|
"Sabellariid Worm Mounds: The Other Kind of Florida Reef" • Dan McCarthy, Ph.D. Jacksonville University About the Lecture - 2006 Dr. Dan McCarthy will discuss the ecological importance of, and primary threats to, Florida's nearshore "worm reefs." Worm reefs are built by the polychaete worm Phragmatopoma lapidosa and are a keystone contributor to the biological diversity of hard-bottom habitats along the Florida coast. Worms of this species extract and glue sand together to make sand tubes, forming vast reefs in intertidal and shallow subtidal hard bottoms from Cape Canaveral to Key Biscayne. In Florida, the structure provided by these worm reefs supports an exceptionally high diversity and abundance of marine organisms, including a number of federally and State-protected species. Worm reefs are important sources of food and shelter for endangered juvenile green turtles, and they provide shelter for over 325 documented invertebrate species and 192 fish species. The importance of worm reefs as habitat for commercially valuable fish species recently prompted the National Marine Fisheries Service to designate the reefs as an Essential Fish Habitat of Particular Concern. Additionally, worm reefs are perceived to be important in the maintenance and persistence of beaches and barrier islands through retention of sediment and serve a fundamental role in the natural succession of beaches. Along the east coast of Florida, dredge-and-fill projects have resulted in the loss of nearshore hard-bottom habitat and associated worm reef communities (the loss may be temporary or permanent). Natural currents often transport beach fill sediment offshore scouring and burying these nearshore reefs. Dr. McCarthy will discuss his research investigating the ability of worm reefs to recover from such damage and ecological implications of the damage-recovery cycle on Florida's nearshore marine communities. About the Speaker Dr. Dan McCarthy is the Director of the Marine Science Program at Jacksonville University in Jacksonville, FL, where he has been an Assistant Professor since 2004. His educational background includes a B.S. in Marine Science from Jacksonville University, a M.S. from Florida State University, and a Ph.D. in Marine Ecology from King's College, University of London, England. Much of Dr. McCarthy's doctoral research was conducted in laboratories at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, and he served for three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce. Broadly, Dr. McCarthy's research interests lie within the fields of marine benthic and larval ecology. He is especially interested in the ecology of early life histories of marine invertebrates, specifically the interactions of their reproductive processes with the environment. Much of his research has focused on encrusting organisms that live on nearshore hard-bottom habitats along the Atlantic coast of Florida. Dr. McCarthy grew up in West Palm Beach, and, as a child explored many of the same nearshore reefs that he continues to study today. |