Mote Magazine Fall 2016

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Upcoming Events Double Duty for Mother Manatee Talk Fishy to Me: Acoustics Reveal Grouper Mating Site Catch, Release, Recover? Shark Survival Study 30 Years of Run for the Turtles

Deep, Blue OAsis Campaign Success Mucking Around Reveals Greenhouse-gas Surprise Thank You: Legacy Brunch and Volunteer Awards

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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. Through marine science stories, Mote hopes to enhance ocean literacy among the public and encourage conservation and sustainable use of marine resources.

PRESIDENT & CEO

Michael P. Crosby, Ph.D. ASSISTANT VP, COMMUNITY

Special Events

MOTE’S FALL 2016 EVENTS CALENDAR

SEPTEMBER All Month n MEMBER APPRECIATION MONTH. Stay tuned for information about member-only events: Mote.org/membership Sept. 3, 10, 17, 24 n $6 SATURDAYS. Admission special each Saturday in September for Florida residents visiting Mote Aquarium.

Sept. 10 n ELECTRIFY THE ISLAND. Electric vehicles and other eco-friendly technologies will show their power during this celebration based at Mote Aquarium. Mote’s event is part of National Drive Electric Week. Mote.org/electrify.

Sept. 20-21 n GIVING CHALLENGE. Support Mote with a donation during this exciting fundraising challenge to Southwest Florida nonprofits from noon Sept. 20 to noon Sept. 21. Watch mote.org/givingchallenge for details.

RELATIONS & COMMUNICATIONS

OCTOBER

Stacy Alexander

Oct. 21 n NIGHT OF FISH, FUN & FRIGHT. Buoys and ghouls of all ages are invited to dress up in costume for a spooky good time from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 21 at Mote Aquarium. Tickets available in early October at: mote.org/halloween.

Oct. 22 n CIRCUS BY THE SEA. Special partnership event by Circus Arts Conservatory and Mote Marine Lab & Aquarium, located in Aquarium courtyard.

Two performance times: 2:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Free with paid Aquarium admission. Details at mote.org/circus Oct. 25 n MULLET MOVIE. 6 p.m. in Mote’s WAVE Center. View WGCU’s documentary “Mullet - A Tale of Two Fish,” featuring Mote scientists.

Check www.mote.org for details.

Oct. 29 n OCEANIC EVENING. 6:30 p.m. at The Ritz-Carlton Sarasota.

Enjoy Mote’s signature black-tie fundraiser featuring delicious dinner, music and exciting announcements about the Lab’s future. Details at mote.org/oceanic.

EDITOR

Hayley Rutger GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Alexis Balinski CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Kaitlyn Fusco, Hayley Rutger CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Georgia Institute of Technology, Conor Goulding, Anne Honeywell, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Untamed Science

Mote Magazine is proud to recognize Sarasota Magazine as its publishing partner. For information on sponsorship, please contact Sarasota Magazine at 941-487-1109.

FALL 2016 • VOLUME 72 INFO: 941-388-4441 • M O T E . O R G

NOVEMBER Nov. 26 n SANTA JAWS. Visit Santa’s helper shark — Mote mascot Gilly the Shark dressed up for the holidays — from noon-2 p.m. at Mote Aquarium.

DECEMBER Dec. 3 & 10 n SANTA JAWS continues, noon-2 p.m. at Mote Aquarium.

Dec. 10 n YOUTH OCEAN CONSERVATION SUMMIT. Upper elementary through college students can learn from marine scientists and conservationists about global and local threats facing marine ecosystems during this event at Mote. Details TBD. stowitdontthrowitproject.org.

COVER PHOTO

Happening Sept 20 & 21, Noon to Noon Mote scientist Dr. Emily Hall collects a sample during a Naples Spring dive.

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mote.org/givingchallenge

DOUBLE DUTY

BY HAYLEY RUTGER

for mother manatee

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manatee gave birth to rare twins during April in southwest Florida, and as Mote Magazine went to press in early summer, the trio was getting along swimmingly.

The mother is Tomo-Bella, who has been documented by Mote Marine Laboratory’s Manatee Research Program for more than 23 years. Mote scientists first observed Tomo-Bella in 1993 in Pansy Bayou near Lido Key. Since then, they have observed her 240 times in many parts of Sarasota Bay, along with Fort Myers during winter. In 1995, Mote documented Tomo-Bella with a calf — the first of ten she has been documented with so far. The 2016 calves are her first twins.

“We’re excited to see that Tomo-Bella is contributing to the manatee population, and it’s interesting to see twins from a female whose history we know so well,” said Jennifer Johnson, staff biologist with Mote’s Manatee Research Program.

Manatee twins are rare, born 1.4 to 4 percent of the time in Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus latirostris). While it is possible for a healthy mother to support twins, there is little data on how twin calves fare in the wild.

“At more than two months old, Tomo-Bella’s calves have been doing fine so far,” Johnson said in late June. “Usually we see them doing what mom does. They rest together, swim together, and both calves have been seen nursing from their mother. Over time they will begin incorporating seagrass into their diet as well as continuing to nurse.” Adult manatees are full-time herbivores.

