The Pulley Ridge and Dry Tortugas coral reefs are among the most pristine, but also fragile, marine ecosystems of the continental United States. Understanding connectivity processes between them and with surrounding shelf and deep areas is fundamental for their management ...

Successful management of spatially isolated coral reefs is contingent on an understanding of ecological connections across populations. To investigate genetic connectivity of the depth-generalist coral species Montastraea cavernosa, populations from both shallow (15–30 m) and mesophotic coral ecosystems (30–70 m) ...

This cruise is the first of four planned for this project. The intent of this preliminary report is to provide information on sampling and other activities of this first cruise, so that processing of data and samples can quickly begin ...

The seafloor mapping prioritization results described in this report are already being used by NOAA to focus planned seafloor mapping missions. Furthermore, the outcomes from this regional exercise contribute into a National Mapping Prioritization under the lead of NOAA to ...

Ocean acidification has the potential to significantly impact both aquaculture and wild-caught mollusk fisheries around the world. In this work, we build upon a previously published integrated assessment model of the US Atlantic Sea Scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) fishery to determine ...

The Bottlenose Dolphin Health and Risk Assessment (HERA) Project, initiated in 2003, is a collaborative effort between the National Ocean Service's Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution. This comprehensive, integrated, multi-disciplinary research project ...

During 2013–2015, an outbreak of dolphin morbillivirus (DMV) occurred in the western North Atlantic, which resulted in the stranding of over 1,600 common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). There are currently five coastal and 10 bay, sound, and estuary dolphin stocks ...

As global fisheries management shifts towards ecosystem-based management, responsible organizations and governments must also address the socio-economic impacts of this shift. This study evaluates potential impacts of such management shift with a case study of Pulley Ridge (PR), an ecologically ...

Recruitment, or the entry, of young coral reef fishes into benthic populations is essential to population survival, but because larvae typically spend several weeks in the plankton away from the reef environment, understanding the entire process encompassing adult spawning, larval ...

The demand for marine sand resources is increasing in the United States, as coastal and offshore sands are commonly used for beach renourishment and barrier island restoration. The dredging of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), and sand shoals in particular, ...