

Piero Gardinali is a chemist who has studied

and treating stormwater, and reducing fertilizer overuse.

Still, expensive problems are not easy problems to solve. A sewage leak again fouled Biscayne

the bay for decades. After the recent fish kill,

Bay’s waters in November, leading officials to

he was on the water directing efforts to collect

declare an emergency to keep swimmers away

water quality samples. Researchers used an

from South Beach and Virginia Key.

A large part of the problem is man-made.

autonomous surface vessel that zig-zagged its

People dredged the bay and made new islands.

way south along the bay collecting data.

They also built causeways to connect those

The remedy for the seagrass die-off, fish

without seagrasses to do the cleanup work, the

don't put all of our best thinking, all of our best management, best practices in terms of

WE MUST ACT NOW

“It might be just that we have done so much

Today, researchers at the Institute of Environment continue to monitor the bay and collect critical data needed to guide better

islands to the mainland, forever altering the flow

damage to the bay that it’s at a tipping point and

management strategies. They know Biscayne

of water throughout the bay.

anything that changes could put us over that

Bay needs solutions now to ensure the damage

tipping point,” Gardinali said.

they’re seeing today doesn’t become permanent.

People also carved canals into the ground to

WATCH WPLG SPECIAL FEATURING FIU SCIENTISTS

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 7

r e v i R

tivity c e n n co

inspir

By Angela Nicoletti

E

lizabeth Anderson knows firsthand the magnetic pull of a river. Growing up in Georgia, there was a creek that ran behind her house. Hours were spent

and alive. The main focus of her research in this region has been on the critically important Andean headwaters — where water, sediment and organic materials

near that creek, her brother at her side, just exploring

originate and flow downstream into the lowlands.

and walking up and down the bank looking for bugs or

Anderson refers to this area as the brain that controls

catching fish. Back then, she never could have imagined

the entire Amazon, and most importantly, keeps it alive.

a career studying rivers. It wasn’t until her last year in

The Amazon is having a difficult time, though, doing

college that she learned people actually spent their lives

what it’s always done. Dams being built near the

trying to understand and protect freshwater systems.

headwaters are disrupting the natural movement and

This changed her entire career path.

flow of water, possibly even changing the channels and

That creek likely shaped her interests and curiosity.

As she has come to learn, rivers have a way of doing that. They are threads that connect. They are also threads that can thread their way through certain people, like Anderson, becoming an inseparable part of their life, their story and their work.

From above, the Amazon River resembles a thick thread sewn into the land. Other rivers and tributaries join with it, forming a great moving tapestry of water that sustains and supports life across South America.

Like threads, these rivers form connections between people and places. At the same time, they tell stories and carry memories, histories, sacred beliefs, culture and the traditions.

Anderson doesn’t want to think about any river gone dry. The water no longer moving and flowing. The thread unraveled. The connection cut. The river dead.

Especially not the Amazon River.

The FIU assistant professor of Earth and Environment and researcher in the Institute of Environment has long had a dream that’s both simple and complex — she wants the rivers in the Amazon to remain free-flowing

8 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

floodplains. They also threaten migrating fish trying to reach important spawning areas upstream. The 33 million people who live along the Amazon basin rely on fish as their primary source of food and income. A loss of any species would be devastating.

“Changing the flow means we’d lose everything we know of the Amazon today,” Anderson said.

Protecting the rivers of the Amazon requires teamwork. Anderson is principal investigator of multiple collaborative initiatives that have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Tinker Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through the Wildlife Conservation Society.

One of those initiatives is Ríos Vivos Andinos — or the Living Rivers Project — which focuses on the importance of free-flowing rivers to both humans and entire ecosystem. With support from the MacArthur Foundation, it looks to improve river management through region-wide collaboration. The project connects the experts on the rivers — the people who live, work and rely on them — to scientists, government authorities and local conservation partners.

es

colla at bor

ive

research

Natalia Piland, an FIU postdoctoral student in Anderson’s Tropical Rivers lab, works closely with Anderson on Ríos Vivos Andinos. For Piland, half Peruvian and originally from Lima, the work is personal. As she says, she’s come to see rivers in a new light. How they are embedded into our existence. How a river’s life is intertwined with a human life.

Community involvement is a running theme for Anderson. As a part of the Citizen Science for the Amazon project, FIU is working with more than 20 organizations across South America helping answer questions about where fish migrate and what the environmental conditions are in those areas. To paint a better picture of what’s happening along the rivers, low-cost water quality sensors developed by Conservifiy, a conservation technology start-up company, are set up at several sites in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia. To track fish, project partners work closely with local fishermen. With a mobile phone app, they go out fishing as they normally would and

s t r effo

then enter the species they come across. The information automatically enters a centralized database that tracks the fish in real-time, in collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Funding from the Tinker Foundation has also bolstered these efforts in the Andean-Amazon region.

Paulo Olivas, who works on the Citizen Science for the Amazon project, points out the project is really rooted in reciprocity. The data is, of course, valuable to scientists.

It’s also valuable to the fishermen who have questions about what’s happening in the rivers they depend upon.

Olivas says the project also gives the local communities a renewed sense of connection to one another. For example, someone living in Peru comes to understand the fish they rely on also travel to Brazil to reach their spawning site.

This idea of connection has come up many times in Anderson’s work across the globe — in East Africa, India, and Central and South America. This is why her conservation work isn’t just about protecting these river systems, but also people’s deep personal links to them.

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 9

For Ethiopia-born professor,

THE NILE is at the HEART of it all

By Angela Nicoletti Melesse’s research in the FIU Institute of Environment has received funding from NASA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation, and has taken him all around the world — from Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to Kenya, Tanzania and India. It’s also taken him home.

In 2006, he returned to Ethiopia to study the understudied upper Nile. One of the main tributaries of the Nile, contributing more than 80 percent of the river’s water, is the Blue Nile. Beginning at Lake Tana in Ethiopia, the Blue Nile flows into Sudan and Egypt — two countries that have historically relied the most on the water. To better understand how the Blue Nile functions, Melesse gathered critically important data on the hydrology of the upper river basin, and then presented to government officials from other basin countries.

