The Keys Marine Lab (KML) is a full-service laboratory supporting the mission of Florida's State University System (SUS) as part of the Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO). The mission of the SUS to achieve "excellence in teaching, research and public service" is reflected in the mission of KML which is to educate the marine scientists of tomorrow by providing on site and field research experiences and state of the art tools for teaching and for research. KML's location in the middle of the only living barrier reef in the continental US with subtropical and tropical ecosystems, attracts scientists, faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, from around the world. KML was designated, with FIO, as an Academic Infrastructure Support Organization (AISO) by the SUS Board of Governors in 2015. As such, the laboratory is mandated to provide the infrastructure, tools and expertise, needed to support academic programs and research, with an emphasis on field and comparative laboratory experiences. A well-based seawater system was constructed at KML in 2015 to provide experimental research capability for hind-cast and forecast predictions of water quality. This facility supports research on two coral species listed under the Endangered Species Act, staghorn and pillar coral. Demand for the use of this system has grown dramatically and the funds provided under this award will expand the capacity and improve the functionality of this critical system.
The flow through system will be upgraded to provide the ability to manipulate water quality, including temperature, pH, pO2 and simultaneously provide real time bay to up to 62 tanks that range in size from 1 to 1100 gallons. Specific improvements are: 1) provide sea water at current salinity, temperature and oxygen saturation, that can be changed while simultaneously being able to provide water that is representative of current conditions to an additional 62 tanks already available via the Bay water system; 2) provide the ability to conduct mesocosm research with water representing past, present or future water quality conditions in an environment of varying depth equivalent to average coastal Florida Bay depth in the middle Keys; 3) to provide the new ability to conduct research using real time water quality with water of different quality from small scale, 1 gallon tanks to the mesocosm scale at approximate average depth of Florida Bay in the nearshore Middle Keys. These improvements will provide a mesocosm that can be used to simulate the near coastal waters of Florida Bay in the middle Keys where the laboratory is located. For more information about KML and this seawater system, visit their website at www.keysmarinelab.org/.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
