Connectivity and Hydrodynamics

    Understanding how physical oceanography, organismal behavior, and life history strategies interact to determine the “connectedness” of coral reefs is a major focus of research at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Most of the work in this area continues to be targeted at biophysical interactions. Major interdisciplinary projects bringing together biological oceanographers, physical oceanographers, and modelers have begun to quantify the dispersal kernels for various species of reef fishes and corals. This coupling of empirical data with nested high-resolution circulation models allows for realistic measures of functional connectivity among marine populations.

    Validation of these complex models is ongoing via projects directly linking offshore ichthyoplankton with nearshore coral reef recruits. Such linkages also reveal that connectivity is influenced by variable pelagic larval growth and survival rates, as well as carry-over to benthic juvenile stages.

    Other connectivity projects have involved the use of  geochemical tracers in fish otoliths to understand the origin of fish stocks and the use of isotopic indicators as proxies for temperature. Population genetic markers (microsatellites) are also being employed to understand the connectivity of reef corals and fishes.

    Among the recent studies into connectivity, NCORE scientists developed a state-of-the-art drifting observational device and deployed it off the coast of Australia’s Lizard Island earlier this year, allowing researchers to detect and quantify the orientation of larval reef fish in the pelagic environment. Results from this study are expected to help capture the movement of a larva and the types of cues -- acoustic, chemical, or magnetic -- that larvae may use to navigate settlement.

Key Questions

 

How connected are coral reef ecosystems within regions?

Can healthy reefs replenish disturbed ones, and how quickly?

Can we predict patterns of connectivity directly from physical oceanographic and biological parameters?

 

Projects

 