Melesse proposed and developed graduate programs focused on water issues. Several Ethiopian institutions followed his suggestions, adding Ph.D. programs so twice a year Melesse travels to Ethiopia to conduct research,

B

orn in Ethiopia, Assefa Melesse’s life began near the River of Life. The Nile.

One of the oldest rivers in the world, the Nile flows northward, traveling nearly 4,000 miles through 11 countries — a major artery supporting and sustaining 300 million people. History, civilizations, culture, beliefs, spirituality, nourishment all have risen from the Nile.

A professor of water resources engineering in FIU's College of Arts, Sciences & Education, Melesse knows the world’s climate crisis means the promise of water from the River of Life is no longer promised.

Melesse left Ethiopia years ago. But he’s never truly left the Nile behind. For 20 years, he’s studied water — both the surface water we can see, like rivers, and the groundwater beneath our feet. He specializes in hydrological modeling, which allows him to look toward the future to find ways to safeguard precious water resources.

Different models can test different scenarios, revealing how a variety of factors ranging from deforestation to drought and climate change could potentially impact freshwater resources. These projections give a glimpse into how current trends, like rising temperatures, could have serious longterm consequences. Both a warning and a guide, the outcomes of the models aim to inform better water management strategies.

10 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

teach courses, provide targeted professional training and advise students. He’s currently working with nine Ph.D. students at four different Ethiopian institutions, plus his students at FIU. Some of his students presented their research at the 2020 International Conference on the Nile and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Melesse organized the conference to address concerns surrounding the ongoing negotiations over the filling and operation of the dam. Researchers and experts from six continents and dozens of countries shared experiences on historical and current Nile water issues. The goal was to highlight the importance of research, because future decisions and solutions surrounding the dam will require scientific data.

“This isn’t only going to be a Nile issue,” Melesse said.

“With climate change and population pressure, it’s going to be a problem in other parts of the world. How can we share limited water resources to meet the growing demand and a declining freshwater supply? These discussions are important, but they must be based on proven science.”

The Nile has had a consistent presence in Melesse’s life and his life’s work. In many ways, though, the question of how to share the water of the Nile between millions of people is one part of a bigger, more complicated global issue — one he’s not yet done exploring.

With climate change and population pressure, it’s going to be a problem in other parts of the world. How can we share limited water resources to meet the growing demand and a declining freshwater supply?"

— Assefa Melesse

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 11

H ea d ed fo r

extincti o n ?

F I U R E S E A R C H E R S S P E A R H E A D G L O B A L F I N P R I N T, I D E N T I F Y I N G H O T S P O T S A N D T R O U B L E S P O T S F O R O C E A N P R E D AT O R S

By JoAnn C. Adkins | Image by Andy Mann

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P

atricia Heithaus spends her days in front of a computer screen Working with governments, NGOs, nonprofits, watching videos of coral reefs. The grandmother of four is looking corporations, other universities and individuals, the for sharks. She stays caffeinated by sipping on cups of tea global network of scientists deployed baited remote brought to her by her husband, Ray. She admits it’s not the most underwater video stations (BRUVS) on 371 reefs across typical thing for someone to do in their retirement: She watches, the world. They collected more than 15,000 hours of she waits and when she sees something, she identifies the species, footage. The noninvasive system captures sharks and counts their numbers and documents it all using special software rays on camera in their natural environment, providing designed to keep track of the predators. critical insight into where they are, in what numbers and She’s careful not to double-count, looking for little details the conditions they are living in. Once a BRUV is most would miss: a difference in color, a scar, any little clue that retrieved, the footage is sent to volunteers to start confirms she hasn’t counted that one before. It’s tedious. In some watching and documenting. videos, she sees so many sharks or rays that she has to hit pause The volunteers log their data in a software program to capture accurate data. In other videos, she’ll watch for hours developed for the project by Vulcan Inc., a company founded without a single sighting. She’s logged 2,000 hours-worth of by the late Paul G. Allen and his sister Jody Allen to develop data, more than any other volunteer on the project. solutions for some of the world’s greatest challenges. The FIU marine scientist Demian Chapman leads the project, co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen was the inspiration for dubbed Global FinPrint, along with Mike Heithaus, dean Global FinPrint when he asked the simple question, “what can of FIU’s College of Arts, Sciences & Education, and other be done?” He was worried about what was happening to sharks senior collaborators from Australia and Canada. Patricia around the reefs he enjoyed to visit. Discussions with the is Mike’s mom. When her marine scientist son told her scientists led to the innovative collaboration that became five years ago they would be embarking on the largest Global FinPrint. ever attempt to survey the world’s reef sharks and rays, Allen committed millions of dollars in core funding support she was quick to volunteer. Others did too, 731 to be at the very beginning of the project. Others joined including The exact, from all across the world. Plus, 121 scientists Batchelor Foundation through a gift to FIU’s Tropical Conservation representing 89 universities, aquariums, non-profits Institute, which supported surveying in Madagascar and the and other entities — including 18 faculty, staff and Pacific Ocean. The Moore Bahamas Foundation supported students from FIU — spearheading the project. surveying around the island nation. Others signed on. It became Many other FIU students, post-docs and faculty a collaborative network of philanthropists, scientists, government members in FIU’s Institute of Environment were agencies, non-profits and citizen volunteers working to pull off the among the volunteers. megalodon-sized project.

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 13

Paul Allen passed away in 2018, but not before he got to see early impacts of the work. Before any writing had even begun on the first research paper, governments started using Global FinPrint data to launch new conservation strategies.

The Dominican Republic instituted a national ban on shark and ray fishing in 2017.

The country’s environment minister said officials will study Global FinPrint data and establish improved protocols for fisheries.

Just a few months later, Belize created a nationwide ray sanctuary following a report

by FIU Ph.D. student Kathryn Flowers for the Belize Fisheries Department. Early Global FinPrint data there showed an abundance of rays along the coast, which is good news for a country that relies on them for tourism.

But the reality that populations are in serious decline in other parts of the world led Belizean officials to enact protective policies for the more than 20 species of rays that populate their waters.

FUNCTIONAL EXTINCTION A lot is riding on Global FinPrint. Scientists for years have known sharks and rays are in trouble, but no one really understood where or how bad.

Sharks can be very difficult to study.

