Florida Bay conference

UMCES scientists traveled to the Florida Keys in December to participate in the Florida Bay and Adjacent Marine Systems Conference. A Scientific Oversight Committee which included three UMCES scientists; Bill Boicourt, Bill Dennison, and Ed Houde, participated in the conference by leading question-and-answer sessions and providing subsequent technical and management review of the quality of research, modeling, and monitoring activities in Florida Bay and the scientific inferences from these activities. In addition, Pat Glibert made a comparative synthesis presentation, contrasting Florida Bay with Moreton Bay, Australia. Conference highlights included the hydrodynamic modeling of the complex interactions between Florida Bay and the Everglades, Gulf of Mexico, and Florida Keys, unraveling the cause of a mysterious seagrass die-off in the 1980s, Hurricane Katrina impacts, and benthic biofiltration by sponges.

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