UCF biology researchers win awards from NOAA to support critical coastal work

(Press-News.org) Biology researchers in the College of Sciences and UCF Coastal have received two awards from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) totaling more than $2.3 million.

A new $1.1 million award to UCF from NOAA Sea Grant as part of the Marine Debris Challenge Competition will fund joint research between UCF’s CEELAB and Aquatic Biogeochemistry Laboratory’s research on plastic-free restored habitats in coastal shorelines and oyster reefs. UCF’s work, in partnership with Texas A&M, and University of Texas Marine Science Institute was selected as one of 11 projects across Alabama, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin. Combined, the team received $2.27 million dollars for the collaborative project.

“We were delighted to receive funding from NOAA’s Marine Debris Challenge Competition — a highly competitive process,” says Pegasus Professor of Biology Linda Walters, who leads Coastal and Estuarine Ecology Lab (CEELAB). “Our take on this was to focus on coastal restoration. We are evaluating novel non-plastic materials used for oyster reef restoration to ensure that there aren’t negative impacts in surrounding marine habitats, including communities that live in the sediment or to larger animals, such as crabs, which call the oyster reefs home.”

Walters says that marine debris — which includes microplastics and nanoplastics — is affecting every habitat around the globe.

“Even though we cannot see them, marine invertebrates and vertebrates consume them, which can negatively impact the animal,” Walters says. “If these animals are then consumed by humans, the plastic enters our digestive tracts. Other microscopic plastic particles are light enough to enter the atmosphere and move with the wind. Recent research is documenting that these particles can end up trapped in our lungs.”

UCF is uniquely poised to conduct this research because of our substantial history of oyster reef restoration within Mosquito Lagoon and our local knowledge of the ecosystem, says Lisa Chambers, associate professor and principal investigator (PI) of the Aquatic Biogeochemistry Laboratory, a co-PI on the NOAA Marine Debris award.

“This research is timely and important because the desire to stop using plastics in coastal restoration has opened a floodgate of new and novel restoration materials,” Chambers says. “This funding supports the continued study of alternative, non-plastic materials for use in coastal restoration. We need to know how materials affect the microbes and natural chemical cycles in the coastal ecosystem and long-terms impacts of restoration efforts.”

CEELAB focuses on a wide variety of problems impacting Florida’s coastal waters, in particular, the Indian River Lagoon system. The group, led by Walters and Melinda Donnelly, a research assistant professor in biology, has a long history of ecosystem restoration efforts that focus on restoration — including oysters, marsh grass, mangroves and seagrass.

As one of the longest running academically based coastal restoration programs in the U.S., CEELAB works with UCF faculty, graduate students, undergraduate researchers, postdoctoral fellows, field technicians, numerous community partners and volunteers to restore Florida’s Indian River Lagoon. Current partners include the Marine Discovery Center in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Coastal Conservation Association, Canaveral National Seashore, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The combined efforts of UCF and its partners highlight ever-changing best practices in ecosystem restoration and provide a ripe opportunity for research and innovation.

“It’s unique to have a long-term restoration project led by a university laboratory. We started community-based oyster reef restoration in 2007, living shoreline stabilization in 2012, and seagrass restoration in 2024,” Walters says. “We have created a ‘habitat mosaic’ where all these species work together to make the environment better. We are finding lots of areas have degraded, whether through storms or human impact. It’s important to find solutions that bring the natural environment back.”

NOAA also provides large, transformative awards to create communities of practice in coastal restoration and UCF (co-PIs Walters and Donnelly) is receiving $1.2 million for restoration efforts as part of the NOAA funding of $9.4 million to the Indian River Lagoon’s National Estuary Program. NOAA is funding 32 projects nationwide.

“Restoration efforts require funding and are vital for our communities — we are grateful for the continued support of NOAA and the National Estuary Program for our coastal restoration work in Mosquito Lagoon,” Walters says.

CEELAB’s work connects UCF biology students with firsthand experience, putting classroom learning into practice.

“Through this grant, we’re providing opportunities for many students to gain field experience — from planting mangroves to conducting innovative ecosystem research — that has the mutual benefit of restoring vital habitats in Florida,” Walters says. “A lot of the graduate students whose work is funded through awards like this go on to become our coastal restoration leaders at the state or federal level.”

More than 70,000 volunteers — including UCF students, faculty, staff and community members — have contributed to the CEELAB’s coastal restoration work since 2007.

“We are all working together to restore a truly magical place — a place that’s home to birds, fish, mangrove islands, manatees, dolphins and everything that makes Florida special,” Walters says.

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