There has been considerable effort to understand the impacts of mass coral bleaching events on coral reef ecosystems. To date, studies have primarily focused on standard metrics of coral health (e.g., coral cover and coral species richness) rather than broader metrics of ecological function (e.g., structural complexity and bleaching response gradients). Record-high ocean temperatures were observed in the summer of 2023, triggering severe mass bleaching at a global scale. Large-area imaging (LAI) was performed at Cheeca Rocks, an inshore patch reef in the Florida Keys, throughout the entirety of the 2023 bleaching event. This dataset provides an opportunity to comprehensively track bleaching impacts, assess resilience and susceptibility of different coral species to thermal stress, and analyze changes to habitat structure. The 2023 LAI dataset includes imagery from the “pre-bleaching” baseline in June, monthly imaging throughout the summer and early fall, and a December timepoint to identify recovery trends. The primary objective of this internship is to collaborate with researchers from NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) to conduct a thorough evaluation of the impacts of the 2023 mass coral bleaching event on reef ecological function and reef persistence. Specifically, the internship will involve using the 2023 LAI dataset and established protocols to: (1) segment coral colonies and perform benthic cover measurements to track community changes across the bleaching event and (2) quantify changes to habitat structure over time.
Using large-area imaging to evaluate the impacts of the 2023 mass bleaching event on a coral reef in the Florida Keys (Miami, FL)
- Published on:
- Science Area(s): Internships, Research
- Region(s) of Study: Florida
Summary / Description
Skills Required
The student should have background or experience with the identification of Caribbean coral and common benthic taxa (e.g. crustose coralline algae, macro algae, soft coral, turf algae). While the student will be given guidance on the protocols used in this project, familiarity with mapping software (e.g. ArcGIS, Viscore, TagLab) and code writing in R is desirable.
Type of Opportunity
- Research
Location
- NOAA Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory, Miami, FL. In-person preferred, virtual possible if the intern has access to a computer with high processing power.
Other Information
- Intern Supervisor: John Morris and Ian Enochs
- Number of Slots Available: 1