By Kayla Cheung
Coral reefs around Florida are dying. This in turn is killing aquatic ecosystems in the surrounding bodies of water. Two coral researchers, Colin Foord and Allyson Demerlis, are tackling the issue from different points of view, but with a shared goal of widespread coral restoration.
Through their academic prowess, unfiltered motivation, and desire to find solutions to environmental issues, they ended up in Miami, where the waters are an around-the-clock catalyst to marine life like none other.
“[We’re] anchored kind of like how the corals are literally cemented in place,” Foord said.
From the time he was 5 years old up until the moment he clicked submit on his undergraduate application to the University of Miami, Foord followed marine science and punk rock as a hobby, even submitting a portfolio of research to the school in an effort to show his interest.
His decision to stay in Miami after graduation and propel the research of Coral Morphologic was easy, he says. The project bridges the gap between science and art to raise awareness of coral-related issues such as ocean acidification and the surprisingly healthy ‘urban corals’ living beneath the MacArthur Causeway, which links Miami to Miami Beach.
“[With Coral Morphologic, we thought it would be] valuable to have a platform that could translate coral science,” Foord said.
As an ambitious PhD Student at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, 25 year-old DeMerlis opts to perpetuate awareness of and research on coral restoration in a more artificial setting — the laboratory.
She studied biology at McGill University in Montreal before coming to the University of Miami to research the molecular basis for coral resilience against bleaching and disease.
“I actually got SCUBA certified in Hawaii when I was doing an internship there with NOAA Fisheries,” DeMerlis said. “It was being able to see all the wildlife like sea turtles and different fish that really excited me and made me want to continue working on coral reef ecosystems.”
For the past year, despite the looming dangers of global warming and pollution in Souith Florida waters DeMerlis has ingrained her work on coral restoration into her everyday life. She spends her days paving the way for coral restoration research with new technologies.
“A lot of new technology [is] being integrated in the monitoring aspect [of coral research]…[and I’m using 3-d scanning technology to] measure the surface area of [corals in a lab], and that technology is being adapted to bring it underwater,” DeMerlis said.
With and without public fanfare, DeMerlis and Foord are using existing resources — or creating new ones — to change the trajectory of coral reef research in Miami and beyond.
DeMerlis is helping to develop a standardized system of coral fragment measurement for researchers across the globe and Foord is co-leading a project — soon to move to a larger facility — where research and public awareness go hand in hand.
“Beyond just the beauty of the coral is that we believe all life is interconnected,” says Foord.
Kayla Cheung, Miami Lakes Educational Center, 10th grade
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