The Coral Reef Futures Lab

10/24/2025

08/05/2025

🌟 Next up for our intern spotlight meet our summer 2025 field intern !

📍 From: Louisville, KY
🎓 Degree: B.S. in Environmental Science at Bellarmine University
🌊 Background: Passion for marine science since the age of 5! Undergraduate field work experience in the Bahamas & Belize.
🧪 Research Project: Measuring coral growth via TLE (Total Linear Extension); additionally monitoring light, temperature, & nutrients in our ex-situ nurseries for the NOAA RE5 project !
💃 Fun Fact: Julianna was on her college dance team and she also likes to run!

We're so lucky to have Julianna on the team this summer and can’t wait to see how her project continues to grow—just like the corals she’s tracking! 🪸

07/30/2025

07/30/2025

🌟 Get to know our spring + summer 2025 interns!
This awesome group of graduate students brings unique passions, backgrounds, and energy to our lab! From coral husbandry to reef restoration and monitoring, their work is contributing meaningfully to ongoing restoration and resilience efforts.🪸

First up our spring & summer 2025 land based coral nursery intern !

📍 From: Virginia Beach, VA
🎓 Degree: B.S. in Marine Biology, minor Environmental Sustainability, College of Charleston
🧪 Research Project: Sierra is currently wrapping up her project focused on studying how different coral feed components affect growth and survival of Florida coral in our land-based coral nursery.
🐱Fun Fact: Sierra likes to run and lift and she has a cat named Yeti!

05/02/2025

🚨Spectacular news coral crew!🚨

Our Diploria labyrinthiformis (AKA grooved brain coral) have officially spawned at the Coral Reef Futures Lab– our first spawn of the season! 🎉

Each year, coral spawning is synchronized with environmental cues like lunar cycles, water temperature, and day length. During this brief window, corals release bundles containing eggs and s***m into the water column. 🌕🌊

At our land-based coral nursery, we collect these gametes, fertilize them, and culture the larvae under controlled conditions. But what makes this spawning particularly spectacular is that we’re selectively crossing corals— combining different genetic backgrounds to increase thermal tolerance and boost resilience to climate change. 🔥🌡️🪸

Once the larvae settle, we'll rear these juvenile corals in our land based coral nursery, helping build the next generation of reefs that are stronger and better adapted for the adverse future effects of climate change. 🌱🌍

Stay tuned as we raise our brain coral babies and continue pushing the boundaries of coral conservation!!!

03/28/2025

Big congratulations to on successfully defending her Master’s thesis!🎉

Cailyn looked into different factors that affected bleaching variation between Miami and the Upper Keys during the 2023 bleaching event - finding that temperature and differences in nutrient availability contributed to the bleaching variation seen between the two regions.🪸

Her hard work, dedication, and passion for her research truly paid off. We are so proud of her accomplishments and excited to see where her next chapter takes her!☺️🫶🏼

03/17/2025

Our new elkhorn corals (Acropora palmata) from stay in the Saint Patty’s Day spirit 💚🍀
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day from our coral crew to you!🪸

True or false: corals can do the irish jig
Let us know in the comments below what you think! (wrong answers only)

02/21/2025

Lab Spotlight! 🌟
Meet Julia Cafiero!
Julia is part of our dedicated land-based coral nursery team and began as an intern two years ago. She has risen to become an essential part of the team that cares for our coral; from monitoring their health daily to training and managing new team members on the inner workings of the expansive land-based coral nursery, spawning lab, and Indo-Pacific tank.
We couldn’t do it without you, Julia!
Thank you for all that you do 🪸🩵

02/14/2025

Happy Valentine's Day from The Coral Reef Futures Lab! 🩷🪸

Sending love from our baby cupid Colpophyllia natans! 🫶 The Florida Aquarium
📷: Allie Fargo

11/21/2024

Last week lab members, alumni, and collaborators attended the 2024 Reef Florida Symposium at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science . 👏🪸
ReeFLorida unites researchers, conservationists, educators and managers to share innovative strategies and research in coral restoration. We can’t wait to see what the next year of research, innovation, and collaboration brings for Florida’s Coral Reef. See 🙌 there next year!
Pictured: lab members Yuen Azu, Julia Cafiero, Cam McMath, Diego Ferreira, Kate Etter, lab alumni Sanauz Alaei, Lirman Lab Rescue a Reef Program members Erin Weisman, Bauti Tobias, and collaborator Hannah Ditzler of SECORE International.
Photo 1: 📷 Lucia Gil
Photo 2: 📷 Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

11/15/2024

Thank you to star news reporter and environmental activist, Louis Aguirre from WPLG Local 10, for joining the team and broadcasting this segment on coral surveys ahead of the Port Everglades dredging project.

Reporting on scientists Andrew Baker, Ross Cunning, and Rachel Silverstein of Miami Waterkeeper, alongside their team Xaymara Serrano of NOAA Fisheries Service, and Cailyn Joseph & Mali Seigel of The Coral Reef Futures Lab, and their efforts to quantify and assess the port’s coral populations for NOAA Fisheries Service is important because it helps to ensure that community members stay informed about changes to their local environment.

Watch the full segment ⬇️
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DCMiQfUxyM3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Watch the full segment and keep up with Louis Aguirre’s local environmental series “Don’t Trash our Treasures” for ongoing developments!

11/07/2024

Longtime lab member, Carly Dennison (), gave an amazing PhD dissertation defense last Friday! 🥳⁣
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Her research focuses on stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), and how disease dynamics are mediated by the coral’s symbiotic algae, ultimately influencing the coral host’s disease susceptibility. ⁣🦠🪸⁣
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She started with the lab as an undergrad, around the time of first SCTLD outbreak in 2015. Since her PhD began in 2019, she has spent 5+ years researching genotypic responses of coral and its symbionts to SCTLD, evaluating susceptibility of coral species and Symbiodiniaceae genus, and experimenting interventions to increase disease resistance, among other topics. 👩‍🔬⁣🧬⁣

A huge congratulations to Carly on a fascinating presentation and for the research developments you’ve made towards understanding coral disease dynamics and harnessing them towards resilience interventions! ⁣
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We look forward to all your future research on the horizon! ⁣
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