Research
Quantifying Thresholds and Testing Interventions to Optimize Coral Restoration in the Florida Keys
University of Florida - Center for Coastal Solutions
Principal Investigator - Andrew Altieri
October 2023 - Present
Research Focus
​Through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), researchers at the University of Florida have been tasked with enhancing current coral conservation efforts to improve management efforts. This is to be done by surveying the existing community and ecological structure, tracking the fate of out-planted corals at various locations, testing interventions for improved restoration, and providing results and recommendations of best practices.
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Project Responsibilities
Comparison of the same plot of coral approximately one year apart. After an intense heat wave that left many of the coral bleached, some corals were able to recover and continue to grow.
As a member of the research team, my primary responsibility has been to utilize image analysis software (Taglab) to measure various parameters of the out-planted corals including area, perimeter, and fusion, across the two years of images data that has been collected. As we finish up the image analysis portion, I will soon be involved with the analysis of the data and drawing of conclusions for this project.