Reef resilience: FSU doctoral student selected for Guy Harvey Fellowship for coral reef research in the Florida Keys

A Florida State University doctoral student has earned a competitive fellowship to conduct coastal and marine conservation research in the Florida Keys.

Lillie Bradshaw, a doctoral student studying ecology and evolution in FSU’s Department of Biological Science, is among eight graduate students across Florida to earn the 2025 Guy Harvey Fellowship, presented jointly by the Guy Harvey Foundation and Florida Sea Grant program. The $5,000 award will support Bradshaw’s research in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, where she will study the extent to which human activity influences ecosystems’ ability to rebound from extreme temperature events.

“The Keys are an economically, recreationally and culturally important region for Florida,” Bradshaw said. “This research not only increases our knowledge of coastal and marine ecosystems, but it also increases our ability to properly manage them, hopefully increasing the region’s resilience.”

In response to increasingly frequent extreme events — such as the record-breaking marine heat wave in 2023 that led to severe coral bleaching in the Keys — Bradshaw will investigate the extent to which areas heavily used for fishing and snorkeling, for example, can rebound compared to fully protected areas within the marine sanctuary, which are not exposed to frequent use by humans.

Because the Keys are fairly remote — the area is difficult for researchers to frequently access — most data are collected on an annual basis. Bradshaw will enhance current data collection methods by conducting surveys multiple times during annual coral bleaching seasons, which typically run from July to October. These repeated surveys will contribute to the larger pool of independent research informing state and national natural resource management decisions.

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