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Brandon Sosa

@eco-sosa.bsky.social
152 followers 639 following 35 posts

Marine ecology & Environmental economics PhD Candidate @FIU Reef grazers, socioeconomics, reef management modeling, and mariculture 📖 doi.org/10.1111/faf.70089 📸 www.instagram.com/eco.sosa

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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Should fisheries managers always protect the biggest, oldest females? Our new meta-analysis says it's more complicated than that — at least where mercury and PCBs are concerned. open access: doi.org/10.1111/faf.... First publication! 🐟📖🌎🧪 #science #fisheries #fish #toxicant #academicsky #research
Graphical summary of the publication. The top half shows the Fish and Fisheries journal header, the paper title, author names (Brandon M. Sosa, Christopher R. Malinowski, Tomas O. Höök), publication date of May 12 2026, and the Purdue University Forestry and Natural Resources logo, set against a green riverside background. The bottom half shows an illustrated figure: as fish size and muscle toxicant loads increase along the x-axis, egg toxicant loads increase along the y-axis, with larger fish carrying more PCBs and mercury in their eggs. Arrows on the right indicate negative impacts on hatching, survival, and growth.Screenshot of the abstract from "Implications of Maternal Toxicant Effects on Size-Dependent Fisheries' Management: A Meta-Analysis," published open access in Fish and Fisheries. The abstract describes a meta-analysis investigating how mercury and PCBs in large female fish affect egg toxicant loads and offspring survival, hatching, and growth.undergrad photo:
Brandon Sosa as an undergraduate student at Purdue University, holding a small fish while wearing a Purdue Forestry & Natural Resources t-shirt and waders during a field course. Other students are visible working in the background.Scatter plot from pub
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Read about the Port Everglades dredging plan and it's potential impact on 10 million corals insideclimatenews.org/news/0401202...
insideclimatenews.org
Ten Million Corals Are in the Path of a Federal Dredging Project in Florida - Inside Climate News
Scientists warn that a proposed expansion of Port Everglades could cause unprecedented damage to corals in the U.S., including some of the only remaining endangered staghorn corals that survived a rec...
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
If you are interested in coral reefs in Florida or how management handled the 2023 heatwave, check out this article! conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #coralreefs #marinebiology #florida
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Success of restoration strategies in preventing extirpation of 2 critically endangered coral species
An unprecedented marine heatwave in 2023 caused widespread coral bleaching and mortality throughout the Caribbean. In the Florida Keys (USA), 2 foundation species, elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) an....
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 26/10/2025
Heat-driven functional extinction of Caribbean Acropora corals from Florida’s Coral Reef | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Heat-driven functional extinction of Caribbean Acropora corals from Florida’s Coral Reef
In 2023, a record-setting marine heat wave triggered the ninth mass coral bleaching event on Florida’s Coral Reef (FCR). We examined spatial patterns of heat exposure along the ~560-kilometer length o...
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NPR @npr.org · 02/10/2025
The past three summers have been the worst on record for Florida's coral reefs. To try to restore them, scientists are breeding corals that can handle heat better, using coral from other countries. By @lsommer.bsky.social
n.pr
Why scientists are using corals from other countries to help save Florida's reefs
The past three summers have been the worst on record for Florida's coral reefs. To try to restore them, scientists are breeding corals that can handle heat better, using coral from other countries.
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Great day out on the water! Helped a friend crank out 10 sites in one day! 🪸🧽🌎 #coral #reefs #FL #marine #science #missionblue #seakeepers
Scuba flag and seakeepers flag Boat over a coral reefScuba tanks on a boat
Boat on the water with divers waving!
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Views from above our saltwater quarry sites in the Lower Florida Keys. These quarries were originally extracted for their limestone but now serve as closed off marine ecosystems. 🦀🌎 #mariculture #marine #science #crabs #FLKeys #quarries
Aerial view of two quarries meeting at a road, on Cudjoe Key.
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 17/08/2025
How many newly settled Caribbean king crabs (Maguimithrax spinosissimus) do you see settled on this clump of batophora ssp. algae? 🦀 #marine #science #coral #reefs #mariculture 🌎🪸🌿
Newly settled Caribbean king juvenile crabs (Maguimithrax spinosissimus) settled on batophora ssp. algae
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
Here is the reef cleaning champ, Caribbean King Crab (Maguimithrax spinosissimus), hard at work 💪. Reef roombas, keeping the reef clean when we are away! #grazers #coral #reefs #FL #restoration #herbivores 🦀🌍
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Coral City Camera @coralcitycamera.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
The Claw Cometh!! 🔮🦀 #crab #claw #cometh #pincer #seamonster #itcamefromthedeep #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #miamibeach #biscaynebay #coralcity
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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution @whoi.edu · 22/07/2025
🤔Are corals animals, plants, or rocks?⁠ ⁠ Surprise—they’re animals! Those hard reef structures are actually colonies of tiny, soft-bodied organisms. They host symbiotic algae that keep them fed and give them their distinctive color. 🪸🐠⁠ 👉🏽Learn more: go.whoi.edu/Coral-sp
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
After over a year of work, our report with Everglades Foundation & Earth Economics is out! America’s Everglades = $1 trillion in assets over 50 yrs 💧Clean water economy 💵 $1 in = $4 out Huge thanks to Paul, Meenakshi & Chloe! www.evergladesfoundation.org/itsworthit (report in link page) 🌎 #EcoEcon
bit.ly
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Daytime octopus 🦑 a curious individual, saw him walking and swimming around the reef off of Lizard Island. Here he is trying to camouflage and look like the surrounding bleached Acropora coral, keeping an eye on us.