They’re always moving. Their habitats are not readily accessible. When they are fished, it can be difficult to identify from which species the meat or fins came, but it’s been proven endangered species are ending up in the markets. Little evidence existed of what was happening. Global FinPrint is changing that.

This summer, the global network of scientists published their first set of findings from the three-year survey in Nature.

The news is not good. The scientists

14 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

discovered sharks are functionally extinct along 20 percent of the 371 reefs they studied, meaning there are so few that they no longer fulfill their role in those ecosystems.

Near reefs along the Dominican Republic, French West Indies, Kenya, Vietnam, the Windward Dutch Antilles and Qatar, sharks appeared all but gone with a combined total of three sharks observed during more than 800 hours of video footage.

"While Global FinPrint results exposed a tragic loss of sharks from many of the world's reefs, it also shows us signs of hope," said Jody Allen, co-founder and chairwoman of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. "The data collected from the first-ever worldwide survey of sharks on coral reefs can guide meaningful, long-term conservation plans for protecting the reef sharks that remain."

The study identified areas where conservation strategies are working including Australia, the Bahamas, the Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia, the Maldives and the United States. These areas provide a clear picture of what needs to be done for recovery elsewhere.

“We found that robust shark populations can exist alongside people when those people have the will, the means and a plan to take conservation action,” said Chapman, an associate professor in FIU’s Department of Biological Sciences and a researcher in the Institute of Environment.

The research also identifies the primary culprits of reef shark population declines — among them overfishing and poor fishing practices — and has long-term implications for protecting and rebuilding reef shark populations all across the world. The researchers suggest a variety of options to help governments, fisheries and others

reverse the population declines including restricting gillnets, setting catch limits and, in places experiencing catastrophic declines, instituting nationwide bans on fishing as well as trade.

RIPPLE EFFECTS “Now that the survey is complete, we are also investigating how the loss of sharks can destabilize reef ecosystems,” Mike Heithaus said. “At a time when corals are struggling to survive in a changing climate, losing reef sharks could have dire long-term consequences for entire reef systems.”

That is why volunteers, including Patricia, are still watching and logging data from the videos. A scientist in her own right, Patricia is an ecologist and worked as a biology instructor at Ohio’s Kenyon College before retiring in 2015. She’s quick to point out, she’s not really doing this to help her son, the shark biologist and dean of FIU’s largest college. The woman who first taught the shark expert how to swim as a little boy says she volunteered for Global FinPrint to help his students. Each video she logs provides a new bounty of data to help them complete their research.

Meanwhile, the team of scientists is charting next steps, which include formulating conservation strategies for the trouble spots.

It’s all about making sure each shark gets counted. The scientists are counting on each other to get the data needed for meaningful management and conservation. They are counting on governments to take action.

Counting on volunteers to count. Counting on philanthropists for support. They are counting on a lot to reverse the catastrophic losses of shark populations. And the sharks, though they don’t know it, are counting on this team to save them from the brink.

Click here to read the RESEARCH

Global FinPrint

371 371 371 59 59 58 Launched in 2015, Global FinPrint provides a benchmark for the statusREEFS of reef sharks around REEFS 59 REEFS SHARK SHARK A First-of-its-Kind Global Shark and Ray Survey

58 58

the world. The study revealedREEFS an alarming loss of sharkSHARK species due in large part to overfishing SPECIES SHARK SPECIES SURVEYED SURVEYED SPECIES and SURVEYED destructive fishing practices. Of the 371 reefs surveyed in 58 countries, sharks were not OBSERVED OBSERVED SPECIES SURVEYED OBSERVED observed on nearly 20 percent.

OBSERVED COUNTRIES + TERRITORIES

COUNTRIES + TERRITORIES COUNTRIES + TERRITORIES COUNTRIES + TERRITORIES

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Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 15

?

What can be done

Paul G. Allen asks question that launches global shark initiative

Paul G. Allen 1953-2018

16 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

By JoAnn C. Adkins

A

basic yet fundamental question. The world’s sharks are in trouble. So are rays. About a quarter of all species are threatened with extinction. Some species

prevention, brain science, homelessness, education, the arts, technology innovation and so much more. Allen was never one to just give money. He treated his philanthropy

have completely disappeared from locations where they

like investments — not for the sake of fortune, but rather

once flourished. And around 100 million sharks continue to

for the good of humanity. He expected results. He wanted

be taken from the oceans every year.

milestones. He stayed involved. He built teams to support

It was a shocking reality to Paul G. Allen, the co-founder

matters he cared deeply about. Through the Paul G. Allen

of Microsoft. Having become increasingly concerned with

Family Foundation that he and Jody Allen founded, he

what was happening to sharks, the diving enthusiast and

supported countless initiatives to increase information

philanthropist turned to scientists and asked, “What can

available to scientists, conservationists, health care

be done?”

workers, governments and others.

FIU marine scientists Demian Chapman and Mike

The plight of sharks was no exception. Allen was

Heithaus explained data gaps were too great to truly

eager to help scientists find the answers desperately

know what is happening. Data. They needed data. Lots

needed to develop global conservation solutions. Allen

of it. From across the globe. They needed to create a

committed more than $4 million and resources to help

network of scientists and volunteers to capture sharks,

Heithaus, Chapman and others launch Global FinPrint, the

rays and their habitats on video. Record what they see.

largest shark and ray survey ever attempted. A team from

Catalog it. More than just funding, they also needed

Vulcan Inc. even developed the data-tracking technology

custom technology that would be the basis for an open-

researchers and volunteers used to record their extensive

access platform to easily collect the data and then get

amount of data.

that data into the hands of scientists, conservationists

Though he did not live to see the completion of the

and governments all across the world. Most of all, they

project, Allen did get to witness its early impacts — first

needed Paul G. Allen’s help.

a shark fishing ban in the Dominican Republic and later a

Allen’s rise to become one of the richest men in the

nationwide ray sanctuary in Belize. Those two actions are

world is well documented. The son of a librarian and school

just the beginning as more governments and conservation

teacher, he met Bill Gates in high school where the two

organizations use data from Global FinPrint to inform

taught themselves programming from a Teletype terminal in

meaningful policies to preserve and protect sharks and rays

the late 1960s and early 1970s. What started as an after-

throughout the world.

school hobby became an idea — a computer on every desk

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has also supported

and in every home. The two created Microsoft and in the

another marine predator research initiative at FIU, this one

early 1980s, developed MS-DOS, an operating system they

designed to disrupt illegal trafficking of marine wildlife.

first sold to IBM. Microsoft launched a personal computer

Chapman and his research team have developed a rapid

revolution and became the technological powerhouse

DNA test to identify illegally trafficked shark fins and

that it still is today. But soon after the sale of MS-DOS,

European eels at ports of entry. Their efforts have already

Allen became ill. At 29, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s

led to the arrest and prosecution of smugglers in Hong

lymphoma. Being faced with his own mortality, Allen left

Kong. Just like Global FinPrint, this research is universal in

Microsoft to pursue endeavors that truly made him happy.

its accessibility and designed for global impact.

