Marine Ecology

From the mangroves and algae mats of the Everglades to the brilliant coral reefs of the Pacific Ocean and the frigid lagoons of the Arctic, our scientists are exploring exotic environments and the animals, plants and other living things found in them.

We want to understand how these ecosystems keep in balance, and what threats they face. That means observing them as no one has before.

Our researchers are traveling to coral reefs around the world and collecting thousands of hours of video of sharks and rays. We’re climbing out of helicopters in the Everglades to measure the microorganisms and nutrients that sustain the “river of grass.” We’re watching the massive goliath groupers off the coast of Florida, the alligators and bull sharks that lurk along our rivers, and the glowing creatures down in the darkness of the ocean’s twilight zone.

The places we study are under attack. With oceans rising, warming and becoming more acidic, many of the food chains and other patterns that have sustained life are out of balance. We are racing to understand these complex and fragile systems and find ways to protect them.

Students, Volunteers and Community Members: Get Involved 

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  Global FinPrint

  Our Global FinPrint project has created the world's largest shark and ray survey. One-quarter of the planet's sharks and rays are threatened with extinction. The rest are either approaching threatened status or too poorly studied to be assessed. We're gathering the information needed to protect these animals.

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  Seagrass Monitoring

  Since 1996, our scientists have been monitoring seagrass populations in the Florida Keys. Having installed permanent monitoring stations across the coastal waters of South Florida allows our researchers to better understand the patterns behind why some of these critical species are dying-off at an alarming rate.

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  Coral Restoration with Native Crabs

  Florida’s coral reefs have reached a threshold whereby their resilience has been compromised, species are endangered, and ecosystem function degraded. There is a human cost too. Our scientists are working on understanding how herbivorous crabs can help coral reefs survive.

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  Medina Aquarius Program

  Our Medina Aquarius Program is dedicated to the study and preservation of marine ecosystems with the world's only undersea research laboratory, Aquarius Reef Base. Our scientists are at the cutting edge of research on coral reefs, ocean acidification, climate change, fisheries and overall ocean health.

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  CREST Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment

  Our NSF-funded CREST Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment is exploring estuaries and coral reefs, by examining the role of contaminants and pollutants on these vulnerable ecosystems. Using metagenomic methods, our team is working to identify early indicators of ecosystem impacts caused by anthropogenic stressors.

Research Groups

Faculty-led research groups sustain our discoveries and impacts.

• Boswell Lab for Marine Ecology and Acoustics
• Bracken-Grissom Lab for Crustacean Genomics and Systematics
• Butler Lab for Tropical Ecology
• Chapman-Papastamatiou Lab for Predator Ecology and Conservation
• Collado-Vides Lab for Marine Macroalgae Research
• Eirin-Lopez Lab for Environmental Epigenetics
• Fourqurean Lab for Seagrass Ecosystems Research
• Harborne Lab for Tropical Fish Ecology
• Heithaus Lab for Marine Community and Behavioral Ecology
• Kiszka Lab for Marine Conservation Ecology
• Rehage Lab for Coastal Fish Ecology and Fisheries
• Rodriguez-Lanetty Lab for Integrative Marine Genomics and Symbiosis
• Zhang Lab for Fisheries and Ecosystem Assessment

All Research Groups