Osborne Lab News

Once full of life, the lagoon fell victim to unregulated commercial clamming in the 1990s, leaving its waters stagnant and its ecosystem on the brink of collapse. Enter Dr. Todd Osborne. With his dedicated team of graduate students and the support of fishing legend Captain Blair Wiggins, they have embarked on a mission to revive the lagoon's vitality. Read More

Jason joined the Osborne Lab to study the relationship of populations of marine fishes and benthic macroinvertebrates to water quality parameters (salinity, nutrients, etc.) in southeast U.S. estuaries. Read More

On April 26 the Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Project, the Coastal Conservation Association Florida, FWC, and the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory released 6 million baby clams into the lagoon. They were delivered to their Melbourne Beach home with a specialized drone. Read More

Please welcome Evan Harms to the Whitney Laboratory! Evan recently joined the Osborne Lab as a laboratory technician. Read More

Congratulations to Taryn Chaya, Ph.D. student in the Osborne Lab for her recent publication on her MS research, "Assessing Water Quality Dynamics in Tidally Influenced Blackwater Rivers along a Rural–Urban Gradient" in MDPI. Read More

Please welcome Lexis Massey to Whitney Lab! Lexis joins the Osborne lab to pursue a M.S. in Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences working with slow-release phosphorus fertilizers. Read More

The Residential Clam Restoration project is using "super clams" to help restore filter-feeding clam populations throughout the Indian River Lagoon. Read More

Summer camp sign-ups are coming to a close — for grade school students. But adult learners still have opportunities to engage in Lifelong Learning Workshops at the UF Whitney Laboratory. Attendees at March 18 workshop learned about the impacts of phosphorus and nitrogen on estuaries and wetlands. Read More

Please welcome Taryn Chaya back to Whitney Lab! Taryn returns to the Osborne Lab to pursue a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology, with a concentration in Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences. Read More

Please welcome Jon Rueben to the Whitney Laboratory! He recently joined the Osborne and Ibarra-Castro Labs as a Biological Scientist. Read More

Thank you SACA for your support to help raise and release 40 million clam larvae into the Matanzas River! A portion of this amount was released during the First Coast News filming on boats provided by the Whitney Laboratory and the Matanzas Riverkeeper. Read More

Congratulations to Postdoctoral Research Associate Conor MacDonnell, Ph.D., Todd Osborne, Ph.D., Anna Beard, and colleagues who published a paper in Science of the Total Environment -"Use of a wastewater recovery product (struvite) to enhance subtropical seagrass restoration" A news story covering the research was also recently in Futurity. Read More

Please welcome Sean Westley to the Whitney Laboratory! He recently joined the Osborne Lab as a Research Technician. Read More

Please welcome Dr. Conor MacDonnell to Whitney Laboratory! He recently joined the Osborne Lab as a postdoctoral research associate. Conor MacDonnell is a marine ecologist with a focus in seagrasses, an important ecosystem for both our charismatic megafauna and our coastal communities. Read More

Dr. Todd Osborne talks Oyster and Clam Restoration on NBC News NOW along with oyster restoration citizen scientist Dr. Eric Smith who shares how citizen scientists are helping restore the reefs. Read More

Please welcome Kendall Breland back to Whitney Laboratory! She joins Dr. Todd Osborne's lab for another summer internship. Read More

Please welcome Catalina Williams to Whitney Laboratory! She recently joined the Ibarra-Castro and Osborne Labs as an aquaculture technician. Read More

Whitney Laboratory joined with Star Brite Solutions, Coastal Conservation Association Florida, and the IRL Clam Restoration Project to plant 100,000 clams, along with dozens of red mangroves, in the Indian River Lagoon on Earth Day! The clams planted on Friday added to the 13 million clams put into the lagoon over the last three years. Read More

Fish release - round two! Two million red drum larvae went into the Indian River Lagoon this week with the help of Blair Wiggins Outdoors, Jamie Glasner, Star Brite Solutions, Fishbites, Retrax, Whitney Laboratory Osborne Lab members Dr. Todd Osborne, Sabrina Schofield and Norman Kolsch. Read More

Please welcome Sean Goggin to Whitney Laboratory! He recently joined Dr. Todd Osborne's lab as a Laboratory Technician. Read More

If you missed our Sip 'N Science recently with Dr. Todd Osborne the webinar is now on our YouTube channel. Read More

Join us on Earth Day for our April Webinar! Dr. Todd Osborne will share the current Indian River lagoon Clam Restoration initiative that combines proven aquaculture techniques with sound science to bring clams back into their role as water purifiers on Florida’s Space Coast. Read More

Dr. Todd Osborne and the Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Team were recently featured in the Florida Today article - Transplanted 'super clams' thrive, sparking hope of cleansing gunked-up Indian River Lagoon. Read More

Congratulations to Whitney visiting researcher Dr. Hailey Craig, Dr. Todd Osborne and previous Osborne lab Postdoc Dr. Lorae Simpson who recently published a paper titled "Nitrogen addition alters composition, diversity, and functioning of microbial communities in mangrove soils: An incubation experiment" in Soil Biology and Biochemistry where they looked at N enrichment effects in mangrove soils. Read More

