USGS Researchers Travel to Florida Keys to Conduct Reef Bioerosion Surveys Release Date:
February 4, 2021
Staff from the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center will collect measurements from long-term coral-reef monitoring sites in the Florida Keys to assess historic rates of reef bioerosion, from February 2–7, 2021.
Lauren Toth (Research Physical Scientist, SPCMSC) and collaborator Mike Colella (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission) collect measurements of reef erosion at Molasses reef off Key Largo, FL. (Credit: Dominique Gallery, USGS. Public domain.)
Coral reefs serve as a first line of defense against storm-related hazards in coastal communities, but the ability of reefs to buffer impacts of waves on shorelines depends on the maintenance of a structurally complex reef surface and continued reef accretion, particularly as sea-level rise accelerates in the future. Unfortunately, recent studies have shown that growth of Florida’s reefs has