Climate change and ocean acidification are both a result of increasing anthropogenic CO₂ in the Earth’s atmosphere.  These two global-scale stressors will impact coral reefs in differing ways, but the interaction of the two over the 21st century are expected to threaten the persistence of coral reef ecosystems.  ACCRETE (Acidification, Climate, and Coral Reef Ecosystems TEam) researchers are actively researching how climate change and ocean acidification will, and, already are, affecting the construction (coral growth, calcification) and breakdown (bioerosion, dissolution) of coral reef ecosystems, as well as the associated ramifications this has for ecosystem function (e.g., biodiversity).  To this end, ACCRETE scientists utilize a unique interdisciplinary approach that incorporates aspects of biology, chemistry, and geology within an ecological framework.  Through field, laboratory, and modeling studies, this laboratory is improving our understanding of the rate and magnitude of climate change and acidification on coral reefs, as well as the ecological impacts of these changes.

ACCRETE is a subunit of the Coral Health and Monitoring Program (CHAMP) and is located within the Ocean Chemistry and Ecosystems Division (OCED) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami, FL.  Please visit our ACCRETE People page for details about our team membership.

The sub-surface automated dual water sampler (SAS) was designed to help scientists study water chemistry on shallow reef habitats.

The National Coral Reef Monitoring Program gauges the status and trends of coral reef health through long-term measurement of key variables.

A high resolution monitoring product has been developed that maps current ocean acidification in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

A new version of the Ocean Acidification Product Suite maps current ocean acidification on the East Coast of the United States.

Climate change has both thermal (warming) and chemical (ocean acidification, OA) ramifications for coral reef ecosystems.

The CHAMP Portal is an online, map-based query tool for accessing oceanographic and meteorological data from the CHAMP database.

Maug's Caldera: A Natural Laboratory posted on YouTube by Changing Seas TV on June 24, 2016.

Ocean Acidification & Tortugas Tide Gauge posted on YouTube by the Waterways TV Show on October 23, 2014.

Galápagos: Windows into the Future posted on YouTube by Changing Seas TV on June 25, 2014.

ACCRETE has been participating on the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation's Global Reef Expedition since June 2012.

• Research Ecologist
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Dr. Ian Enochs is the lead of the Coral Program at the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) in Miami Florida. His research focuses on understanding the responses of corals and reef biota to global change. He is particularly interested in the impacts of warming and ocean acidification on the persistence of coral reef framework structures that provide essential habitat and support numerous ecosystem services. Enochs applies a multidisciplinary approach, conducting research in both the laboratory and the field, as well as developing new technologies to address pressing research questions. He is a PI of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program, and leads several projects pertaining to the Coral Reef Conservation Program's restoration and climate pillars, as well as NOAA's Omics initiative. Enochs graduated cum laude from the University of Miami in 2006 and later earned his Ph.D. at RSMAS in 2010 for his research on the environmental determinants of coral reef cryptic metazoan biodiversity in Pacific Panama.

• Assistant Scientist
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Michael Studivan is a principal investigator at CIMAS and UM lead of the Experimental Reef Laboratory. His research involves the use of advanced molecular techniques to better understand coral physiology and adaptation, as well as genetic connectivity of coral ecosystems in marginal environments. He aims to identify molecular mechanisms at the individual level that may affect population-wide ecosystem processes in variable environments, particularly in light of recent coral disease outbreaks on the Florida Reef Tract and wider Caribbean. He completed his graduate degrees and postdoctoral fellowship at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute. Studivan's dissertation research addressed mesophotic coral ecosystem connectivity and mesophotic coral morphology/physiology using genotyping, skeletal morphometrics, and gene expression profiling with Montastraea cavernosa from the Gulf of Mexico (Flower Garden Banks and Pulley Ridge) and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (Carrie Bow Cay, Belize). For his postdoctoral research, he characterized the response of corals to stony coral tissue loss disease and intervention strategies using RNA-Seq gene expression profiling and 3D modeling.

• Assistant Scientist
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Ruben van Hooidonk designed and maintains the redesigned Ocean Acidification Product Suite (OAPS). Dr. van Hooidonk is interested in utilizing global climate models to forecast future risk and uncertainty for coral reefs with climate change and ocean acidification. He currently is a principal investigator on two projects through NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program to improve bleaching prediction and expand the OAPS to the Pacific. Van Hooidonk earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2009 and previously attended Utrecht University in the Netherlands where he earned his B.Sc and M.Sc.