He did keep his stake in the company, though. A few years

Today, Jody Allen continues the Allen family legacy,

later, he and his sister Jody Allen formed what would

advancing causes through philanthropy and innovation

become Vulcan Inc., a new company to oversee the family’s

on behalf of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The

business and philanthropic endeavors.

foundation supports a global portfolio of frontline partners

For the next three decades, Allen enjoyed a storied

working to preserve ocean health, protect wildlife on land

career that included tech start-ups, space exploration,

and in water, combat climate change, and strengthen

real estate, professional sports franchises and more.

communities. The foundation invests in grantees to

He died in 2018 at the age of 65, after his third bout

leverage technology, fill data and science gaps, and drive

with cancer. Allen is remembered for more than an idea

positive public policy to advance knowledge and enable

that changed how the world thinks about and uses

lasting change.

technology. He was eulogized for his prolific philanthropy, having given away more than $2.3 billion in his lifetime.

Allen’s causes were as eclectic as his interests — the environment, wildlife, scientific inquiry, disease

“The Allen family’s lasting impacts are a model for philanthropy,” Heithaus said. “Their contributions — for people, animals and ecosystems — have made life better for all of us.”

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 17

DNA

DETECTIVES

u n c over myst er i es of s h a r k f i n t ra d e

T

Diego Cardeñosa

Nearly one-third of the shark species in the global shark fin trade are at risk of extinction.

18 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

he Eastern Pacific is a particular hot spot for the shark fin trade — and a danger zone for endangered species fighting for survival.

FIU postdoctoral researcher Diego Cardeñosa and Demian Chapman, an associate professor of biological sciences and marine scientist in the Institute of Environment, have been collaborating with scientists in Hong Kong to track and monitor the global shark fin trade using DNA testing.

They use genetic analysis to track fins from markets in Hong Kong and China back to the place the sharks were caught.

This kind of data is critical to directing where shark conservation intervention is needed.

They sampled fins from endangered

animals and plants from over-exploitation in international trade. Since 2017, CITES permits have documented more than five tons of shark fins exported from the Eastern Pacific to Hong Kong. This only captures legal fishing operations.

Cardeñosa and Chapman remain committed to combating illegal trade with their DNA detective work. With funding from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, they created a portable, easy-to-use DNA testing toolkit that gives customs officials and inspection personnel something they never had before — the power to identify illegal species on-site and have the proof to prosecute crimes.

The tool is already being used in Hong Kong and Peru with great success.

In 2020, Hong Kong customs officials

scalloped hammerheads and pelagic thresher sharks — and traced them back to the Eastern Pacific. Both species are protected under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) — an international agreement protecting

intercepted an illegal shipment from Ecuador of 26 tons of thresher fins.

The team’s DNA toolkit was behind this historic seizure of shark fins.

This research is supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Pew Fellowship Program.

Catching sharks is hard, but catching water is easy It’s possible to detect sharks moving into an area without seeing any of them. All that’s needed is a couple liters of water.

Just like people, sharks leave DNA wherever they go. The DNA released from their sloughed-off skin, mucus and excrement becomes known as environmental DNA or eDNA. FIU marine scientists Demian Chapman, Bautisse Postaire and Judith Bakker — along with researchers from New College of Florida and Havenworth Coastal Conservation — found the spring and summer

This information is helpful for conservation and management of different species, including blacktips. While not threatened in the United States, blacktips are one of the top species in the global shark fin trade, which puts them at possible risk of overexploitation and population declines.

For scientists like Chapman, eDNA is another tool to stitch together the story of what is happening to sharks in the world’s oceans.

This research was funded by the Paul

influx of blacktip sharks into Florida’s Terra Ceia Bay could be detected by extracting environmental DNA from water samples.

G. Allen Family Foundation and the Shark Conservation Fund.

#INAFLASH Cindy Gonzalez Ph.D. student Claim to fame She’s describing a new bonnethead shark species — from her living room during the pandemic.

Say what?

In 2017, FIU marine scientist Demian Chapman led a team of scientists studying bonnethead sharks off the coast of Belize when their DNA testing revealed what was believed to be a single species of bonnetheads frequenting the waters is actually two entirely separate species.

Gonzalez, who has been logging key information about the unknown species, has converted a corner of her living room into a makeshift shark lab to ensure the species gets recognized, even amid a global pandemic.

Could mercury temper demand for shark fins?

FIU Ph.D. candidate Laura Garcia Barcia — and a team from Hong Kong and the United States — discovered staggeringly high amounts of mercury in shark fins sold in Asian markets. The Hong Kong Center for Food Safety has been made aware of the study and is working to enhance surveillance of fins on the market. Garcia Barcia also plans to use the findings to launch educational campaigns in Hong Kong and China to drive down demand for shark fins. The research was supported by Betsy & Peter Snow and the FIU Institute of Environment.

What’s the big deal?

Unregulated fishing has led to reports of severely compromised populations of bonnetheads in Latin America. By providing the information needed for this previously unknown species to be recognized as a distinct species, the aim is to arm fisheries departments and environmental ministries with information for the proper management and conservation of both bonnethead shark species.

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 19

Hello world!

MEET THE H E AT H E R C R A B

H

eather Bracken-Grissom is having a crabtastic year! She was initially asked by Darryl L. Felder, her advisor from her Ph.D. days at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, to provide a DNA sequence for a little hermit crab discovered in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana. Less than an inch long and occupying hollow pieces of coral and other rock, the species is easily overlooked. But for someone who has worked on the National Science Foundation’s Decapod Tree of Life project, providing a DNA sequence for this little hermit crab was not a problem.

