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Mote Marine Laboratory is one of the oldest marine re- reefs are estimated to be worth $7.6 billion. In developing
search laboratories in Florida. We opened our doors as the countries, coral reefs contribute to ¼ of the total fish catch
Cape Haze Marine Laboratory in Placida, Florida, in 1955. and many communities are reliant on them to produce
The Lab was later renamed to honor a major benefactor, food.
William R. Mote and the contributions he and his family Geographically, coral reefs work as a buffer for nearby
made to helping us grow — both in size and reputation. shorelines to prevent erosion from waves, property dam-
Today, we are located on City Island in Sarasota, Florida, age, and loss of life. This is particularly important in wet-
with field stations in eastern Sarasota County, Charlotte lands, ports and harbors. Throughout the world, around
Harbor and the Florida Keys. Our scientists conduct re- half a billion people live within 100 kilometers of a coral
search on six of the world’s seven continents. reef and therefore, benefit from its protection and produc-
In recent decades, a quarter of the earth’s corals have dis- tion. But they’re dying out quickly, and scientists are racing
appeared, alarming scientists (and, you know, humans) to find a solution.
all around the world. And as oceans continue to warm, Dr. Vaughan, along with staff biologist Christopher Page,
pollution and ocean acidification continues to increase, have developed a quick growing technique called “microf-
overfishing further decimating species that are beneficial ragmenting” that they believe may make it possible to mass
to coral, and land runoff continues to reduce the amount produce reef-building corals that can be transplanted onto
of life-giving sunlight that reaches the bottom, no one can dead and dying corals in the ocean. The technique has been
predict what will happen to the remaining coral in our used in Dr. Vaughan’s lab on a variety of species of coral,
oceans. Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and valuable and has successfully grown coral anywhere from 25 to 50
ecosystems on earth, providing shelter to 4,000 species of times faster than their normal rate. Dr. David Vaughan is
fish, 800 species of hard corals and hundred of other spe- Executive Director of the Tropical Research Laboratory
cies. In fact, scientists estimate that there are between 1 and and Director of the Center for Coral Reef Research at the
8 million other undiscovered species living in and around Mote Marine Laboratory in the Florida Keys. A distin-
the reefs – species that could provide breakthroughs for guished and well-published aquaculture scientist, he has
human medicine. But coral reefs do even more than that. designed, built and operated a multitude of marine pro-
Each year, healthy reefs contribute to local economics jects and businesses since he received his Ph.D. in Botany
through money they bring in through tourists. Millions of and Plant Physiology from Rutgers University in 1982.
people visit the Florida Keys every year, and alone those
