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FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory
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FSU Coastal & Marine Laboratory
3618 Coastal Highway
St. Teresa, FL 32358-2702
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Purpose Statement:
The mission of the Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory (FSUCML) is to conduct research, education, and outreach base focused on the coastal and marine ecosystems of the northeastern Gulf of Mexico, providing the scientific underpinning for informed natural resource policy.
Facilities:
Facilities:
The FSUCML (built in 1968) is located on Apalachee Bay in St. Teresa, FL, about 45 miles southwest of Tallahassee. The facilities consist of a 5 000 sq ft administration and office building with a fully equipped auditorium, conference room, and kitchen. There are two laboratory buildings, one 6 000 sq ft with 16 laboratories, a commons lab space, two environmental chambers, and a teaching laboratory; and the other 2 450 sq ft housing the reef fish ecology laboratory, and a teaching laboratory primarily for K-12 education. We have a small graduate student facility and computer laboratory (417 sq ft). The maintenance facility (2 500 sq ft) consists of complete pipe, carpentry, and mechanical shops with support staff.
There are three greenhouses and a temperature-salinity-daylight controlled laboratory space. An automated seawater system supplies seawater to all laboratories, teaching laboratories, greenhouses, and numerous outside tanks
An underwater research program allows on-site formal dive training, remote sensing capabilities, and equipment testing. The FSUCML is an organizational member of the American Academy of Underwater Sciences and adopted their standards for scientific diving. Students and faculty interested in using diving as a tool can obtain certification in compressed air diving, and training in science, dry-suit, surface-supply, and nitrox diving, among others.
Vessel support includes a number of trailerable vessels, including three 28 ft. pontoon boats, a 20 ft. Privateer, an 18 ft Cape Horn, and a 16 ft Carolina skiff, all with four-stroke engines. The research vessel is a 47 ft. diesel-powered boat with a maximum capacity of 20 people. A small automobile and 15-passenger van provide shuttle support between the Tallahassee campus and the FSUCML.
Housing for visitors consists of 34 beds distributed among four dormitories (each 728 sq ft and sleeping six; two dorms with ADA approved facilities) and a faculty guest house (sleeping 10). Each dorm and the guest house have complete linen service, full baths and kitchens.
All of these facilities are available for use by Florida State University faculty, staff, students, and visiting investigators or educational groups from across the nation.
Research Program:
Research is conducted at the FSUCML by resident faculty and post docs, FSU campus-based faculty , graduate and undergraduate students, and visiting scientists from across the nation. Areas of concentration include reef-fish ecology and conservation, microbial ecology, crustacean behavioral ecology, coastal biogeochemical processes, physical oceanography, and atmospheric chemistry.
Academic Program:
Faculty from the FSU Departments of Anthropology, Oceanography, and Biological Science teach courses at the FSUCML. The Department of Biological Science supports a Certificate Program in Marine Biology for undergraduates that is run through the FSUCML and provides opportunities for students to conduct hands-on research through an internship program. Courses are offered in the summer including Ecosystems of the North Florida, Marine Invertebrate Biology, and an NSF-funded courses, Research Experience for Teachers.
The Department of Biological Science also runs a very active outreach program for primary school children and their teachers, Saturday-at-the-Sea.
A monthly public lecture series features local scientists from a number of different institutions and is geared towards the interested layman.
Faculty:
There are currently eight (8) research scientists and faculty at the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory, and a number of faculty located on FSU's Tallahassee campus who depend on the laboratory's services and facilities.
Resident Scientists/Faculty
Felicia Coleman, Ph. D. Director. (Reef fish Ecology, Fisheries Management)
Kevin Craig, Ph. D. Faculty (Hypoxia, physiological effects on fishes)
Todd Engstrom, Ph. D. Research Scientist (Bird migration, fire ecology)
Dean Grubbs, Ph. D. Faculty (elasmobranch population ecology; endangered species)
Christopher Koenig, Ph. D. Faculty. (Reef fish Ecology)
Laura Petes, Ph. D. Postdoctoral associate (Invertebrate physiological ecology)
Chris Stallings, Ph. D. Postdoctoral associate (Reef fish ecology)
William F. Herrnkind, Ph. D. Professor Emeritus (Invertebrate behavioral ecology)
Tallahassee Faculty
William Burnett, Professor of Oceanography
Jeffrey Chanton, Professor of Oceanography
Alan Clarke, Professor of Oceanography
W. Ross Ellington, Professor of Biological Sciences
Markus Huettel, Professor of Oceanography
Joel Kostka, Associate Professor of Oceanography
William Landing, Professor of Oceanography
Donald Levitan, Professor of Biological Science
Nancy Marcus, Professor of Oceanography; Dean of
Graduate Studies
Douglas Nowacek, Assistant Professor of Oceanography
David Thistle, Professor of Oceanography
Location:
The FSUCML is located on Apalachee Bay on the northwest Florida coast, the laboratory is adjacent to US Highway 98 midway between the towns of Panacea to the east and Carrabelle to the west. The main university campus in Tallahassee is a one-hour drive north of the laboratory on State Road 319.
ENVIRONMENT
The laboratory is located on the shores of Apalachee Bay, a part of the Alligator Harbor Aquatic Preserve, which lies between the Apalachicola River to the west, the Ochlocknee River to the east and bounded offshore by barrier islands and sand bars. Low-energy beaches, small bays, salt marshes and the Big Bend seagrass meadows dominate the coastal area. The environment in this area supports a remarkable variety of organisms.
Felicia Coleman, Ph. D. Director 
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copyright © 2006 by The National Association of Marine LaboratoriesTM
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