Southwest Florida residents might remember Tomo-Bella because she was rescued, along with her earlier calf, in 2012 from Grand Canal along Siesta Key. Staff from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Mote rescued Tomo-Bella because she had a fresh wound on her head and was showing unusual behavior. She and her calf were rehabilitated at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, and Tomo-Bella was found to have toxins from Florida red tide in her blood. In September 2012, mom and calf were released after successful rehabilitation. Mote helped FWC and Lowry staff return the manatees to the wild from a boat ramp at Ken Thompson Park on City Island, Sarasota.

If you see manatees in the wild, please observe from a distance.

Do not approach, attempt to interact with or feed manatees, which are protected under state and federal laws.

When boating, follow speed-zone signs and wear polarized sunglasses to see marine life in your path. Dispose of trash and fishing line properly to avoid entangling marine life.

Please report any distressed or dead marine mammals and sea turtles in Sarasota or Manatee County to Mote’s Stranding Investigations Program, a 24-hour response program, at 941988-0212. For other areas of Florida, contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 1-888-404-FWCC (3922).

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Talk fishy to me: Acoustics reveal grouper mating site

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umans aren’t the only ones who make chit-chat with their lovers. Black grouper make plenty of noise while courting and spawning in groups — an important part of their life cycle.

However, scientists had yet to document one of these black grouper “mixers” in the U.S., until now.

Mote Marine Laboratory scientist Dr. James Locascio described the first-known U.S. spawning site for black grouper in a February 2016 volume of the peer-reviewed U.S. Fishery Bulletin. The study was funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coral Reef Conservation Program.

The spawning site, Riley’s Hump in the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve of the Florida Keys, was already known to host spawning mutton snapper. Locascio and partners found that it supports reproductive activity of black grouper, red grouper and red hind.

BY KAITLYN FUSCO

ultimately the best thing to do would be to collect their eggs and do genetic identification.”

Alien ambiance aside, it’s quite normal for grouper to… group. Black grouper, red grouper and red hind and several other reef fishes of ecological, recreational and commercial importance form spawning aggregations, making them vulnerable to mass harvesting.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, black grouper are widespread and abundant but “near threatened.”

Their populations have declined nearly 30 percent and may decline further if current threats remain. Red grouper are listed as “near threatened” where the fish and red hind as “least concern.”

“If we can identify reproduce, where the juveniles live their lives and track the adults back to the same reproductive area, we can learn how to manage this population as a whole.”

“Because these groupers support large commercial and recreational fisheries, there is an increasing focus on conserving and managing their stocks and habitats,” Locascio said.

“Also, these fish occupy a high level of the reef-community food web; they may help reef ecosystems maintain a healthy balance.”

“This is the first black grouper — Dr. James Locascio spawning site identified in U.S. waters,” Locascio said. “Identifying spawning sites allows us to better understand and protect the Riley’s Hump is a protected area where fishing is prohibited but spawning stock and their habitats. It also provides many additional research is allowed. The discovery of fish spawning aggregations research opportunities, such as predicting the downstream emphasizes that the site is important and merits continued research. locations where grouper larvae from Riley’s Hump will settle into juvenile habitat, which is just as important to protect.”

Expert field assistance during this study was provided by members of the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center laboratories in In the study, Locascio used passive acoustic technology to record Beaufort, North Carolina, and Miami, Florida; the National Ocean fishes’ spawning sounds, which differ among species. Passive Service’s Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research in acoustics can help identify which species are reproducing where Beaufort; the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s and when.

Overseas Research Laboratory in Marathon; and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation of Key Largo, Florida.

Acoustic digital recorders were deployed at seven locations at Riley’s Hump for the study’s duration, April 2010-June 2012. Most Below: A black grouper. were on Riley’s Hump and one was about 197 feet (60 meters) deep off its southwestern edge. Some of the recorders were PHOTO BY: sdubrov/Adobe Stock accompanied by video cameras.

Multiple times, the cameras and recorders revealed black grouper and their “romantic” noise: “It sounds like an alien ship landing,” Locascio said. “Seeing the presence of that species and those sounds multiple times made it clear what was going on. It’s a proxy signal of reproduction, and

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Catch, release, recover?

Fitbit-like tool measures shark survival

BY HAYLEY RUTGER

The Fitbit—a wearable motion sensor—is the latest craze among health-conscious people seeking to track every step of their fitness regimen.

Fitness takes on a different meaning for shark researchers, who struggle to know whether their study subjects are fit to survive, let alone swimming strongly, after being caught and released by anglers or commercial fleets.

In summer 2016, a peer-reviewed Mote study published in Fisheries Research demonstrated that motion-sensing accelerometer tags — think “Finbits” — are the top tools for tracking shark survival after release, providing crucial information for fisheries management.

“In recreational and commercial fisheries, it is largely unknown how many sharks survive the stress of capture and release,” said Dr. Nick Whitney, the Mote staff scientist who led the study.

accelerometers for studying post-release survival and recovery in sharks, until now.

“The work Dr. Whitney has done to date with accelerometers to examine post-release mortality has been extremely impressive and has provided, without question, the most robust species-specific estimates available of this elusive parameter,” said Dr. William B. Driggers III, NMFS Research Fishery Biologist. “His success in applying this technology with blacktip, tiger and sandbar sharks demonstrates the value of accelerometers to answer a historically unyielding question of the utmost importance to stock assessments.” Blacktip sharks were tagged in the newly published study, and work with other species will be published in the future.

“In recreational and commercial fisheries, it is largely unknown how many sharks survive the stress of capture and release.”