Felder sent Bracken-Grissom a leg from the only sample of the species ever collected. She extracted DNA from the muscle tissue and sent the sequence back to Felder. That’s when he called to tell her he was planning to name the species Cancellus heatherae.

Actually, he said he had been planning to name it after her all along — a way to honor Bracken-Grissom’s extensive contributions to molecular phylogenetic studies of decapod crustaceans, including works focused on hermit crabs populating the Gulf of Mexico.

“I’m totally content and super happy,” BrackenGrissom said. “Long after I die, I’m going to be known in hermit crab form, which is awesome. Having a species named after you is the ultimate honor. To have it done by your role models, I can’t even describe how honored I feel.”

The single sample — a female — was discovered among fragments of rhodoliths and small sponges dredged from an outer continental shelf bank in the northwestern Gulf. The actual reef where the specimen was collected is known as a mesophotic reef, meaning a middle area where light is limited.

Bracken-Grissom says these are exciting areas to

20 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

search for new biodiversity as scientists embark on deeper dives.

To the untrained eye, the tiny crab might have been mistaken for a mud shrimp, especially since it was not sporting a stereotypical hermit crab shell. It was sent for identification to Felder who was not fooled and recognized the tiny creature for what it was — a new species of hermit crab. The seasoned biologist worked with Rafael Lemaitre, curator of Crustacea at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and expert in hermit crab biology, to author the formal description. They recently published their findings in Zootaxa.

Small in stature and with festive coloring, Cancellus heatherae features several minor anatomical differences from other members of the genus Cancellus and is only named on the basis of a single specimen. That specimen now resides at the Smithsonian along with 100,000 other decapod specimens collected during Felder’s 40-year career.

The retired professor donated them along with his research notes, photographs and electronic database to aid future crustacean research. The single Cancellus heatherae specimen serves as the permanent record for the description and name of the new species.

Though Bracken-Grissom has a long career ahead of her, she’s already accomplished many things scientists only dream about. The marine evolutionary biologist is the first to identify an unknown species of monster larva as a shrimp and was part of an international team that captured the first-ever video of a giant squid in U.S. waters. She was recently named the associate director of the Coastlines and Oceans Division in FIU’s Institute of Environment and is the North American governor for The Crustacean Society, an international academic society. And now, she’ll be forever immortalized thanks to a tiny hermit crab taking up residence in the Gulf of Mexico.

M

Deep-sea shrimp are covered in

O R G A N S T H AT

any deep-sea creatures have organs all over their bodies that emit light. Now scientists believe these same organs can actually see.

The organs, called photophores, cannot see shapes but FIU marine scientist Heather Bracken-Grissom says they are capable of detecting light. She led a research team that took a closer look at these luminous organs in deep-sea shrimp.

While the shrimp have eyes, the photophores appear to work as extraocular photoreceptors allowing these animals to detect and respond to light outside ocular tissues.

“We were looking for proteins that are known to be light sensitive, and we found them in the photophores,” said Danielle DeLeo, a co-author of the study and postdoctoral researcher in Bracken-Grissom’s lab. “For the first time in deep-sea invertebrates, we are seeing that these light-emitting organs are light-sensitive.”

Bioluminescence is the production of light by living creatures and most commonly found in the dark depths of the ocean. By mimicking natural light from above, animals can match their backgrounds and hide their appetizing silhouettes from predators below — a form of camouflage called counterillumination.

Many of these deep-sea animals participate in the largest migration on the planet, a daily ascent from the deep sea to shallow water to feed. During the journey, they adjust their camouflage to both the progression of day to night and the varying degrees of light intensity throughout the water column.

It has long been known that photophores play a critical role in counterillumination as the structures that emit light. However, with new evidence that these structures can also detect light, Bracken-Grissom says scientists are now reconsidering the role photophores play in an organism’s ability to counterilluminate and survive in the deep sea. The research team suggests photophore photosensitivity may provide the shrimp with sight beyond their own eyes and serve as a mechanism for fine-tuning light emissions during counterillumination.

“Our study raises the exciting possibility that light organ photosensitivity is present across diverse groups, and should be investigated in other bioluminescent animals,” Bracken-Grissom said. “Because light organs can be found within several lineages across the animal Tree of Life, results from this study have the potential to reach far beyond our model system.”

The study was co-authored by researchers from the University of Hawaii and Nova Southeastern University.

The findings were published in Scientific Reports.

SEE LIGHT Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 21

Native crabs CLEAN HOUSE FOR CORAL REEFS

T

he Caribbean King Crab might be the secret to wiping out a killer algae invasion on coral reefs, according to a new study.

Reefs provide many benefits to marine life and to people, yet climate change, pollution and an abundance of seaweeds are conspiring to snuff out reefs all over the world.

The algae invasion is particularly problematic because it smothers corals, reduces their growth and reproduction, and prevents establishment of juvenile corals. Seaweeds also fill in the nooks and crannies on coral reefs fish and other marine life use for shelter.

In the Caribbean, the calcareous green algae Halimeda is taking over many reefs. Few animals tolerate its taste and texture. The Caribbean King Crab is the exception. So, researchers tested a few scenarios to see what would happen when concentrations of crabs were increased on reefs in the Florida Keys that were covered in Halimeda.

On reefs where people first scrubbed corals and introduced crabs, 80 percent of the algae was wiped out. On reefs where the crab didn’t receive clean up help from people, more than 50 percent of the algae was gone.

“Crabs are basically cleaning house so the corals can do better,” said FIU marine scientist Mark J. Butler, the study’s senior author.

Once the seaweed situation was under control, Butler and co-author Angelo Spadaro observed more fish and coral recruits on the reefs.

Butler is the Walter and Rosalie Goldberg Professor of Tropical Ecology in the FIU Institute of Environment and Department of Biological Sciences. He joined FIU in 2020 after 31 years at Old Dominion University, where, among other accolades, he was a recipient of the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award, the highest honor for faculty at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities. For more than 30 years, the Florida Keys and Caribbean have served as the home base for his research and he has published more than 150 scientific articles on tropical marine ecology. He is continuing to explore how this latest work can become a large scale, viable solution for keeping corals healthy. He is particularly interested in using aquaculture techniques to rear Caribbean Kind Crab and deploy them to reefs when they are larger and less likely to be eaten by predators before they can get to work.