Whitney’s Clams Restoration was in action on Friday, June 26 at a project site in the Northern Indian River Lagoon. Nearly 60,000 clams were deployed, bringing to date almost two million clams that have been raised by Whitney Laboratory and deployed to help improve water quality! Read More

Dr. Todd Osborne talks with Florida Today about the Indian River Lagoon Clam Restoration Initiative and the recent planting of 56,000 baby clams in the IRL. Read More

Our essential staff keep us going in tough times! How the people of UF's Whitney Laboratory protected their animals — and each other — during COVID-19. Read More

The Whitney Laboratory Oyster Restoration Initiative is a community-based program to engage citizen scientists, advance our understanding of oyster ecology and restore local oyster habitats in our coastal ecosystem. Read More

Congratulations to recent Whitney Ph.D. graduate Dr. Tracey Schafer and Whitney Laboratory's Dr. Todd Osborne who recently published a paper in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering titled "Impacts of Hurricane Disturbance on Water Quality across the Aquatic Continuum of a Blackwater River to Estuary Complex." Read More

Last week the Ibarra-Castro Lab (Dr. Leonardo Ibarra-Castro, Dr. Samantha Koda and Maddie Morrison) and Osborne Lab (Dr. Todd Osborne and Sean Goggin) along with Whitney staff released red drum larvae into the Matanzas River close to the Whitney Laboratory. Read More

On February 7, Tracey Schafer, a graduate student in the Osborne Lab gave her exit seminar entitled “Hurricane Impacts on Water Quality and Dissolved Organic Matter Cycling Along an Aquatic Continuum” and successfully earned her Ph.D. Read More

Congratulations to Osborne Lab Manager Anna Thornton who was recently featured in Daytona State College Magazine's Alumni Profiles. Anna graduated from Daytona State College before transferring to Stetson University where she earned her BS in Marine Biology. Read More

Please welcome Taryn Chaya to Whitney Laboratory! Taryn recently joined Dr. Todd Osborne’s lab, working on a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Ecology. She will be working on the iCoast project, maintaining the advanced water sensors in the intracoastal, while collecting and analyzing the ensuing data. Read More

We are pleased to announce that Whitney Faculty Dr. Todd Osborne was granted promotion and tenure by the University of Florida Board of Trustees to Associate Professor of Biogeochemistry. Read More

Take a look at our one million babies! We are raising special brood clam stock to help restore the Indian River Lagoon with our partners. Read More

Whitney Laboratory is seeking volunteers to become oyster gardeners as part of the lab’s oyster restoration initiative. Gardeners will grow, maintain and record data on their oyster habitats for one year, then return the oysters to the lab for use in restoration projects. Read More

Please welcome Phil Cubbedge, who joins the Whitney Laboratory to assist with oyster and clam restoration projects. Read More

Become an oyster gardener! The University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience is seeking volunteers to become oyster gardeners as part of the lab’s oyster restoration initiative. Read More

Congratulations to Todd Osborne, assistant professor of biogeochemistry at Whitney Laboratory, for being selected as a 2018 University of Florida Water Institute Faculty Fellow. Read More

Congratulations to Dr. Todd Osborne, assistant professor of biogeochemistry at Whitney Lab, for receiving the Excellence Award for Assistant Professors of the University of Florida. A four-member committee reviewed the nominations, and the honor was awarded based on quality and innovativeness of the research. Read More

Whitney Lab is seeking volunteers to become oyster gardeners as part of the lab’s oyster restoration initiative. Read More

Please welcome Anna Thornton to Whitney Laboratory! Anna has a Bachelor of Science from Stetson University with a focus in marine biology. In her undergrad career she focused her research on the aerial respiration of the juvenile armored catfish (Pterygoplichthys disjunctivus). Read More

Dr. Nick Ward joins the University of Florida Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience as a Research Scientist in the Osborne Lab. Read More

Please welcome Kaylee to Whitney Laboratory! Kaylee is a second-year master’s student from the Soil and Water Sciences Department. She is joining Dr. Osborne’s lab as a graduate student until summer of 2018. Read More

Whitney Laboratory has several new faces this Fall! Please take a moment to read about our newest colleagues below, and join me in welcoming them to Whitney. Welcome, newcomers! Read More

Whitney Laboratory’s Todd Osborne was featured in an article published on July 19, 2016, in The St. Augustine Record about his research on mangrove ecosystems and his involvement in the Mangrove & Macrobenthos Conference at Flagler College from July 18-22, 2016. Read More

The Whitney Oyster Restoration Initiative began its program this past September with 53 oyster gardeners. These citizen scientists hung two oyster habitats filled with baby oysters from their docks and began recording data and watching their babies grow. Read More

Here is an amazing story about the survival of an oyster garden after Hurricane Matthew from one of our dedicated volunteer oyster gardeners, Mary. After Hurricane Matthew, it was so amazing to find one of my gardens and retrieve it during low tide. Read More

The University of Florida’s Whitney Laboratory is seeking volunteers to become oyster gardeners as part of the lab’s oyster restoration initiative. Gardeners will grow, maintain and record data on their oyster habitats for about one year, then return the oysters to the lab for use in restoration projects. Read More