“Commercial fisheries may document their bycatch, but they have no way of knowing whether the animals they release actually survive.

Recreational fishing is even trickier to study, without the trained observers found on commercial vessels. At the same time, recreational fishing is worth more than $6 billion to Florida’s economy, and sharks are ecologically important top predators. We need to understand all of the impacts to their populations.”

The new study was funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the federal agency responsible for stewardship of U.S. ocean resources and habitat.

— Dr. Nick Whitney

Usually scientists fit sharks with satellite or acoustic transmitters to infer whether a shark has survived using indirect signals like location or depth. In contrast, accelerometers measure sharks’ finescale movements directly, including every tail beat, body tilt, ascent and descent.

Whitney has pioneered the use of accelerometers in multiple shark studies. However, no one had demonstrated the value of

Whitney and his team attached accelerometers to the dorsal fins of 20 blacktip sharks caught in January 2011 through April 2013 with the help of experienced anglers in and around Charlotte Harbor and Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The researchers released the tagged sharks, and the tags were programmed to monitor the sharks’ fine-scale movements for one to seven days. Then the tags detached, surfaced and transmitted radio signals, allowing the researchers to recover them all.

By analyzing the tags’ detailed data, Mote scientists found 19

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numerical measures of survival and recovery behaviors. On average, the blacktips recovered within 11 hours. If one died, the signals were clear: “You see very clearly if an animal is going up and down, or if it’s coming to rest on the bottom, which would be abnormal for a blacktip shark,” Whitney said. “You can see if its tail has stopped beating and its movements have stopped entirely.”

In contrast, the popular satellite transmitter tags can monitor a shark’s geographic location, depth and surrounding light levels, but the depth data are less detailed and no fine-scale data on body movements are provided. Satellite transmitters are the goto devices for tracking long-distance animal migrations over time.

In contrast, caught-and-released sharks often perish or recover within hours. Accelerometers cost approximately one-seventh as much as satellite transmitters and can be reused multiple times.

In Whitney’s study, 91 percent of the blacktip sharks survived. Other species may be less hearty, with physiological stress varying notably among species, say Whitney and fellow pioneers in this field. Future papers will focus on the detailed results with these blacktip sharks and other species of recreational and commercial interest.

“With this study, we’re laying the foundation for many other efforts to study the effects of catch-and-release fishing in new detail,” Whitney said.

PHOTO BY: Untamed Science

Above: Mote scientists fix an accelerometer tag to the fin of a blacktip shark before the shark is released by a recreational fisherman.

Right: Dr. Nick Whitney of Mote prepares to release a lemon shark tagged with an accelerometer.

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PHOTO BY: Untamed Science

Mote supporter completes his 30th Annual Run for the Turtles

BY KAITLYN FUSCO Dean Cutshall, age 73, put his feet forward for sea turtle research and conservation 30 years ago on beautiful Siesta Key during Mote Marine Laboratory’s first-ever Run for the Turtles. This annual, family-friendly Run raises awareness and funds for Mote’s Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Program, which coordinates conservation of endangered sea turtles along 35 miles of Sarasota County beaches.

Cutshall joined the inaugural Run in 1986 while vacationing in Sarasota, Florida, from his hometown in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to stay in shape while on vacation, but what I didn’t realize then is this Run would come to mean more to me than I ever thought it would,” Cutshall said.

The first Run sparked Cutshall’s interest in sea turtles and other marine life. He began learning more about Mote’s research and supporting the Lab. Cutshall had been visiting Siesta Key since 1955, the same year Mote was founded in Placida, Florida. Through a friend who worked for Mote, he was introduced to Dr. Eugenie Clark – the famous “Shark Lady” who founded Mote and passed away in early 2015 – and he wanted to stay connected to the Lab. Now, Mote’s longest-standing fundraiser has “come of age” at 30 years, much like its beneficiaries: sea turtles. Loggerhead sea turtles born around the first Run are now reaching reproductive maturity, meaning they can return to local beaches and lay nests of their own.

To honor the Run’s anniversary, Cutshall wore bib number 30.

“I kept the tradition alive because, number one, the folks at Mote are just absolutely wonderful, and number two, I wanted to keep supporting them and their research program that supports sea turtles because I have an interest in marine life,“ Cutshall said.

Mote’s 30th annual Run for the Turtles drew more than 1,000 runners and walkers to Siesta Public Beach on April 2, 2016, to raise funds and awareness for the endangered and threatened sea turtles that nest on southwest Florida beaches.

“It was so great to see so many kids and adults out here supporting sea turtles and helping to spread awareness of the sea turtle season,“ said Kristen Mazzarella, Mote senior biologist.

This year, participants younger than 9 and older than 80 competed for overall fastest times for males and females in each race, and for the fastest times within each age group for the 5K.

Above: Dean Cutshall at Mote Aquarium.

Mote Trustee Scott Collins kicked off the awards ceremony following the Run. “Mote is an international research facility and this Run supports the work of the Sea Turtle Conservation and Research program, which has monitored over 61,000 turtle activities on local beaches and protected more than 2 million eggs,” Collins said.

Collins said this year’s Run would not have been possible without its partnership among Mote, the Manasota Track Club and Sarasota County Parks and Recreation, along with all of the funding partners.

