University of Miami receives $1.8M NOAA grant to study South Florida’s coastal ecosystems
Summary
The University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science has been awarded a nearly $1.8 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as part of an anticipated four-year, $4.2 million project to support research on the impacts to South Floridas coastal ecosystems from a multitude of climate change stressors.The newly funded project, co-led by the University of Miami Rosenstiel School and NOAAs Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) will focus on climate impacts to South Floridas coastal and marine ecosystems, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the southwest Florida shelf. The collaborative project entitled the Florida Regional Ecosystems Stressors Collaborative Assessment (FRESCA) includes seven different academic and research institutions.This research is vitally important because marine ecosystems are facing many different stressors, said Ana Palacio, co-principal investigator and assistant scientist at the Rosenstiel Schools NOAA Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS). Studying how multiple stressors impact corals reefs is critical to better understand how combined climate change stressors such as increasing ocean temperature, reduced pH and reduced oxygen levels will affect Floridas marine life.South Floridas coastal and marine ecosystems provide critical services to the United States, supporting recreation and tourism, and generating billions of dollars for the economy and tens of thousands of jobs annually. The well-being of over six million people in Floridas coastal counties depend on these ecosystems.Unfortunately, these ecosystems are impacted by a multitude of stressors, including ocean acidification, hypoxia, harmful algal blooms (HABs), increasing water temperatures, and pollutants. Resource managers will use these products to prepare for the anticipated impacts of climate change by increasing their understanding as to how multiple stressors are likely to interact and affect these ecosystems and the communities dependent on them.This award is supported by Fiscal Year 2023 funding from NOAAs National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), Ocean Acidification Program (OAP), the Climate Program Office (CPO), and the U.S.