FSUCML faculty, Dr. Christopher Koenig and Dr. Felicia Coleman, are collecting new data on the once severely-overfished Atlantic goliath grouper in a new three-year study. The species is native to Florida's waters, and is currently making a comeback in the southeastern United States, after a 21-year fishing moratorium. Using nondestructive sampling techniques, Koenig and Coleman will examine specific conditions and behaviors supporting this species' population recovery along Florida's coastlines in both the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

Dr. Felicia Coleman is a co-author on a new report released by the Pew Charitable Trust, A Once and Future Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem in which the expert working group makes recommendations for recovering Gulf resources and restoring the natural system. Recognizing that the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010 was just the most visible, recent problem threatening the health of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem, the authors recommend going beyond the traditional restoration approach that targets specific habitats or species damaged by the oil to focus on the Gulf of Mexico as a whole to have it truly recover and thrive in an unpredictable future.

Congratulations to graduate students in the FSU Department of Biological Science, Bob Ellis and Cheston Peterson, for receiving awards for their research.

Leaving behind the grey skies and rain of Scotland for, well, so far, the grey skies and rain of Florida, Dr. Tara Marshall and Dr. Lindsay McPherson of the University of Aberdeen just arrived with twelve undergraduates in tow to learn about Florida ecosystems at the FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory.

This spring, biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute need YOUR help to identify horseshoe crab spawning beaches throughout the state.

In October of 2010, the FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory (FSUCML) welcomed a new visiting researcher, Cristina Lima Martinez from Vigo-Galicia, Spain. Cristina recently graduated from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) with a degree in Biology. She then won a highly competitive award (5% success rate) from the Spanish Ministry of Education that allowed her to come to the United States and enhance her research experience in marine systems.

Dr. Dean Grubbs, faculty member of the FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory, is a collaborator on a new research program aimed at investigating the diversity and abundance of deep ocean sharks living in The Bahamas.

Marine Biology Certificate Student Christopher Matechik will be presenting his summer and ongoing research at the 2010 Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Awards (URCCA) Symposium, to be held Thursday evening, September 30, at the FSU Turnbull Conference Center. The symposium celebrates outstanding undergraduate research and awards students the funding to conduct a research project or creative activity under the direction of a faculty mentor. Chris is an Honors in Biology student currently working on his thesis under the direction of Dr. Felicia Coleman and Dr. Christopher Stallings, of the FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory. He has worked in the Stallings lab since August 2009. After graduating, he hopes to pursue a graduate degree in ecology.