He recognized the national, youth-centric nonprofit Positive Tracks and their local partner, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, for matching donations by participants ages 23 and younger up to $40,000.

Though fundraising figures are not yet final, this year’s event and its matching funds have already raised more than $85,000 for sea turtle conservation and research. This is the second year Mote has partnered with Positive Tracks and Gulf Coast Community Foundation to help young people get active and give back. Gulf Coast also provided a grant, empowering Positive Tracks to enhance its efforts in southwest Florida and amplify its impact for Mote.

The next generation helped power the 30th Run, in the same spirit as its first-generation champ, Cutshall.

“It was an honor to wear bib number 30 this year, and I look forward to running next year,” said Cutshall.

Mote thanks the sponsors who made this event possible, including: Positive Tracks, Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Mosaic, Brighthouse Networks, ABC 7, Kids Serve, Mote Scientific Foundation, Crunch Fitness, Family Beautiful, Lynches Pub & Grub, New Balance/Fleet Feet Sports, Rogers Family Foundation, Cooper Creek Dental, Dean Cutshall, Deep Sea Diner, Edward Jones Investments, Koala Tee, Starbucks, Westbridge Veterinary Clinic, Wilde Insurance Services, Gerry and Mary Ann Beard, Joan L Osgood LMT, Uniquity of St. Armands, Vanessa’s Fine Jewelry, Albritton’s, SaraJane and William Bush, Einstein Bros Bagels, Florida State Massage Therapy Association, Linda and Kumar Mahadevan, Publix, Becky and Gordon Rose, Subway, Tropicana Products, Inc., Z Entertainment and Trader Joe’s.

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Exploring a Deep, Blue OAsis Loaded with dive gear, Mote scientists begin their 100-foot descent into the Gulf of Mexico — and then the real work begins. In the blue void offshore of Florida, the water turns murkier and colder, and then they see it: a sheer limestone cliff marking the edge of a blue hole.

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Left: Mote staff scientist Dr. Emily Hall, Mote intern Florence Cuttat and Mote President & CEO Dr. Michael P. Crosby descend a line into the Captiva Blue Hole. Above: An angelfish approaches the edge of the Captiva Blue Hole.

BY HAYLEY RUTGER

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lorida’s blue holes — undersea caverns, springs or sinkholes — can be amazing sights, dotted along the rim with myriad life forms such as sponges and small corals, favored by goliath grouper, sharks and sea turtles. Lately, though, scientists are drawn there by something invisible.

Mote researchers have discovered that Florida’s blue holes contain more acidic water than the open ocean naturally. In contrast, ocean acidification (OA) is a human-made problem caused by excess carbon dioxide entering the sea, which could ultimately reshape coral reefs and other vital ecosystems worldwide.

Acidified water can dissolve the calcium carbonate skeletons of corals and make it tougher for shellfish to form their hard shells.

Blue holes are acidified but lively places. Could they be windows into the ocean’s future?

Mote scientists Dr. Emily Hall and Jim Culter are studying whether blue holes are “natural laboratories” of future OA conditions. Their novel research quest ramped up in 20142016 but began with Culter’s love of the deep.

Culter, a benthic ecologist and skilled technical diver, conducted the first organized scientific studies of Florida’s blue holes in the late 1990s, often working with accomplished, technical cave divers who discovered the holes’ locations.

Culter has braved the chilly, dark passages into sites such as Megadome, which begins in 120 feet of water with a funnellike entrance into a narrow shaft, which leads into a cavern 200 feet across and more than 365 feet deep. Divers have yet to measure its maximum depth.

“Blue holes of the Gulf are very poorly understood habitats,” said Culter, who collected the first physical and chemical data from within these holes in Florida’s limestone bedrock.

“I’ve heard reports of Spanish explorers collecting fresh water from offshore springs, and fishermen have long known about blue holes because fish aggregate there. However, Mote is

the only group actively studying these unique habitats in the Gulf of Mexico. We hope our exploration leads to significant contributions to marine science.”

Culter’s initial data showed that pH generally decreases, carbon dioxide levels increase and other conditions such as temperature, nutrients and dissolved oxygen change with descent into a blue hole. The data overlapped with some predictions of OA. That caught Hall’s attention.

“I feel like blue holes can show us something interesting,” Hall said. “They’re very different environments from the open Gulf or coastal areas, and certain animals and plants are doing really well along the rims. Why are some things doing well in this reduced-pH system?”

Hall and others have studied low pH (acidified) areas around volcanic vents off Sicily and other international sites to investigate which marine animals, plants and microbes might be “winners” or “losers” amid OA. Florida has no volcanic vents — blue holes are the only known candidates.

Florida also has a lot to lose. The Florida Keys host the world’s third-largest coral reef system, an ecological and economic treasure vulnerable to OA. Coral reefs in some northern areas of the Keys have experienced notable dissolution of their calcium carbonate structures during winter, causing concern among marine researchers. This effect is seasonal now, and some reefs in the Keys are faring much better, but impacts may increase as waters acidify. More research is needed urgently.

“We do a lot of controlled studies of OA impacts in the lab, but this means isolating your coral or other subject from its environment,” Hall said. “You’re looking at one organism or a small group very carefully, but you’re not capturing what would happen to that organism as a member of a complete natural community experiencing OA impacts. We need both the lab and field studies.”

