Seminar title – Geological perspectives on the degradation and restoration of coral reefs
Bio – Lauren Toth is a coral-reef ecologist who uses clues from the geologic record to better understand the modern decline of coral-reef ecosystems and to inform future coral-reef management and restoration. Her research focuses on understanding how environmental changes influence the growth of coral reefs over timescales of decades to millennia. Lauren earned her B.S. in Marine Science, Biology, and Motion Pictures Production from the University of Miami in 2006 and earned her PhD in Biological Sciences from Florida Institute of Technology in 2013. She received a Mendenall Postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in 2014 and was then hired on as a Research Scientist in 2016.