Project PI(s) Sponsor Dates
Florida Bay Algal Bloom Isotipic Tracer Analysis Swart, Peter (MGG) FL State 9/27/2007 to 12/31/2007
Nonintegrable Hamiltonian Systems In OCean Dynamics Beron-Vera, Francisco (AMP) NSF 9/1/2007 to 8/31/2008
FL TOADDS Model Development and Applications Wang, Jonh D (AMP) USGS 7/20/2007 to 6/30/2011
Collaborative Research: Role of Eddies In The Midlatitude Ocean Circulation  Kamenkovich, Igor (MPO) NSF 7/1/2007 to 6/30/2008
Uptake and Processing of Foreign DNA By Mitochondria, a Model System  Schmale, Michael C (MBF) NIH-NCRR  7/1/2007 to 6/30/2008
Enabling and Initiating Observing System Simulations Experiments of a Coastal High Resolution Oceanographic Model In The Northern Gulf of Mexico  Kourafalou, Vassiliki (MPO) NOAA 6/1/2006 to 5/31/2009
In Situ Ichthyoplankton Imaging System (Isiis) - Development And Testing Of Operational System Cowen, Robert K (MBF) NSF 6/1/2007 to 5/31/2010
Integrated Ecological Assessment of Antigua and Barbuda  Kourafalou, Vassiliki (MPO), Lirman, Diego (MBF), McManus, John (MBF), Mcmanus, Liana (MAF), Reid, R. P (MGG), Shay, Lynn K (MPO), Zika, Rod (MAC) Stanford Foundation 6/1/2007 to 8/31/2008
Drift Trajectory Error Analysis  Mooers, Christopher N (AMP) USCG/IOF 5/24/2007 to 9'/30/2007
Non-Hydrostatic Modeling of Coastal Discharges in Biscayne Bay Ozgokmen, Tamay M (MPO)  National Park Service 5/1/2007 to 5/1/2008
Quality Control And Interpretation Of Environmental Data Glynn, Peter W (MBF) NOAA 5/1/2007 to 4/30/2008
Testing Climate Model  Simulations of Tropical Cirrus Lifecycles: A Lagrangian Analysis Using Arm Data Soden, Brian J (MPO) DOE 4/15/2007 to 4/14/2008
An Observing System for Meridional Heat Transport Variability in the Subtropical North Atlantic Johns, William (MPO) NSF 4/1/2007 to 3/31/2008
Dynamic of Boundary Currents and Marginal Seas Johns, William (MPO)  ONR 12/23/2006 to 9/30/2007
Collaborative Research: Atlantic Air-Sea Fluxes From Satellites, their Variability and Analysis of Ocean Models Drennan, William M (AMP)  NSF 12/1/2006 to 11/30/2007
Properties & Characterization of High Resolution Wave-Air Sea Interaction   Graber, Hans C (AMP) ONR 12/1/2006 to 11/30/2007
Nonlinear Estimation and Control of Particle Trajectories in the Ocean   Chin, Toshio M (MPO) ONR 11/1/2006 to 9/30/2008
Process Studies of Marine Boundary Layer Structures  and Clouds Over Eastern Pacific  Albrecht, Bruce (MPO) NOAA 11/1/2006 to 10/31/2007
Linkages between larvae and recruitment of coral reef fishes along the Florida Keys shelf: an integrated field and modeling analysis of population connectivity in a complex system Su, Sponaugle (MBF) NSF 11/1/2006 to 10/31/2010
Microarray Analyses of Polluted Natural Populations Oleksiak, Marjorie F (MBF)  NIH-NIEHS 9/1/2006 to 2/28/2009
An Open-Source Community Model for Coastal Sediment Transport   Chang, Yeon (MPO) Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst. 6/16/2006 to 5/31/2007
Community Sediment Transport Model Chang, Yeon (MPO) ONR 6/16/2006 to 5/31/2008
Tropical Cyclone Structure and Rainfall as Deduced by Trmm and High-Resolution Numerical Model  Chen, Shuyi (MPO)  NASA 6/15/2006 to 6/14/2007
SFP 2006: Simulations of Circulation and Nutrient Transport Around Florida Bay and The Keys With The SF Regional Sofla-Hycom Model  Kourafalou, Vassiliki (MPO) NOAA 6/1/2006 to 5/31/2009
Enthalpy Flux in Extreme Winds and the Roles of Sensible, Latent and Spray Heat Transfer Processes Haus, Brian (AMP) ONR 12/15/2005 to 12/31/2007
The Sensitivity of the Global Water and Energy Cycles: An Integrated Assessment of Models and Observations  Soden, Brian (MPO) NASA 12/1/2005 to 11/30/2008
Fluctuations, Coherence and Predictability of Long Range Shallow Water Propagation Deferrari, Harry (AMP) ONR 11/1/2005 to 9/30/2008
El Niño-Southern Oscillation Disturbances on Eastern Pacific Coral Reefs: Patters and Mechanisms Recovery Glynn, Peter (MBF) NSF 10/15/2005 to 9/30/2008
Connectivity in Marine Seascapes, Predicting Ecological & Socioeconomic Costs of Climate Change Broad, Kenneth (MAF) Resources for the Future/EPA 3/1/2005 to 2/28/2008
Lagrangian Turbulence and Transport in Semi-Enclosed Basins and Coastal Regions  Griffa, Annalisa C (MPO) ONR 11/15/2004 to 9/30/2008
Predictability of Particle Trajectories in the Ocean  Ozgokmen, Tamay M (MPO) ONR 11/15/2004 to 9/30/2008
US GODAE: Global Ocean Prediction with the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HyCOM)  Halliwell, George (MPO) ONR 6/3/2004 to 9/30/2008
Multi Sensor Improved Sea Surface Temperature (MISST) for GODAE  Minnett, Peter (MPO) NASA 6/1/2004 to 5/31/2009
Non-invasive Imaging of Near-Surface Preferential Flow Pathways and Dynamics in Carbonate Vadose Zone Grasmueck, Mark (MGG) NSF 4/1/2004 to 3/31/2008
Investigation of the Movement of Adult Billfish in Potential Spawning Areas Cowen, Robert (MBF) NOAA 7/1/2003 to 6/30/2007
Workshop on Population Connectivity to Marine Systems Cowen, Robert (MBF) NSF 6/1/2002 to 11/30/2007
Coupled natural and human dynamics in coral reef ecosystems: the effect of marine reserve network design and implementation on fisheries, biodiversity and human communities Olson, Don (MPO), Broad, Kenneth (MAF), McManus, Liana (MAF), McManus, John (MBF), Cowen, Robert (MBF) AMNH/NSF 10/15/2001 to 9/30/2007
Atmospheric and Ocean Modeling Support for Boundary Inputs to the Florida Bay Hydrodynamic Model Kourafalou, Vassiliki (MPO) NOAA 7/1/01 to 3/30/09
Regional Model for South Florida Coastal Seas Kourafalou, Vassiliki (MPO) NOAA 7/1/01 to 3/31/09
Evaluation and Improvement of Ocean Model Parameterizations For NCEP Operations Shay, Lynn K (CIMAS) NOAA 7/1/2001 to 6/30/2009