Earthwatch Award Recipient Summary
Awardee: Kathleen Sullivan Sealey
Affiliation: University of Miami
Project: Coastal Ecology of the Bahamas
Award: 2003 Principal Investigator of the Year
Project Synopsis
Dr. Sullivan Sealey is a marine ecologist with more than 20 years experience working in the Caribbean. Her Earthwatch project examines the effects of coastline development on Bahamian nearshore marine communities, providing valuable data for coastal conservation. Working from LandSat images, Sullivan Sealey models the extent and degree of human alterations to the coastal zone. Her Earthwatch teams map coastal vegetation zones to provide on-the-ground data for comparison. Sullivan Sealey's efforts are improving our understanding of the requirements for sustainable development and resource use on these tropical island gems.
Award Outcomes
The Principal Investigator of the Year Award allowed Dr. Sullivan Sealey to:
· Support the work of two graduate students and Earthwatch field assistants
· Attend the Abaco Science Alliance meeting, January 2004
· Expand her research to include sampling for coastal pollutants
Vanessa Nero has assisted with three years of Earthwatch projects, and is just finishing her PhD at University of Miami. Sullivan Sealey's project was an excellent proving ground, and she now works with the National Marine Fisheries Service on fish habitat conservation. Kate Semon has worked with the project for two years, and is also a graduate student at University of Miami. Sullivan Sealey used the award money to help support the professional development of both of these young scientists.
The award also provided for Sullivan Sealey and her two graduate students to attend the Abaco Science Alliance meeting to talk about coastal ecology in the Bahamas. They found it to be a valuable opportunity to meet with Bahamian government officials and make contact with environmental groups just getting started in the country. These contacts will assure that Sullivan Sealey's data will have multiple effects on coastal conservation.
Finally, with the addition of January teams, the award helped Sullivan Sealey conduct a complete seasonal sampling and look more closely at nutrients and pollutants moving from land to sea. She is eager to investigate specific pollutants that can be disease agents or endocrine disruptors to nearshore corals and fish. Thanks to this expanded research, Sullivan Sealey hopes that her coastal assessment and ranking system can help identify pollution "hot spots" along the coast.
Publications and Papers
Three papers at the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium in Japan, in July 2004.
Other publications pending
Quotes
"It was a great surprise to receive the PI of the year award, and a great honor. I have been really impressed with Earthwatch, and their focus on sustainability and conservation. I can identify with the mission of integrating real people into real science to look at environmental problems. I was very proud to receive the recognition for developing the coastal ecology program. I think this was really important to boost my resolve to really run this project for ten years and get to all the islands in the Bahamas."
"Earthwatch has really helped expand the field component of this project that was initially a modeling and remote sensing project looking at coastal land use and change in the Bahamas. The volunteers have brought many good ideas and insights into the conflicts in coastal restoration and tourism development on small islands. I am amazed at how much work we have accomplished and how important our dataset has been in setting priorities for both coastal conservation and restoration projects."