• Senior Research Associate
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Nicole Besemer is a marine biologist whose work has focused primarily on south Florida and Caribbean ecosystem management and conservation. She received her M.P.S. degree from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science in 2017 and her previous research efforts include invasive species management, endangered sea turtle conservation and monitoring impacts of Everglades restoration efforts on Biscayne Bay. Besemer has joined ACCRETE as the National Coral Reef Monitoring Program's Caribbean Climate Operations Coordinator. Her work focuses on implementation of the Climate Monitoring Component of NCRMP including but not limited to planning and operation of associated fieldwork as well as data analysis and submission related to how ocean acidification and global warming are affecting coral reef communities in the Atlantic.

• Senior Research Associate
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Mike Jankulak is a data and sensor engineer for the Coral Program. He designs and builds databases for oceanic sensor data and metadata as well as carbonate chemistry parameters from lab-analyzed water samples. He manages sensor calibration, programming, deployment and inventory for the program. He acts as systems administrator for public-facing coral servers including web (CHAMP) and mail (Coral-List). He participates in field operations in his capacity as Operator In Charge (OIC) in the NOAA Small Boats program and as a scientific diver under the auspices of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS). Jankulak received his M.S.E.C.E. from the University of Miami in 2012 for his work on association rule mining for the prediction of rapid intensity changes of tropical cyclones.

• Research Associate
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Graham Kolodziej works with Dr. Ian Enochs in support of efforts to study the impacts of ocean acidification on coral reefs. Kolodziej serves as the permit coordinator for ACCRETE and is a technician specializing in the use of micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to study the fine-scale processes of coral calcification and bioerosion. Kolodziej received his B.S. degree from the Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries of the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School in 2008, and completed his Masters of Professional Science in 2020, also at UM. He is currently a research associate with the Cooperative Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School.

• Masters Student
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Hannah Babbitz received her B.S. in marine science in 2019 from the University of Delaware. She is now a second year MS student at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. Babbitz is interested in the physiological impacts of climate change on corals. Currently, she is studying how individual coral lipid concentrations can be manipulated through heterotrophic feeding and how those lipid concentrations better prepare corals for heat stress due to climate change.

• Research Associate
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Albert Boyd was recruited by the University of Miami as a research assistant while working on his B.S. with a major in biology and a minor in marine science and chemistry, for outstanding service in the multi-organizational state sponsored Redfish Stock Assessment program. After completing his B.S. degree, he continued working for more than three decades at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science as a research associate. Boyd specializes in macro algae culture, photothermic pelagic fish breeding, and advance water quality analysis. Other specialties include advance light and water data logging, design of open and closed experimental research fish and coral systems. Boyd has assumed the role of Coral Carbonate Chemist with the ACCRETE Team.

• Ph.D. Student
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Allyson DeMerlis obtained her B.S. degree from McGill University studying molecular biology in Spring 2017. She is currently a first-year Ph.D. student at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and is interested in studying the molecular basis for coral resilience against bleaching and disease.

• ACCRETE Intern
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Patrick Kiel graduated with a B.S. in Marine Science and Biology from the University of Miami in May 2020. Kiel has joined ACCRETE for a year-long internship as a research assistant with the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School. He previously collaborated with ACCRETE during his senior thesis where he examined the structural and mechanical properties of the threatened coral Acropora cervicornis and the effects of nursery grow-out platforms on the corals' mechanical strength. Kiel will be combining his coral background and previous coding experience to work with ACCRETE on a database tool for coral nurseries to catalog and compare phenotypic properties of staghorn coral genotypes to enhance and promote informed restoration efforts for the Coral Reef Conservation Program's (CRCP's) coral restoration pillar.

• Research Associate
• 305-361-4452
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Nash Soderberg received his B.S. in Marine Science and Biology from the University of Miami in 2019. He works at ACCRETE as a Research Associate with the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. He assists with a wide variety of activities and projects within the lab, but is mainly in charge of maintaining and running ACCRETE’s Experimental Reef Lab.