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In 2014 through 2016, Hall and Culter completed the first community description of Florida blue holes: a detailed survey of what lives near, along and below the rim of the southwest Florida sites Naples Spring and Captiva Blue Hole. At each, they measured temperature, salinity, pH, carbon dioxide levels, nitrogen and phosphorous nutrients, and more, ranging vertically inside the holes and horizontally to 90 feet from the rims.

That might sound straightforward, unless you ask a diver who knows better.

“The logistics are the reason that a lot of people don’t do this,” said Al Barefoot, who helped discover and name some of Florida’s blue holes and has dived with Culter for more than a decade, providing blue hole locations and helping place scientific instruments. “Pulling these dives off requires a lot of training; it requires keeping your cool, and not letting the anxiety get to you. Every now and then I have a chill run through my nerves, but you just have to be cool and work it out. That’s where technical diving skills come in.”

Blue holes can be pitch black and murky, and sometimes divers encounter a nurse shark or goliath grouper blocking a narrow entrance or exit. The Captiva Blue Hole entrance is 98 feet deep; divers can only work in or around it for 20-25 minutes to minimize risks such as decompression sickness — nitrogen bubbles that may arise in the blood and tissues when ascent is too fast. For deep decompression dives, Barefoot and other dive buddies help Culter and Hall explore and deploy scientific instruments.

In short: This is hard-core thrill science.

Over seven recent missions to the Captiva and Naples sites, Culter, Hall and their team collected and analyzed water samples from various depths, deployed instruments to gather physical and chemical data over time and systematically photographed the life forms.

“We confirmed that pH decreases as you approach the hole and decreases more when you swim down inside; we also documented gradients in carbon dioxide, dissolved oxygen and nutrients, which are all predicted to shift as our oceans change,” Hall said.

“You also see a gradient in the biology,” Culter said. “The perimeter of the hole is most active, with a plethora of sponges, tropical fish, invasive lionfish, small corals, reef-related algae, crustaceans, bivalve shellfish and often larger animal like a sea turtle or nurse shark. As you drop down, temperature drops, the light diminishes and the biodiversity drops dramatically. The deepest marine animals visible to the naked eye are polychaete worms attached to the walls.”

The two sites had similarities and differences in life forms.

However, the acidified water is probably common to many Florida blue holes, according to preliminary data from other sites.

“As with other low-pH field sites around the world, we’re seeing

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Above: Mote senior scientist Jim Culter descends into the Naples Spring blue hole.

here that some organisms can survive and others can’t,” Hall said. “In acidified water, you tend to lose a lot of the hard, calcifying species like the corals that build reefs. It’s good that some survive, but it’s definitely a change.”

The Naples and Captiva holes did have some hard corals, including Porites species related to the ones Hall has studied at Mote’s Summerland Key lab. There, Hall and colleagues have investigated how Porites corals fare in controlled systems with warmer, acidified water. They also published the first study showing how Porites fragments grown for restoration fare in low-pH water.

The recent surveys — supported by a Protect Our Reefs grant funded by sales of Florida’s Protect Our Reefs license plate — have strengthened the case for blue holes as OA laboratories, but more funding is needed to continue.

“We want to build on this work in southwest Florida, and we also want to look for blue holes in the Keys, where our big reef system is,” Hall said. “Now, we have an idea of what it takes to survey these habitats. With more funding, we would ultimately want to try transplanting organisms from lower to higher-acidity parts of these sites, and to design complementary studies in the field and the lab.”

“It is hard to find funding for this work because these habitats are so poorly known,” Culter said. “We need to understand them better. What we’re doing here is basic scientific discovery of a unique habitat.”

M O V I N G M O T E F O R WA R D :

The Success of Oceans of Opportunity

BY KAITLYN FUSCO

P

hilanthropy has always been critical for Mote Marine Laboratory, and recently the Lab has experienced a wave of unprecedented generosity. This means powerful momentum for its mission and its future of world-class marine research, education and conservation.

In January 2015, Mote announced its first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, Oceans of Opportunity, to realize its vision for the year 2020 and beyond. As of July 2016, donors had pledged $49.5 million toward the campaign’s $50-million goal.

Oceans of Opportunity, guided by Mote’s 2020 Vision and Strategic Plan, aims to:

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Significantly increase Mote’s ability to conduct world-class marine research, emphasizing conservation and sustainable use;

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Ensure the long-term prosperity of Mote’s research enterprise through focused recruitment of next-generation scientists and through career-nurturing programs;

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Translate and transfer our science and technology for the betterment of society and the marine environment;

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Continue and enhance Mote’s public service to its communities.

Now, Mote is proud to share its latest campaign successes — real examples of philanthropy providing the springboard toward a brighter future for Mote, the communities it serves, and the world’s oceans.

Leadership Circle “Every bit of support to this campaign has moved our hearts, while moving our mission forward,” said Mote President & CEO Dr. Michael Crosby. “We cherish and thank each donor, from children who held fundraisers for endangered species to the leadership donors who have gone above and beyond to support the Lab. Gifts of all sizes have brought us to the cusp of an important milestone in Mote’s history.”

Eugenie Clark, the Lab’s initial benefactors, Anne and William H. Vanderbilt, and its benefactor and namesake, William R. Mote.

