Overview

Coastal marine habitats are ecologically and socio-economically important, and around 40% of the population of the United States lives on a coastline. As a result, human-induced changes are altering coastal habitats. Many species, including sharks, that were previously associated with undisturbed habitats are now living in increasingly human-dominated environments. However, a variety of marine animals are thriving in close proximity to humans, suggesting that they have adapted to new stressors, food sources, and predators.

As human-induced processes and patterns persist, it is important to understand how animals biology, physiology, behavior, and life-history has changed to allow them to survive. Urban coastal areas can serve as laboratories for studying the ecological and evolutionary selection processes that affect threatened species. However, the ramifications of urbanization on the basic life history, health, and connectivity of coastal shark populations remain unknown.

Coastal Florida presents a variety of reef, mangrove, and estuary habitats that provide essential living and breeding grounds for a variety of fish species, and these waters contain high densities of ecologically important marine predators such as sharks. However, Florida has been identified as a global hotspot for “coastal syndromes,” areas marked by a series of stressors such as habitat fragmentation, eutrophication (nutrient pollution), exploitation of nature, and polluted run-off. Northern Biscayne Bay has been heavily impacted by the 2.5 million people living around Miami. The port of Miami is ranked as one of the largest ports by volume in the United States and the Biscayne Bay watershed encompasses the city of Miami, the 44nd largest city by population in the United States. The ratio of weekend recreational boating traffic within Miami-Dade County is the highest of any county in Florida. At present, Northern Biscayne Bay is a highly polluted, degraded and urbanized environment. Our research focuses on better understanding the importance of these human-impacted habitats.

Some of the major objectives of this work include: