Biscayne Bay Experts

Todd Crowl

Executive Director, FIU Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Crowl is a nationally renowned researcher in the fields of food web ecology, urban stream ecology and predator-prey interactions. He is the principal investigator on an NSF-funded project (CREST CAChE) focused on aquatic chemistry and water contamination. About Biscayne Bay, Crowl can provide up-to-date information regarding the readings from the FIU instruments, what areas in the bay are most at-risk and what can be done to improve mitigation efforts.

Saving Biscayne Bay Townhall (2021)
Local 10 Special: Saving Biscayne Bay (2020)

Piero Gardinali

Associate Director
Freshwater Resources Division, Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Gardinali is an expert in the fields of environmental chemistry, chemical oceanography, and water quality monitoring. He specializes in the detection of pollutants and contaminants in many of our South Florida waterways. About Biscayne Bay, Gardinali can provide updates on the sampling and data collected. He can speak about the equipment being used to collect the data and can elaborate on what the data is telling us and may be contributing to the fish kills.  Gardinali is available for interviews in English and Spanish. 

James Fourqurean

Distinguished University Professor 
Director, Coastlines and Oceans Division 
FIU Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Fourqurean is a renowned seagrass expert, as well as a marine and estuarine ecologist with FIU for over 25 years. Fourqurean’s research has focused extensively on seagrass ecosystems as models for addressing general ecological questions. Over the last 10 years, Fourqurean has been helping translate the science of carbon dynamics in coastal ecosystems into actionable policy and climate change mitigation strategies. He is one of the lead scientists in the International Blue Carbon Working Group and serves as a scientific representative to the International Blue Carbon Policy Working Group. About Biscayne Bay, Fourqurean can elaborate on the role that seagrass – and their die-off – is having on the bay, how this happened and what we may be able to do to fix it.

Research highlights: Researcher dedicates life’s work to ocean’s secret weapon against climate change

Tiffany Troxler

Director of Science for Sea Level Solutions
FIU Institute of Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Troxler is a wetland ecosystems ecologist who studies water quality and ecosystem responses to environmental change. Her research informs the management and restoration of coastal and freshwater wetland ecosystems. She was a primary player in the Biscayne Bay Marine Health Summits hosted by FIU and was one of nine experts chosen by Miami-Dade County to sit on the Biscayne Bay Taskforce. About Biscayne Bay, Troxler can elaborate on the work of the Biscayne Bay Taskforce, including its most recent report. Troxler can also identify solutions for the bay’s health issues.

Kevin Boswell

Associate Professor of Biological Sciences
Director of the Marine Biology Program
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Boswell is a marine ecologist, whose research focuses on the interacting factors that mediate the distributional patterns, behavior, habitat use, energetics and natural ecology of coastal and ocean animals, including the implications of ecosystem variability, particularly for rapidly changing environments. His lab integrates advanced sampling techniques, such as active and passive underwater acoustics, with observations from autonomous aerial and aquatic platforms to collect high-resolution data to describe spatial and temporal patterns of interest, ranging from individual-level interactions to broad ecosystem dynamics. About Biscayne Bay, Boswell specializes in advanced technology for water quality monitoring.

Rita Teutonico

Associate Dean of Research
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Teutonico is an expert in sustainability science and the molecular genetics of environmental stress on plants. She has also developed and taught interdisciplinary courses related to the science and business of technology, including bioethics. About Biscayne Bay, Teutonico says Biscayne Bay is in a crisis right now from too many nutrients and pollutants running into the bay and creating an unhealthy ecosystem for marine life.

John Berry

Associate Professor
FIU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Berry can speak to the toxicity of Florida Red Tide, and other marine and freshwater algae, and the toxins’ effects on wildlife health and human health. Berry is a chemist with specialization on environmental chemistry and chemical toxicology/pharmacology. His research specifically focuses on the chemistry of toxic cyanobacteria, commonly known as “blue-green algae,” and their effects on the environment and human health. 

Ligia Collado-Vides

Teaching Proferssor
Associate Chair, Department of Biological Studies
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Collado-Vides is a marine botanist with a research emphasis in ecology of tropical marine macroalgae, or seaweeds and sargassum. Her research focuses on evaluating the effects of land-based stressors on coastal ecosystems and their potential impact in coral reefs and seagrass ecosystems. Her lab is conducting research on the role of calcareous green algae in the carbon budget of Florida Bay and the Mexican Caribbean. She is estimating the organic and inorganic carbon produced by these algae along a salinity and nutrient gradient. Collado-Vides is available for interviews in English and Spanish. 

Brad Schonhoff 

Program Manager
FIU CREST Center for Aquatic Chemistry and Environment
College of Arts, Sciences & Education

Schonhoff's main interest is in bridging science and non-science communities through education and communication, especially regarding the impacts and solutions for climate change and sea level rise. He received his M.S. degree at FIU in 2015, after studying the effect of water levels and flooding on emissions of two major greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide and methane - from Everglades soils.