Daytime Octopus
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Coral City Camera @coralcitycamera.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Manatee fam!! #manatee #manatees #manateesofcoralcity #manateefamily #mamatee #babytee #calf #trio #sirenia #coral #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #coralcity #civicpridethroughbiodiversity
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Lizard Island Research Station, Australia. Positioned right the Great Barrier Reef, this station has been pumping out science for over 50 years. I am glad to be apart of an amazing NSF IRES graduate coral reef transdisciplinary course with lessons from JCU and Southern Cross researchers. 🦑
Coral reef from aboveBoat off mermaids purse reefLizard Island Boat of mermaid purse reef
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
🦀 Help shape reef restoration! I’m piloting a short PhD survey (~12 min) on using crabs & urchins to restore Florida’s coral reefs. 🌍 You don’t need to be from FL! 🔗 fiu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_... 📤 No time? Please repost! #Socialsci #CoralReef #Restoration #SciComm #MarineScience #FloridaKeys🦑
fiu.qualtrics.com
Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management
The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
This is adaptive management in action. Now more than ever, we need permitting and funding for bold, experimental approaches aimed at restoring our coral reefs www.science.org/content/arti... #coralreef #restoration #marinescience #Florida #Keys #coral #reef 🌍🦑
science.org
After mass coral die-off, Florida scientists rethink plan to save ailing reefs
“Additional risky measures are now called for, unless we just want to give up,” one scientist says
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Pretty cool innovation!This Artificial Jelly Smells Like Home to Coral — And Helps Them Settle on coral reefs purescience.news/article?id=4... #coralreefs #conservation 🌍
purescience.news
This Artificial Jelly Smells Like Home to Coral — And Helps Them Settle In
Learn more about SNAP-X — an bio-inspired gel mimicking the scent of healthy reefs to support coral reef restoration.
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Webinar - Climate Conversations: Coral Reefs www.nationalacademies.org/event/44984_... 🌍🦑
nationalacademies.org
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Actual Ape @anthroprof.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Who can spot the crab? This channel clinging crab is bigger than it looks - about a foot wide, including its massive legs. It's also faster than I expected and scurried off before I could get a full photo with the legs expanded. #MarineLife #scuba #photography
A large crab nestled in the coral and surrounded by sea algae.
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Natalie van Hoose @hoosehere.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
It’s official: We’re making a coral documentary. 🎥 "Reef Keepers" tells the story of the people restoring the Florida Coral Reef. Filmmaker Alyson Larson and I started by trailing a truck with 1,000 elkhorn corals from The Florida Aquarium in Apollo Beach to the Keys Marine Lab.
Person in neon-green shirt from conservation org Reef Renewal holds a tray of baby elkhorn corals above a tank at the Keys Marine Lab.Alyson Larson films a team at The Florida Aquarium prepping hand-raised elkhorn corals in a tank for transfer to coolers of saltwater.Team members at The Florida Aquarium pass a tray of elkhorn corals.Two people at The Florida Aquarium lift corals from a tank in a dark, blue-lit room.
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
We need more investment, support, and research into cost-effective coral reef solutions. theconversation.com/reality-chec...
theconversation.com
Reality check: coral restoration won’t save the world’s reefs
New research examined coral restoration projects worldwide to calculate what it would actually cost to bring back what’s already been lost.