Mote offers a heartfelt thank you to its Leadership Circle, including five anonymous donors and: Carol and Barney Barnett • Maurice and Carolyn Cunniffe • James D. and Pati Ericson • Robert and Anne Essner • Elizabeth Moore • Rick and Nancy Moskovitz Foundation

Building momentum in the Keys Where can you see Oceans of Opportunity in action? For one, the campaign is funding construction of Mote’s new facility in the Florida Keys, which is dedicated to addressing the devastating declines of corals reefs — our ocean’s “rainforests”.

Mote has developed innovative methods to rapidly bring back to life 50- to 100-year-old corals that died amid increasing environmental stress. In 2015, Mote published its peer-reviewed research on a novel micro-fragmentation and re-skinning technique that is ultimately geared toward reviving massive, reef-building brain, boulder, star and mounding corals in one to three years instead of the hundreds of years estimated for natural recovery.

Today, Mote is raising thousands of reef-building coral fragments at its Summerland Key lab and planting them onto depleted reefs.

In June 2016, Mote launched a coral restoration project at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park with partners from Florida Park Service and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, with funding support from the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. At press time, Below: Great star coral being outplanted by Mote scientists at Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park.

The most significant gifts came from Mote’s Leadership Circle, a special group of community members who understand the urgent threats facing the oceans and have each provided $1 million or more toward Mote’s mission and vision.

Leadership givers sustain Mote’s partnerships with local communities — a tradition begun by Mote’s Founding Director, Dr.

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Above: Demolition kicked off in February (left) at Mote’s Summerland Key facility, where old buildings are being removed to make way for Mote’s new research and education facility (right, digital rendering). Mote’s new research facility in the Keys is made possible by founding donor, the Gardener Foundation, along with the Rick and Nancy Moskovitz Foundation, Elizabeth Moore, the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation and others.

the partners aimed to plant 5,500 fragments of brain, mountainous star and great star corals during summer 2016 in park waters.

In addition, Mote has raised genetically diverse staghorn coral fragments in its extensive underwater nursery offshore of Summerland Key and replanted thousands of fragments onto decimated or damaged reefs throughout the lower Florida Keys.

Staghorn corals — a threatened species — grow four times faster in Mote’s nursery than in the wild, and Mote scientists have genetically identified fragments to select the hardiest strains for restoration projects in the warmer, acidified waters expected in our future oceans.

The future of these programs looks bright: Mote is currently building its new, expanded, LEED-certified, and category-5 hurricane resistant research facility on Summerland Key, thanks to the critical support of Oceans of Opportunity.

for pets, and release them into the wild to study how they use different habitats and how to improve their survival. The researchers place special antenna arrays on shore to detect any tagged snook within range.

In June 2016, Schloesser brought his latest research questions to Phillippi Creek — an estuarine tidal creek system that drains approximately 60 square miles in the Sarasota Bay Watershed.

He aims to document, which habitat types juvenile snook prefer along the creek, which has 7 miles of shoreline including parks, businesses and residences.

In fall 2016, Mote scientists will release hatchery-raised, common snook to document whether the fish prefer natural shoreline such

Following a demolition of two old residential buildings on Feb. 18, progress has been swift. As of July 12, 2016, all 178 foundation piles were drilled, all pile caps installed, the nearby seawall extended and underground plumbing and electric work was ongoing. This building has been built entirely by philanthropy — its construction is the most visible sign that Oceans of Opportunity has entered its home stretch. It is on track to open in early 2017.

Forward-thinking support for fisheries When leadership donors Carol and Barney Barnett chose to support Mote’s Fisheries Conservation and Enhancement Initiative, they were championing the future of Florida’s sport fisheries and the next-generation scientists who study them.

Dr. Ryan Schloesser joined Mote in 2015, early in his career, to help develop and test responsible methods to enhance and restore depleted snook populations, while advancing knowledge about wild stocks of these treasured sport fish.

Mote scientists raise snook in their land-based, recirculating aquaculture systems, fit them with tags similar to microchips

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Above: Mote Postdoctoral Scientist Dr. Ryan Schloesser.

as mangrove and marsh habitat, clear areas of human-made seawall, seawall with aquatic plants or a mosaic of all three types.

Results will help reveal how well the creek supports native fishes and how resource managers might enhance its benefits.

In another project, Schloesser will assess the condition and health of juvenile snook by measuring the overall health of a fish and compare its weight and other factors with the typical weight of other fish of the same species and of the same length to then compare differences between hatchery-reared and wild juveniles.

Nurturing innovators

Mote Senior Scientist Dr. Carl Luer

Oceans of Opportunity is helping Mote nurture the careers of more Ph.D. scientists through the Lab’s competitive Eminent Scholar award, which provides 50 percent salary support to a Mote staff member for three years.

Awards like this are critical for encouraging innovative, basic research like that of Dr. Carl Luer, who manages Mote’s Marine Biomedical Research Program and received the Eminent Scholar award in 2015.

Luer focuses on understanding the immune systems of sharks, skates and rays, especially how their healing and disease resistance properties may apply to human health. Luer and Dr. Cathy Walsh have demonstrated that shark-derived substances can fight 15 different types of human cancer cells in the lab, and more recently Luer and colleagues have been studying marine sources of antibiotics. Mote is working to forge research and commercial partnerships focused on biopharmaceuticals to bring its innovative research to new levels and ultimately seek new therapies for challenging diseases.

