Keys in Crisis: The Florida Aquarium’s Keri O’Neil Discusses Multi-Institutional Efforts to Manage Disease Devastating Florida’s Coral Reefs
The Florida Keys, a famous destination for snorkelers and divers, are home to the continental U.S.’s only living coral barrier reef. Unfortunately, since about 2014, the Florida Reef Tract has been in crisis, with numerous species of corals dying from Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, the cause of which is currently unknown.
My guest today, Keri O’Neil, Senior Coral Scientist at the Florida Aquarium’s Center for Conservation in Apollo Beach, has been studying captive and wild corals for many years. Join us, as Keri describes her work at the Florida Aquarium and the work of hundreds of other collaborators who are trying to stop this devastating coral crisis.
BIO:
Keri O’Neil’s interest in coral reefs began during childhood trips to Florida where she first snorkeled on a coral reef. She earned her B.S. in Biology from the University of Maryland, where she began studying corals. After college, she began her professional career at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and continued there for nearly a decade. Her favorite job responsibility was caring for the 6,500 gallon Pacific Coral Reef display, but she is secretly also a big fan of Amazonian fishes. In 2009, she decided to return to pursue her Master’s degree in Marine Biology and Environmental Science at Nova Southeastern University, where she raised corals for reef restoration projects on the east coast of Florida. She joined the Florida Aquarium Center for Conservation team in 2016 after several years working for an environmental consulting firm where she monitored reefs in the wild. Keri is currently the Senior Coral Scientist at the Center for Conservation in Apollo Beach, where she oversees the daily care of corals that have been rescued from the spread of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Florida. The facility focuses on preserving genetic diversity of corals from Florida and propagation of corals through sexual reproduction to increase the genetic diversity of corals used for restoration.