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Terry Hughes @profterryhughes.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
"Ocean acidification is a silver lining" is a bizarre story line. (In the meantime, coral reefs are already cooking due to global heating). www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Dying coral reefs could slow climate change
Dissolving skeletons would boost oceans’ ability to soak up carbon dioxide
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
🦀 Caribbean King Crabs = reef roombas Like other grazers, their job is to clean algae on coral reefs. We're exploring how to raise them in abandoned quarries: calm, food-filled places that already support wild crab populations. #Mariculture #ReefRestoration #Grazers #MarineScience #Crabs 🦑🌍
Juvenile Caribbean king crab held in a hand. Highlighting mariculture and saltwater quarries for crabs.Very lush green algae found in the saltwater quarries. Acetabularia and Betaphora speciesSaltwater quarries in the Florida keys scene from above
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Prof. Eliot Jacobson @climatecasino.net · 03/05/2025
Your 'moment of doom' for May 3, 2025 ~ To the moon! "Last year was the hottest, worldwide, ever recorded and governments are collectively failing to meet targets to avert escalating disasters." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Revealed: Forecasts of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels soar in Trump’s first 100 days
Even as Trump’s pledge to ‘drill, baby, drill’ is hampered by tariff chaos, analysis shows surge in planet-heating emissions
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Is this crab older than you? Some say he is still crabbing around. 🦀 #crab #reefs #grazers #coral #marinescience #science #restoration #crustaceans #coralreefs #addOcean
Caribbean king crab on ocean sandy floor
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Coral City Camera @coralcitycamera.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Slo-mo hello from a slippery dick wrasse 👋 #slipperydickwrasse #wrasse #slomo #hello #supermale #protogynoushermaphrodite #closeup #teef #staghorn #coral #coralhead #coralcitycamera #miami #portmiami #biscaynebay #bfi #noaa #aoml #coralcity #civicpridethroughbiodiversity
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Corey Bradshaw @conservbytes.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Scientists warn coral restoration can’t keep pace with global reef collapse news.mongabay.com/2025/04/scie... from @mongabay.bsky.social
news.mongabay.com
Scientists warn coral restoration can’t keep pace with global reef collapse
Coral restoration won’t save reefs from global warming, according to a recent study – at least, not the way we’re doing it now. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Helsinki and pu...
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Terry Hughes @profterryhughes.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
The fourth global coral bleaching event since 1998: Nobody should be surprised that temperatures are rising, or that bleaching events are now stronger, more frequent and more widespread. Scientist have documented these trends for decades. johnmenadue.com/post/2025/04...
johnmenadue.com
Fossil fuels blamed as 84% of world's coral reefs hit by worst bleaching event ever recorded
The magnitude and extent of the heat stress is shocking, said one marine scientist.
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Go check out this line of eco-friendly cleaning products, with all profits going to help our coral reefs! good.store/collections/... Learn more from videos on Hank Green's YT channel Thank you, @hankgreen.bsky.social @thegooddotstore.bsky.social #coral #reefs #sustainability #eco-friendly #green
good.store
Good Store - EcoGeek
The scientifically curated cleaning subscription for the eco-conscious home.
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Yellow Dot Studios @yellowdotstudios.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Percent of the world's reefs exposed in the worst bleaching events on record: 84% — 2023-2025 68% — 2014-2017 37% — 2010 21% — 1998 Continuing to burn fossil fuels is steadily wiping out the coral reefs that support 25% of all marine life, and the food and livelihood of 1 billion people.
theguardian.com
More than 80% of the world’s reefs hit by bleaching after worst global event on record
An ashen pallor and an eerie stillness all that remains where there should be fluttering fish and vibrant colours in the reefscape, one conservationist says
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Happy earth Day y'all! 🌎 #earthday #nature
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
A valuable and timely synthesis of Caribbean reef grazer production methods, clearly laying out the progress so far and the critical gaps still to address for use in reef restoration. Go check it out! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/RJB8BV... #reefs #coral #crabs #urchins #restoration #marinebio
crab and urchin (marine grazers) on a coral reef
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Exciting work by Sam Glover & Dr. Mark Butler shows that the semi-wild mariculture of Caribbean king crabs (Maguimithrax spinosissimus) in FL saltwater quarries is feasible for reef restoration. One of my chapters builds on this! #ReefRestoration #FloridaKeys 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
The semi-wild mariculture of Caribbean King Crab (Maguimithrax spinosissimus) for coral reef restoration
Aquaculture has traditionally focused on supporting human food production, but there is a growing need for aquaculture associated with environmental r…
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Brandon Sosa @eco-sosa.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Everyone, please remember to feed your crabs 🦀🥗 #grazers #crabs #Caribbeankingcrab #coral #reef 📸 IG: @crabtivating.science
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Here's part two of my series with @brettfavaro.bsky.social on tips for speaking to journalists as a scientist, this week focusing on things every scientist should know about how interviews work (and do not work). Please read and share! www.southernfriedscience.com/advice-for-t... 🧪#SciComm
southernfriedscience.com
Advice for talking to the media as a conservation scientist: Part 2, mechanics of the interview
By  David Shiffman and Brett Favaro. Many environmental scientists understand that there is value in communicating about their work through the media, as publicity can help raise public awareness o…
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Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Hard not to imagine that one day we will look back at our plastic addiction in the same way we look back at the 18th century use of arsenic, mercury and lead.
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Science Friday @scifri.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
In today's episode, we check in on the Stand Up for Science rallies that spread to 32 cities. Listen here 🎧: buff.ly/YgplAQ4
 “ Without facts, we're really just in the dark with regard to what the consequences of our actions are ... science really gives us a way to move forward and build that prosperous future that I think we all want to see.”
—Mike Wong
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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
#StandUpForScience Denver. Photo by Jeff Kanipe.
A sign reading We Need NOAA
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