Saving Coral Reefs in the Sunshine State, with Mote Marine Laboratory, Webinar, January 21st

Photo: Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) by James G. Douglass via iNaturalist (CC-BY-NC-4.0)

Tuesday, January 21, 2025
7 – 8:30 pm
Register here.

Florida’s coral reefs have lost over 95% of their living coral cover over the last 50 years and are on the brink of functional extinction. In Smithsonian Environmental Research Center’s (SERC) first evening science talk of the year, Dr. Erinn Muller will reveal how scientists at Mote Marine Laboratory are meeting the dire need for active coral restoration. She’ll touch on methods like coral nursery rearing and outplanting, and present the latest research helping restored corals resist disease and adapt to climate change. She will also highlight the importance of live coral biobanking and cryopreservation. In the race against environmental degradation, Mote scientists have created an International Coral Gene Bank as a “Noah’s Ark for coral species preservation.”

Dr. Muller is an Associate Vice President for Research, a Senior Scientist, and the Coral Health and Disease Program Manager at Mote Marine Laboratory and the Director of Mote’s International Coral Gene Bank – a ‘Noah’s Ark for coral species preservation’. Dr. Muller’s research focuses on identifying corals that are resilient to major threats such as climate change and coral disease to help inform Mote’s coral restoration activities. Dr. Muller has studied coral health and disease for the last 20 years, researching reefs around the world including the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Florida Keys and Saudi Arabia. She has over 70 publications in peer-reviewed journals, co-authored several book chapters, been a mentor for over 50 undergraduate interns and graduate students. She also helped co-create a research-based after school program for high school students in the Florida Keys and U.S. Virgin Islands.