Other ID: none
Status: Completed
Organization(s): USGS, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center
Funding Program(s): Physical Processes Impacting Seafloor Change and Ecosystem Services - PISCES (GX.26.MN00.UG810.00)
Principal Investigator(s): Lauren Toth
Affiliate Investigator(s):
Information Specialist(s): Lauren Toth, Anastasios Stathakopoulos
Data Type(s): Biological Field Study: Surveys (biological)
Scientific Purpose/Goals: Collect diver-based structure-from-motion surveys and carbonate budget surveys from Looe Key reef and adjacent areas in coordination with SQUID-5 data acquisition under 2022-314-FA.
Vehicle(s): Ford F-350 Dually White (GSA)
Start Port/Location: Little Torch Key, FL
End Port/Location: Little Torch Key, FL
Start Date: 2022-07-11
End Date: 2022-07-20
Equipment Used: Other
Information to be Derived: Coral-reef topographic complexity and benthic coverages of corals and other organisms from diver-based SfM. Abundances of bioeroding urchins, parrotfishes, and sponges from in situ surveys.
Summary of Activity and Data Gathered: From July 12‒18, 2022, U.S. Geological Survey researchers conducted diver-based field surveys at Looe Key Sanctuary Preservation Area: • Mote Marine Laboratory Site W: W1 (24.54646, -81.0191) and W2 (24.54641, -81.40275) • Coral Reef Evaluation and Monitoring Project (CREMP; https://geodata.myfwc.com/search?collection=Document&q=Coral%20Reef%20Evaluation%20Monitoring%20Project) stations 3 (24.54546776, -81.40632350) and 4 (24.54546257, -81.40606312) and five Mote Marine Laboratory restoration sites outside of Looe Key reef: • Site C: C2 (24.53055, -81.48781), C3 (24.53054, -81.48806), C4 (24.53035, -81.48829 • Site Q: Q4 (24.52293, -81.51861) and Q5 (24.52295, -81.519) • Site U: IC-U1 (24.5407, -81.44387), IC-U2 (24.54045, -81.44542), and IC-U3 (24.54047, -81.44465) • Site CP: CP-M7 (24.61466, -81.37912) At each site, the following data were collected along 4‒6 transects in both restored and, nearby non-restored areas of the reef: • Benthic imagery to create structure-from-motion mosaics and to collect data on benthic composition (2 x 10 m belt transects) • Census of the number of and surface area of bioeroding sponges (1 x 10 m belt transects; Cliona aprica, C. caribbaea, C. tenuis, C. varians, C. deletrix, C. amplicavata, Siphonodictyon coralliphagum) • Census of the number and test sizes of bioeroding urchins (2 x 10 m belt transects; Diadema antillarum, Echinometra lucunter, Echinometra viridis, and Eucidaris tribuloides) • Census of the number, life phases, and sizes of bioeroding parrotfishes (4 x 30 m belt transects; Sparisoma viride, Sp. aurofrenatum, Sp. rubripinne, Sp. chrysopterum, Scarus vetula, Sc. taeniopterus, Sc. iseri, Sc. guacamaia, and Sc. coelestinus) These data will be synthesized using carbonate budgets (https://geography.exeter.ac.uk/reefbudget/) to estimate the reef-accretion potential of restored and non-restored areas at each site. This information will be used to build upon previous work showing that coral restoration has the potential to reverse long-term declines in reef-accretion potential in south Florida (https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16295) by testing how restoration is impacting this key reef function in practice. At Looe Key, we also collected additional diver-based structure-from-motion surveys for co-registration with SQUID-5 imagery that was collected simultaneously at the same locations.
Staff: Lauren Toth, Anastasios Stathakopoulos, Erin Lyons, Benjamin Galbraith
Affiliate Staff:
Notes:
Location:
Looe Key Reef, Lower Florida Keys
| Boundaries | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| North: 24.71040839 | South: 24.49264746 | West: -81.48944099 | East: -81.03790283 |
Platform(s):
 Halimeda |
Toth, L.A., Johnson, S.A., Lyons, E.O., Jenkins, C.M., Stathakopoulos, A., Bloomer, S.K., Mallon, J., Combs, I., 2025, Carbonate Budgets, Structure-from-Motion Products, and Topographic Complexity Measurements From Restored and Non-Restored Areas of Coral Reefs in the Lower Florida Keys: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P13HMEON.
Toth, L.T., Johnson, S.A., Lyons, E.O., Spadaro, J., Stathakopoulos, A., Bloomer, S., Mallon, J., Jenkins, C.M., Williams, S.D., Combs, I., Craig, Z., Muller, E., 2025, Coral restoration can drive rapid increases in reef accretion potential: Scientific Reports, v. 15 no. 1, 28353 p., doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-04818-3.
| Survey Equipment | Survey Info | Data Type(s) | Data Collected |
|---|---|---|---|
| Other | --- | --- | --- |