Giving back through education With Oceans of Opportunity helping to secure Mote’s future, Mote is working to educate and engage the ocean’s future stewards: kids. Mote’s 2020 goals include connecting youths with the environment in fun, meaningful ways — especially children who may not otherwise have access to informal science education.

To instill ocean literacy in more youths, Mote recently welcomed Elaina Todd, Community Engagement Coordinator, and Michelle Marinangel, Marine Science Educator.

They and their fellow Mote educators initiated a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) partnership with the Robert L.

Above: Mote’s Community Engagement Coordinator Elaina Todd holds a shrimp caught and released by Treyvon Stanford during his educational field trip to Mote.

Taylor Community Complex. The partnership started with bimonthly outreach to the Complex’s after-school teen leadership program from January to May 2015, followed by two-week outreach sessions that summer. It grew to include monthly after-school programs starting in February 2016, with two-week outreach programs again that summer.

Each after-school program and summer session shared Mote’s research through hands-on activities, and camp sessions included a field trip to Mote Aquarium for kindergarten through eighth grade students.

Thus far, the Robert L. Taylor partnership has enriched the marinescience education of 1,200 participants free of charge, with help from Oceans of Opportunity.

The campaign has also enhanced Mote’s education programs with Girls, Inc.; Just for Girls; Pace Center for Girls; Boys & Girls Club, Sarasota; Sarasota YMCA; Manatee YMCA; Triad Alternative School; Easter Seals; Laurel Civic Center; Salvation Army Family Impact Program; and Harvest House Centers.

Mote Making Impacts Oceans of Opportunity — Mote’s first multi-year, comprehensive fundraising effort — marks a pivotal moment for the Lab’s science and education missions, which have led to groundbreaking discoveries about marine ecosystems, supported economic development and helped millions of people become more ocean literate. The campaign, which could conclude before 2017, is already a triumph for research, for the oceans and for our children’s future.

“This campaign is a springboard into our future,” said Mote CEO Crosby. “It sets the stage for a new era and ensures that Mote’s impact will grow for decades to come. For everyone who has helped, our gratitude is beyond words.”

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Mucking around reveals greenhouse-gas surprise

BY HAYLEY RUTGER

Studying ocean muck might not sound thrilling. However, undersea sediments are important in the global carbon cycle, which must be understood to grasp large-scale processes like climate change.

PHOTO BY: NOAA

T

Mote staff scientist Dr. Jordon Beckler performed the research with Georgia Institute of Technology and the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement in France with funding in-part from the U.S.-based National Science Foundation and France’s Agence Nationale de la Recherche.

The study looked at organic matter — carbon-rich muck — deposited as deep as 16,400 feet, far offshore of coastlines with big river systems. Bacteria feed on this muck and release carbon dioxide, using certain chemical “ingredients” from their environment in the process. The study used state-of-the-art, electrochemical techniques to investigate how this happens in deep sediments offshore of Africa’s Congo River and the U.S. Mississippi River mouths.

“These areas represent little-known parts of the carbon cycle,” Beckler said. “The better we understand where carbon is, when, in what form, the easier it is to model and predict processes like climate change.”

Carbon can be trapped as organic matter in living things, such as plants, animals and microorganisms. When they die, much of their carbon moves into rivers, eventually sinks into the sea and is decomposed by bacteria, releasing carbon dioxide and other compounds. Much of this occurs in shallower waters over continental shelves, but some organic carbon spills over the shelf and down the continental slope, accumulating at its base or even deeper places. By knowing how much carbon accumulates at depth and how much of it decomposes to release carbon dioxide, researchers can sharpen models and predictions regarding Earth’s atmosphere, ocean chemistry and climate over the long term.

PHOTO BY: Georgia Institute of Technology.

his year, a peer-reviewed study in Marine Chemistry revealed a new piece of that global cycle: The greenhouse gas carbon dioxide can emerge from deep-sea muck in a surprising way — a process usually described in shallower water. This calls into question some common assumptions about carbon cycling.

Above: Dr. Jordon Beckler of Mote, lead author of a study done with Georgia Institute of Technology, investigates which chemicals are present in deep-sea sediment collected offshore of the Congo River mouth in 2011.

In the last few decades, it was discovered that bacteria prefer to “breathe” using metal oxides (e.g., iron rust), which mainly come from land and accumulate in coastal sediments, seemingly not in the deep sea. However, Beckler and colleagues found that high concentrations of metal oxides do accumulate in deep sediments surrounding large rivers.

“Very few studies have investigated whether these metals get out to these deep regions, and no one knew how much iron there was in deep sediments off the Congo River coast, until our study,” Beckler said. “We found that reactive iron is not only present in the deep sediments of both of our study sites, but that bacteria there process carbon mainly using iron, not sulfate. Most folks had assumed sulfate was the important compound in similar sediments. Ours is the first study to show ‘rust-breathing’ is actually the dominant form of carbon respiration.”

This means estimates of carbon dioxide from these sites might be inaccurate. Climate modelers: take notice.

Beckler added: “More research is needed to fully understand how much carbon dioxide is escaping from both sites, but the evidence so far suggests that these areas may release more of it than we previously thought.”

How common are these sites? How much do they impact Earth’s carbon cycle?

In the new study, researchers collected sediment cores — tubes of mud plucked from the seafloor — in 2011-2012 and analyzed them for key chemicals to reveal what bacteria are doing with the deep-sea carbon buildup.