The study was published in Current Biology.

22 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

The Walter and Rosalie Goldberg Professorship in Tropical Ecology expands FIU’s work in conservation, sustainability, resilience, impacts of invasive species and other human disruptions to tropical ecosystems. In less than 50 years, more than 60 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in tropical regions, deriving nearly all of their food, medicines and shelter from tropical species. Currently, more than 50 faculty members focus their research on the tropics, developing solutions for a sustainable future.

Mark J. Butler was recently announced as the first Walter and Rosalie Goldberg Professor of Tropical Ecology. The professorship was established through the generosity of FIU Emeritus Professor Walter Goldberg and his wife, Rosalie.

Sharks get by with a little HELP FROM THEIR FRIENDS Gray reef sharks in the Pacific Ocean form their own social networks, with some bonds lasting years.

Yannis Papastamatiou — an FIU marine scientist in the Institute of Environment — and a team of researchers from UC Santa Barbara, University of Hawaii and University of Exeter set out to investigate the social behavior of reef sharks around the Palmyra Atoll, using both acoustic tracking tags and animal-borne cameras. They discovered the sharks are living as groups and actually form stable social bonds. Of the 41 sharks tracked, some pairs even stayed together for the entire length of the four-year study.

Papastamatiou teamed up with David Jacoby from international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) to make sense of the tracking data. Jacoby and his colleagues then developed a new analytical model to identify social patterns. The result is a color-coded web called a “social network.” It clearly identified a very tight, tangled web of sharks spending their mornings together as large groups, dispersing throughout the day and into the night only to reconvene with the same group members later on.

Proving these relationships exist wasn’t easy because the social structures of sharks don’t follow the rules people are accustomed to with animals. The sharks don’t vocalize or call to one another. They aren’t affectionate. They don’t care for or raise their young. But sharks do socialize in their own, cryptic ways.

The tracking receivers detected when tagged sharks would come and go and log the dates and times. Through Jacoby’s analysis, the research team was able to identify which sharks were together during those daily movements and whether individuals were associating more than expected from random arrival and departures. The animal-borne cameras provided an intimate, sharks-eye view confirming how the sizes of the groups fluctuated throughout the day.

Papastamatiou believes being in a group makes it easier for the sharks to share information, and specifically, where to find food. If a shark notices a fish and goes after it, another shark could see that shark take off and decide to follow it in case it’s chasing food. Another shark would likely see that shark and follow it, ultimately sparking an inadvertent chain reaction of sharks on the hunt.

This rare insight into the social behavior of sharks has left the scientists with many more questions they plan to explore. Papastamatiou says animals that live in groups can be more vulnerable to other predators as well as to over-fishing. Knowing some sharks thrive in social groups means that any major losses to their community could have devastating consequences for those that remain, especially when they could possibly rely on their social network for finding food, as this study suggests.

The findings were published in Proceedings of the Royal Society.

FO R S U RV I VA L, d o l p h i n s s h a re f i s h a n d a b i t m o re

R

esearchers have discovered some species of dolphins have quite a bit in common with people. They gather in groups. They have strong social interactions. They share food. And sometimes, they get frisky.

Like most whales and dolphins, rough-toothed dolphins spend 80 percent of their time in the ocean depths — making it difficult to know how these dolphins behave and how they survive in a challenging environment such a mystery.

For six years, FIU Institute of Environment researcher Jeremy Kiszka and partners from Whales of Guerrero, City University of New York and Fundación Internacional para la Naturaleza y la Sustentabilidad, studied rough-toothed dolphins near Acapulco, Mexico.

In January, researchers got lucky. They recorded highdefinition footage of dolphins sharing food, a behavior known to exist in primates and bats but has rarely been documented in dolphins and whales.

Two of them, named Fuji and Moby by the scientists, took turns eating a fish for more than four minutes. Another dolphin, Blue, swam up to Fuji seemingly interested. Both slowed their swimming but nothing came of their flirtations.

Fuji swam back to Moby for a brief tryst before they both swam from sight.

“It’s very common for dolphins,” Kiszka said. “Between foraging sessions, they will socialize a lot and one way to socialize is through sex. In highly social species such as dolphins, conflict is common, but it is often solved through sex.”

For dolphins, sex goes beyond reproduction. Like sharing food, it strengthens their social bonds. The feeding and social behaviors witnessed by the research team offer rare insight into the cryptic lives of some of the oceans’ most charismatic residents.

WATCH THE VIDEO

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 23

A WETTER EVERGLADES

ON PATH

By Chrystian Tejedor

L

ooking south from bridges carrying Tamiami Trail over the Florida Everglades in Miami-Dade County, you could have seen something that had not happened in 100 years.

On a summer day, water again flowed into the southern Everglades from the Tamiami Canal. Not as a trickle. Not as a stream.

Here, water again flowed from north to south as a sheet – a wide, steady flow that’s almost imperceptible, but so crucial to inching what remains of the Everglades ever closer to what it looked like before people dug canals to drain the famed River of Grass for agriculture and development.

The flows under the Tamiami Trail bridges are the result of series of tests to see where the water goes and how the southern Everglades is handling more water after a century of deprivation.

Researchers from FIU’s Institute of Environment and the South Florida Natural Resources Center of Everglades National Park have been tracking the flow of water here as part of the federally and state funded Everglades restoration efforts. In a new study on the impacts of the water releases, scientists have found water covering more areas of the Everglades for longer stretches of the year.

South of Tamiami Trail’s 1-mile bridge, a recent photograph from Institute of Environment researcher John Kominoski shows the transformation that’s been underway since water started flowing in 2016.

In the foreground, a wide expanse of water dominates the photo. Tips of vegetation barely manage to peek out. Farther back, areas of higher elevation – ridges – appear healthy and green.

24 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

“It’s amazing that you can transform a lot of the area,” Kominoski said. “We’re starting to see vegetation change and declines in phosphorus in some wetlands as a result of the water being there longer. That’s good.

