Marine Laboratory at Seahorse Key
Marine Laboratory at Seahorse Key
122 Bartram Hall
Gainesville, FL 32611-8525
Contacts - Full Contact Listing Web Site
NameEmailphoneFaxPosition
Ms. Diana Davis - ded@zoo.ufl.edu Business Manager
Dr. Harvey B. Lillywhite - hbl@zoo.ufl.edu (352)392-1101 (352)392-3704
Dr. Harvey B. Lillywhite - hbl@zoo.ulf.edu (352) 392-1101 (352) 392-3704 Primary
Go to Marine Laboratory at Seahorse Key web site.
Purpose Statement:
The Seahorse Key Marine Lab (SHKML) is a field station committed to providing (a) support for research by students, faculty, and visiting scientists, (b) an outstanding teaching program in coastal and marine related subjects, and (c) support for public education related to marine, estuarine and coastal biotic resources. Because Seahorse Key is part of the Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge and is near to diverse and extensive coastal biotic resources, programs associ ated with the field station are viewed broadly in contexts of coastal and estuarine ecology, wetlands research, wildlife management and conservation, in addition to the marine sciences. The station provides boat transportation, laboratory, dormitory, collecting gear and technical assistance to field classes, students, faculty and other scientists visiting the marine or insular environment for varying periods of time. Because of its unique location and accessibility to a broad range of coastal environments, the island is used heavily for public environmental education.When the facilities are not being used to capacity for research or teaching, public school and service groups may visit the island to engage in field trips, workshops, laboratory classes, or other educational activities. Annual open house events are conducted jointly with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Facilities:
Facilities

Boat info

Research Program:
Research activities using SHKML facilities include undergraduate projects, masters and doctoral theses, and faculty research connected to many departments and disciplines, including but not limited to Zoology, Botany, Fisheries, Environmental Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Entomology, Journalism, and Geology. Visiting scientists are welcome at Seahorse Key.

    Current research projects at Seahorse Key include:
  • Population ecology of horseshoe crabs
  • Larval sea urchin development
  • Habitat, predator-prey interactions, and sustainable production of gag grouper in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
  • Facultative feeding by planktotrophic larvae of echinoids
  • Extra-renal ion regulation in elasmobranchs
  • Eutrophication and algae dynamics
  • Relationship between toxic dinoflagellates and fibropapillomatosis in green turtles
  • Mechanisms of acid-base regulation in elasmobranchs
  • Fish distribution in the Straits of Florida
  • Physiological and behavioral ecology of cottonmouth snakes at Seahorse Key
  • Reproductive behavior of paper wasps
  • Classification of Chaetopterids
  • A survey of faunal communities associated with shallow-water sponges
  • Mangrove recovery and expansion in salt marsh
  • Natural history of bryozoans
  • Taxonomic guide to marine invertebrates of the Cedar Keys
Academic Program:
Public Environmental Education

Seahorse Key also is used heavily for public environmental education, and the SKML hosts many groups whose members engage in nature study, short courses or workshops. During a recent 4-year period, nearly 5000 visits were made to the island, involving 492 groups.

Teaching Programs
The SHKML does not have its own faculty or teaching staff, but many courses originating on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville utilize the SHKML facilities. Numerous and diverse courses are taught with components involving field trips or laboratory activities at Seahorse Key during both fall and spring terms. Some of the courses are animal behavior, aquatic animal medicine, environmental meteorology and oceanography, estuarine systems, field problems in marine biology, among others. The Department of Zoology and SHKML offer a summer course program for college juniors and seniors who may apply from any college or university. The course features field and laboratory work while students reside at Seahorse Key. In addition to University of Florida courses, classes are periodically conducted at the SHKML by staff from other universities or educational groups.

Location:
In 1951 the University of Florida established a Marine Laboratory at Seahorse Key, which is leased for this purpose from the U.S. Department of Interior. The location at Seahorse Key provides access to diverse habitats including extensive banks of marine grasses and algae, sandy beaches, mangroves, sand and mud flats, oyster bars, sponge-shell litter channels, turtle grass beds and salt marshes. The hammocks on the island are important as protected nesting areas for as many as 54,000 birds including brown pelicans, ibis, egrets, cormorants, herons, spoonbill and osprey. A tremendous variety of animals inhabit the local marine and coastal habitats. Oysters, clams, shrimps, blue crabs, stone crabs, and several varieties of fish occur in commercial quantities.

Ten miles beyond Cedar Key are habitats supporting diverse forms of subtropical and tropical marine life. Seahorse Key is a valuable location where scientists can study ecological organization under simplified conditions that are subjected to periodic change. One such influence is the fresh water outflows from the Suwannee and Waccasassa Rivers. The bird rookery provides a seasonal input of concentrated energy. The island supports a diverse growth of plants at the northern limit for a number of tropical species.

Getting There
Getting there
copyright © 2006 by The National Association of Marine LaboratoriesTM