Coral Mortality and African Dust

Project Contacts

The team of scientists working on the Global Dust Project, based in the Florida Integrated Science Center - St. Petersburg:

Eugene Shinn, Geologist - Gene has a long history of tidal flat and coral reef research. He became interested in the effects of dust on coral reefs in the mid 1990's when the usual causes of reef decline, such as deforestation, sewage disposal, oil spills, dredging, etc., did not explain simultaneous reef declines in far-flung parts of the Caribbean. Since 1996, Gene has been touting increasing flux of African dust to the Americas as a cause of many environmental ills including the severe decline in Caribbean reefs that began in 1983. Gene retired from the U.S. Geological Survey in January 2006 and is now associated with the University of South Florida (USF), next door. Email: eshinn@marine.usf.edu

Virginia Garrison, Coral Reef Ecologist - Ginger observed changes in the Caribbean coral reefs firsthand while conducting research on coral reefs at Virgin Islands National Park, and co-conceived the 'Dust Hypothesis' with Gene. Her research focuses on the effects of global-scale processes on coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean and in the Pacific, and the zoogeography of coral reef fishes. She is investigating the transoceanic transport of persistent organic pollutants, metals and nutrients in African and Asian dust systems, and their effects on marine organisms and human health. She directs a network of collaborators in the Atlantic [U.S. Virgin Islands, Trinidad, Cape Verde and Mali (West Africa)], and Hawaii in the Pacific. Email: ginger_garrison@usgs.gov

Dale Griffin, Public Health Microbiologist - In 1994 Dale received a MSPH, with a research focus on methods development (IMS, multiplex-PCR, blotting) for the detection of pathogenic protozoa in environmental samples (Cryptosporidium and Giardia, USF, advisor, Dr. Joan Rose). In 1999 he received a Ph.D. with a research focus on the use of molecular methods for detection of pathogenic viruses in fresh and marine waters (USF, advisor, Dr. Rose). In his first Post-Doc, he worked with Dr. John Paul (USF) on enterovirus detection, lysogeny, and isolation of viruses lytic to Karenia brevis. In his second Post-Doc (USGS), he worked with Dr. Gene Shinn on a NASA funded grant to characterize the microbial populations associated airborne desert dust. Dale is currently employed by the USGS as a microbiologist and is working on long range dust storm dispersion of microorganisms. He has published 31 peer-reviewed publications, a book chapter, and 24 other publications. Email: dgriffin@usgs.gov

Christina Kellogg, Environmental Microbiologist - Chris received a Ph.D. in marine microbiology from the University of South Florida for her work on the genetic diversity of environmental viruses. She did postdoctoral research on an NIH-funded fellowship at the Georgetown University Medical Center, using molecular methods to identify novel drug targets in pathogenic fungi. She also interned for several months at Human Genome Sciences, processing microarrays and using bioinfomatics software to mine the data. She joined the USGS as one of the first Mendenhall Fellows, characterizing the microbial communities in African dust, beach sediments, seagrass beds and coral reefs. She has developed new methods utilizing a high-volume liquid impinger to allow both culture-based and cultivation-independent analysis (direct DNA extraction) of aerosol samples. Chris continues to work on the microbiology of African and Asian desert dusts, as well as new projects focusing on the microbial ecology of deep-sea corals and using microbes as indicators of tropical coral stress. Email: ckellogg@usgs.gov

Charles Holmes, Geologist - Chuck specializes in the biogeochemical cycles of short-lived radionuclides and other trace metals, as well as reconstruction of the paleoenvironment from coral skeletons. He has assembled a radiochemical laboratory in the St. Petersburg Center that quantifies trace quantities of natural radionuclides in soils and other natural samples, including African dust air masses. His other work seeks to develop a model using elemental ratios in coral skeleton bands to hindcast periods of stress, including dust deposition. Email: cholmes@usgs.gov