That’s what restoration is trying to do.”

Before the restoration efforts began, the area would have looked much different, much drier. It was also much more vulnerable to drought and fire until more water was routed under the portions of Tamiami Trail that are elevated or a hurricane provided rainfall.

“The study of changing flow and downstream ecological changes in Everglades National Park shows the promise of Everglades restoration can be realized,” said David Rudnick, an Everglades National Park ecologist who help design, manage and co-author the study. “With completion of Tamiami Trail flow tests in August, we built a foundation for the next generation of Everglades restoration projects which are starting to be built to more fully and naturally bring water back to the Park and revive the River of Grass.”

Dry and wet pulses are good for the Everglades but extended periods of either are troublesome, causing plants to die and phosphorus to flood the system. That leads to a raft of problems including peat collapse in in marshes near the Gulf of Mexico, likely caused by soil drying and saltwater intrusion.

Researchers will continue to study how much these continued releases of water change the Everglades for the better.

“We still have so much more to learn about where restoration will take us,” Kominoski said.

The study was published recently in the journal Restoration Ecology.

Scholars changing the future of the Everglades

TO RESTORATION

Four students received the 2020 FIU ForEverglades Scholarship. Each year, FIU’s Institute of Environment and The Everglades Foundation partner to support student researchers conducting work in the Everglades.

From improving water management practices, following non-native species populations, exploring restoration solutions and more, this scholarship has helped FIU students become the next generation of scientists and leaders working to protect the iconic River of Grass.

To date 41 FIU students have been awarded ForEverglades Scholarships Ikechukwu Onwuka

Natasha Viadero

Jonathan Rodemann

Chloé Vorseth Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 25

RESEARCHERS DISCOVER HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF NUTRIENTS IN U.S. WATERWAYS

J

ohn Kominoski is calling for greater management solutions for streams and rivers after discovering elevated concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous in U.S. waterways.

The ecologist in FIU’s Institute of Environment recently co-authored a study showing even minor human activities can lead to damaging concentrations of nutrients in freshwater. The findings suggest most streams and rivers have higher levels of nitrogen and phosphorus than is recommended and, although nutrients are a natural part of freshwater, too much of either nutrient can have lasting impacts on the environment and public health.

In Florida, releases of phosphorus-laden waters from Lake Okeechobee triggered toxic blue-green algal blooms. Algal blooms produce a foul odor along waterways, decrease dissolved oxygen, threaten insect and fish communities and can even produce toxins that are harmful to marine mammals and people.

“Ecosystems are being loaded with legacy and current nitrogen and phosphorus, and their capacity to hold these nutrients in many cases is decreasing,” Kominoski said. “Not only are they being overwhelmed by nutrients, but they also have and continue to undergo hydrological and land-use alterations.”

As human populations and demands grow, more land — including wetlands — is converted to agricultural and urban uses. This can introduce more nitrogen and phosphorus onto the land, which eventually makes its way into the water. To make matters worse, soil erosion and climate change are also impacting nutrient pollution, leading to nutrient export to coastal waters, Kominoski said.

These elevated nutrient concentrations can lead to a lack of species diversity and oxygen depletion. High nutrient concentrations can also affect the purity of the water we drink.

Nutrient pollution is a complex problem. While there’s still a lot of work to be done to develop management tools and set thresholds for nutrient concentrations in streams and rivers, better understanding of how nutrients are transported through the interconnected network of waterways can help lead to solutions.

Kominoski emphasized the importance of management solutions at local-to-global scales required to effectively manage various sources of nitrogen and phosphorus.

“Water is a shared resource that connects communities, landscapes, and continents across the globe,” Kominoski said.

“We must increase the protection and rehabilitation of ecosystems and water resources throughout the world, especially as human populations increase and climate changes.”

26 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

Hurricanes can actually help mangroves, study finds The destructive power of a hurricane appears to do plenty of good for mangroves in the Florida Everglades.

When Category 3 Hurricanes Wilma (2005) and Irma (2017) struck Florida, mangroves took a beating, particularly on the west coast. Trees lost their canopies.

Taller ones snapped and several were uprooted. Seedlings were scattered to the winds. Storm surge partially submerged trees on the front line.

Then the storm surges deposited gray, phosphorus-rich mineral sediment from the ocean floor on top of mangrove soils. That sediment increased phosphorus concentrations in the soil, fueling mangrove regeneration and recovery, according to a new study conducted by researchers at FIU, Louisiana State University and William & Mary.

“When you hear about hurricanes, they create negative impacts to the coastal landscape because of infrastructure damage and ecosystem damage for mangrove forests,” said Edward Castañeda, an FIU research assistant professor and the study’s lead author. “When you do these studies and you dig into information for 20 years, you realize there’s a positive side to these storms.”

Using data from the Florida Coastal Everglades Long Term Ecological Research Program funded by the National Science Foundation, Castañeda and fellow researchers realized these storms helped mangroves increase their soil elevation, facilitate their rapid recovery and help their young branch out and find new homes.

It’s a welcome impact from an otherwise destructive force of nature as mangrove forests do plenty of good for people. They blunt the impact of hurricanes. They absorb damaging winds and prevent floodwaters from moving farther inland.

Scientists search for predictability in future hurricanes To make better predictions on how hurricanes may impact coastal communities and hopefully improve resiliency planning, researchers in the Institute of Environment are creating a database of information from past hurricanes.

The project is a collaboration among multiple universities and government agencies to inform and guide what data needs to be collected in the future to better understand how storms affect ecosystems on land and in water. As a part of the project, the team also built a research framework to compare and contrast the effects of hurricanes across ecosystems.

One major goal of the project is pinpointing possible similarities in the timing of separate ecosystem responses. This will allow for a closer look at comparisons between ecosystem resistance — how much it has changed — and resilience or how fast it returns to its prehurricane state.

Pollution wreaks havoc on corals’ immune systems Katherine Dougan, a Ph.D. student in the FIU Institute of Environment, worked with a collaborative team at UC Santa Barbara to assess the immunity of coral fragments in the Florida Keys. They found high levels of nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus — caused by fertilizer, sewage and other human sources — make it harder for corals to defend themselves against infections.

