Diego Lirman, Associate Professor, Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Andrew Baker, Professor, Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
Healthy coral reef ecosystems underpin Florida's tourism economy, support vital commercial and recreational fisheries, and help protect our shorelines from the devastating impacts of storm surge and coastal flooding. But these iconic ecosystems have undergone dramatic declines in recent years. Professsors Lirman and Baker are working together to restore these precious local ecosystems and the valuable services they provide using a combination of new and established restoration approaches aimed to not only recover depleted reefs but also increase the climate resilience of restored coral populations.
Dr. Diego Lirman has been working on the active restoration of coral reefs in Florida and the Caribbean for the past 15 years. His lab propagates 1000s of coral colonies in underwater coral nurseries in Miami-Dade County for restoration. He is the founder of the UM Rosenstiel School's Rescue a Reef Citizen Science Program, where members of the public join UM researchers on reef restoration expeditions to plant corals onto depleted local reefs.
Dr. Andrew Baker's research focuses on coral reefs and climate change and the development and testing of interventions to increase the thermal tolerance of corals for restoration efforts. As Director of the Coral Reef Futures Lab at UM Rosenstiel School, he oversees research on algal symbiont manipulations, stress hardening, assisted migration, genetic rescue, cryopreservation, and managed breeding of corals using genetic stock from The Bahamas.