Study authors note: “Several large rivers in Asia or Oceania (e.g. the Ganges, Yellow, and Irrawady) discharge high concentrations of iron-rich suspended sediment beyond their shelves, and even arctic rivers may transport terrigenous (land-derived) material off-shelf via pack ice.” However, these sites have yet to host similar studies.

Until now, researchers suspected that bacteria in deep-sea, organicrich sediments were mainly releasing carbon dioxide from organic matter through one particular process: by “breathing,” or obtaining oxygen from, sulfate — a common, natural chemical in the sea.

In other words, these kinds of metal ions probably reach the deep ocean more often than expected — and affect carbon cycling more than once believed. To better understand the carbon cycle, scientists must iron out these details.

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Legacy Brunch celebrates Mote’s long-term supporters

BY KAITLYN FUSCO

M

ore than 60 years ago, Mote began its independent research with the support of caring community members. Today, Mote’s Legacy Society is helping the Lab chart a successful course for the next six decades, and then some.

Mote’s Annual Legacy Society Recognition Brunch on Feb. 23, 2016, celebrated those who have committed their support to Mote through their estate plans or other planned gifts.

As guests enjoyed brunch overlooking Sarasota Bay at Mote’s Keating Marine Education Center, Mote Trustee Nigel Mould reminded everyone how much their support matters to the waters just outside, and around the world.

Legacy Society pledges have contributed to the comprehensive campaign Oceans of Opportunity, which will help advance Mote’s marine research, recruit and nurture more top scientists and educators, particularly next-generation Ph.D. researchers, and expand the Lab’s local and global impacts to support conservation and sustainable use of marine resources. Overall, planned giving has become increasingly important in providing long-term financial stability to sustain the Lab’s mission.

“Discovering that someone is a Legacy Society member is truly humbling, but oftentimes we don’t learn of their generosity during their lifetimes,” said Mote President & CEO Dr. Michael P. Crosby. “We are incredibly grateful to each of you and appreciate the opportunity to celebrate your generosity to Mote.”

“You, as Legacy Members, are contributing to a new era of marine research at Mote focused on the many grand challenges our oceans are facing today,” Crosby said. “These challenges threaten not only our conservation and sustainable use of marine resources, but also our very quality of life. We are all connected to the ocean. Fifty percent of the oxygen you’re taking in with every breath comes from the ocean. What you are doing is leaving a lasting legacy for this institution, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Thank you.”

Judi Taylor Cantor, the director of planned giving at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, gave the keynote speech during the breakfast. Cantor shared stories showcasing the transformative power of planned giving — particularly how one donor to the school repaired his relationship with his estranged daughter, including her and her first child in his planned giving.

Caldwell Trust Company served as Mote’s Tribute Sponsor for the 2016 Legacy Brunch and table sponsors included CapTrust, Gulf Coast Community Foundation and PNC Wealth Management.

To learn more about how you can join the Mote’s Legacy Society through an estate gift, contact Erin Kabinoff at 941-388-4441, Ext. 309 or plannedgiving@mote.org today.

35 years, one amazing mission

BY HAYLEY RUTGER In 1980, Mote Aquarium began sharing Mote Marine Laboratory’s research with the community. To advance that mission, Mote enlisted a handful of volunteers, whose numbers have since grown to more than 1,000.

In April, Mote honored its amazing volunteers, including one who has served since the Aquarium’s beginning.

Dave Bowman, age 80, began volunteering in 1980, served 35 years as an Aquarium docent and then moved to Wauchula, Florida, in 2015. He plans to keep in touch and continue telling Mote’s story.

“Mote is an extraordinary place, and although I won’t be able to volunteer regularly anymore, being Volunteer Emeritus is a way for me to stay connected to this organization that holds a very special place in my heart,” Bowman said.

He and other volunteers have helped the Aquarium earn national recognition; TripAdvisor declared Mote the fifth best Aquarium in the U.S. in 2015, making it No. 1 in Florida.

During the April awards ceremony at Mote in Sarasota, volunteers received awards for serving 35 years, 25, 15, 10, five, three and one.

Those who had logged more than 4,000 hours received the national President’s Volunteer Service Award for lifetime achievement. Many were inducted into Mote’s Volunteer Emeritus Program, which gives volunteers with at least 10 years or 1,000 hours the opportunity to receive special honors upon their retirement.

Mote President & CEO Dr. Michael P. Crosby praised the volunteers’ vital efforts.

“You are the face, and the brains, that most members of the public interact with,” Crosby said. “You translate and transfer our science and you share the passion that our scientists and educators have demonstrated throughout Mote’s 61-year history.”

The ceremony also honored nine Mote Trustees reaching volunteerism milestones: Alan Rose (25 years); Ron Ciaravella (15 years); Penelope Kingman (10 years); Jean Martin (five years, Honorary Trustee); Paul Carreiro and Jeanie Stevenson (three years); and Scott Collins, John Dart and Mo Cunniffe (one year).

Learn about volunteering with Mote: www.mote.org/volunteer Above: Dr. Michael P. Crosby with the 2016 Volunteer Emeritus Award recipients.

Right: Dave Bowman (left), Mote’s record-breaking 35-year volunteer, shakes hands with Dr. Michael P. Crosby.

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Immerse yourself in discovery… become a Mote Member today.

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