These findings are a cause for concern, especially for coral reefs along the coastlines of developed areas, where agricultural runoff and septic tanks are causing major pollution problems.

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 27

Splendour in the Seagrass Researcher dedicates life’s work to ocean’s secret weapon against climate change

28 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

By Angela Nicoletti

A

round the golden hour of a summer’s evening, the shallow seagrass meadows of South Biscayne Bay transform, appearing almost magical. James Fourqurean can tell

the limestone, a ton of C02 is released, and about 60 percent enters the atmosphere.

Fourqurean’s students are looking at these fluctuations.

you all about it. How those seagrasses are so full of oxygen

Former Ph.D. student Jason Howard tested whether Florida Bay

they burst, releasing endless streams of bubbles that rush

released more carbon, because of the limestone accumulation

upward through the waving canopy. Swimming through it is like

over the years, than was taken out by seagrasses. He’s analyzed

swimming through champagne, he says.

data and is looking to publish the results. Meanwhile, Christian

To recognize the beauty of seagrasses, to be completely taken by them, comes from a sense of deep appreciation. For Fourqurean — an FIU professor of biological sciences and

Lopes, a current Ph.D. student in Fourqurean’s lab, is measuring carbon fluctuations in the atmosphere.

A monitoring tower is set up above seagrass beds in the

director of the Institute of Environment’s Coastlines and Oceans

Everglades. Among the first projects measuring the C02 coming

Division — that appreciation stems from nearly 40 years spent

out of seagrass ecosystems, it is also a part of the Institute of

researching seagrass ecosystems around the world.

Environment’s Florida Coastal Everglades Long-term Ecological

He started in 1982. Fourqurean was an undergraduate

Research (FCE-LTER) Program. The tower takes real-time

at the University of Virginia. One day, his professor asked

measurements of CO2 concentrations in the wind and then

for a volunteer to join him on a trip to map the distribution

streams the data back to the lab.

of seagrasses in Florida Bay. There were two requirements.

This kind of data will help paint a picture of what’s happening

Availability that summer and to know how to drive a boat.

with the seagrasses in South Florida, and will hopefully provide

Fourqurean was in the front row and immediately raised his

the scientists with answers.

hand. He already had two jobs lined up and didn’t have a clue how to drive a boat. But that boldness got him to the Everglades, and that summer spent with the seagrasses changed everything.

Regardless of what they find, Fourqurean knows seagrasses are desperately needed.

Even after all these years and all the research, Fourqurean

Fourqurean has not spent more than nine months away from

said he still gets emails from resort owners asking how they

South Florida since.

can remove seagrasses so tourists don’t have to walk through

Fourqurean’s extensive knowledge makes him one of the foremost experts on seagrass ecosystems and Blue Carbon — the term used to describe carbon captured by the world’s

them. His reply remains the same. Don’t do it. It would trigger a cascade of devastating impacts.

The existence of so much life is tied to those underwater

oceans and coastal ecosystems. He’s one of the lead scientists

meadows. They are home to economically important seafood,

in the International Blue Carbon Working Group, as well as

like sea trout, red fish, black grouper, conch, lobster, shrimp, and

scientific representative to the International Blue Carbon Policy

also to endangered manatees, green sea turtles and smalltooth

Working Group. These teams initially set out to have seagrasses

sawfish. They are filters, keeping mud out of the water. They

recognized as a valuable resource in climate change mitigation,

defend coastlines, dampening the impacts of damage from

critical to helping slow the rise of C02 in the atmosphere.

powerful hurricanes. If they vanish, so does all of this.

They’ve helped to include these coastal ecosystems into national greenhouse gas inventories.

The first Blue Carbon paper in 2012 was groundbreaking.

Fourqurean and his collaborators showed seagrasses store tremendous amount of carbon. But were also rapidly disappearing. Their loss meant more C02 being released into the

Most people will never experience the golden hour when seagrasses turn the water to champagne. Most people simply don’t think about seagrass. If they see a sandbar, they probably won’t know it was once a place where seagrasses grew.

But Fourqurean is keeping watch.

Sometimes, when he’s out on the water doing his research,

atmosphere — at a rate equal to or greater than other carbon

it’s like that first time in 1982. There’s not another boat on the

dense ecosystems like forests.

horizon. Dolphins and sea turtles swim by. The water is crystal

This triggered more research. Fourqurean and his students are

clear. Other times, it’s not. But, Fourqurean finds a way to stay

currently focused on South Florida, which is one of the largest

hopeful. He’s seen the seagrasses die off. He’s watched them

seagrass ecosystems in the world. Their work has an added layer

recover. He’s watched them start dying again. As he tells his

of complexity when it comes to calculating how much C02 is

students, the seagrasses can recover. It all comes down to

being stored versus released, and it all has to do with limestone.

stewardship. And that stewardship begins with a recognition of

From coral reefs to the marl deposited in the Everglades, limestone is made by different organisms. It’s a little bit of a

all the benefits seagrasses bring to our coastal communities — and beyond.

math equation. When an organism makes limestone, it takes

“Here in South Florida, we are sitting in the middle of one of

two units of dissolved inorganic carbon to make one unit of

the largest seagrass ecosystems in the world,” Fourqurean said.

limestone and also one unit of C02. For every ton of carbon in

“We might not see it, but we are sure made richer by it.”

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 29

F I U ’ S E D U C AT I O N OUTREACH PROGRAM CONNECTS LIFELONG LEARNERS WITH REAL UNIVERSITY RESEARCH.

Through the Education Outreach Program, the College of Arts, Sciences & Education provides a range of activities and experiences. The goal is to inspire the next generation of explorers who will be making discoveries and finding solutions to the world’s challenges.

The program offers K-12 programming, community-based events and opportunities for FIU students, faculty, staff and their families to get involved, both in-person and virtually. One recent virtual tour provided a glimpse into what it’s like to live underwater at FIU Aquarius from the comfort of home. Located 60 feet below the ocean’s surface, Aquarius is the only underwater research laboratory remaining in the world. The college’s Education Outreach team has a wide range of materials and programs for all levels of inquiry and exploration including toolkits for educators, onsite workshops and demonstrations for students, do-it-yourself adventures at home and more.

30 | Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water

Click here for more information

Arts, Sciences & Education | 2021 Life Below Water | 31

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