The Land-based Sources of Pollution (LBSP) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) was established to provide technical and scientific expertise to the LBSP Focus Team. The LBSP TAC is comprised of leading research scientists in the fields of coral reef ecology, water quality, geology, chemistry, and biology. Below is a brief summary of the expertise of each TAC member. If you have a questions for one of the LBSP TAC members, please send an email to Coral.LBSP@dep.state.fl.us with the name of the TAC member you would like a response from in the subject and the question in the body of the email.

• Joseph Boyer
  Dr. Boyer has experience in microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of coastal oceans, estuaries, rivers, and groundwater ecosystems with specific expertise in nutrient cycling processes, ecosystems modeling, and time series and geostatistical data analysis. His current research addresses both natural and human-induced physical effects on nutrient cycling and water quality of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Biscayne Bay, Florida Bay, Whitewater Bay area, Ten Thousand Islands, and the Southwest Florida Shelf.
  
  
• Richard Dodge
  Dr. Richard Dodge is a recognized authority on corals, coral reefs, and coral reef ecosystems. His research has centered on the growth rates of reef-building corals, coral reef structure, fossil coral reefs, the ecology of recent corals reefs, coral reef damage assessment and reef valuation, and oil and dispersed oil effects on corals and coral reefs.
  
  
• Phil Dustan
  Dr. Phillip Dustan a marine ecologist specializing in the ecology, vitality, and remote sensing of corals and coral reef communities. Much of his work has centered on detecting change in coral reef communities of the Florida Keys. He was a founding Principal Investigator on the USEPA Florida Keys Coral Reef/Hardbottom Monitoring Project responsible for developing sampling design, software, and digital video image analysis for the project.
  
  
• John Fauth
  Dr. John Fauth research interests include quantitative and experimental ecology, with special emphasis on amphibians & reptiles, wetlands and coral reefs. Also environmental health assessment using an integrated approach that includes traditional measures, such as indicator species, and cellular diagnostics.
  
  
• Piero Gardinali
  Dr. Gardinali's research focuses on studies regarding the origin, fate and transport of anthropogenic organic compounds in freshwater and coastal environments. Dr. Gardinali's group is also involved in the development of analytical techniques for the analysis of trace organic compounds in environmental samples.
  
  
• Dale Griffin
  Dale Griffin has expertise in aquatic public health microbiology (detection of water quality indicators, pathogenic microorganisms, and microbial source tracking). Additionally, Dr. Griffin studies the atmospheric dispersion of microorganisms in clouds of desert dust (i.e., transoceanic from Africa).
  
  
• Vladimir Kosmynin
  Dr. Vladimir Kosmynin's expertise lies in the area of coastal ecosystems and landscapes, in particular, coastal and coral reef zonation and morphology. He is an Environmental Consultant for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Beaches.
  
  
• Judith Lang
  Dr. Judith C. Lang, formerly at the Texas Memorial Museum, University of Texas, presently Scientific Coordinator for the AGRRA (Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment) Program and Scientific Advisor to the RECON (Reef Condition) Project is a reef coral scientist with a broad knowledge of western Atlantic reefs and traditional American knowledge systems.
  
  
• Brian LaPointe
  Dr. Brian Lapointe is an algal physiologist and director of the Marine Nutrient Dynamics Program at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Ft. Pierce, FL. He has worked extensively on the effects of coastal nutrient pollution and has established quantitative relationships between increased dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and the demise of coral reefs.
  
  
• Erin Lipp
  Erin Lipp is interested in the transport, fate and ecology of enteric bacteria and viruses in natural water bodies, particularly in coastal environments. Her research is focused on evaluating the contribution of environmental pathogens, those which appear well-adapted to both the human gut and the environment, to disease burden by recreational exposure during swimming, occupational exposure during collection of shellfish and transient exposure to contaminated waters. Erin Lipp is also interested in the effects of microbial contaminants found in wastewater on coastal and marine ecosystems, including the study of emerging diseases of corals in the Caribbean and Florida Keys.
  
  
• Margaret Miller - NOAA
  Dr. Margaret Miller is a coral reef benthic ecologist with expertise in coral population biology (particularly Caribbean Acropora spp), coral disease, and nutrient dynamics.
  
  
• Valerie Paul
  Valerie Paul's research interests include marine chemical ecology, marine plant-herbivore interactions, coral reef ecology, and marine natural products.
  
  
• Esther Peters
  Dr. Peters is an aquatic toxicologist and pathobiologist whose expertise includes the effects of exposures to chemical contaminants and other environmental stressors on a variety of invertebrates and fishes in both field and laboratory studies. She has performed extensive work on the comparative histopathology of invertebrates and has studied and taught courses on diseases of corals and other reef organisms.
  
  
• Gene Shinn
  Dr. Gene Shinn is a pioneer of scientific research on carbonate sediments and coral-reef ecosystems in Florida, the Bahamas and the Persian Gulf. Shinn retired from the USGS after 31 years of service and is currently a Courtesy Professor at the University of South Florida. Gene lead a 10-year team effort monitoring ground water flow directions and sewage pollution in the Florida Keys before turning his interest to the effects of African dust on downwind ecosystems, including Caribbean coral reefs and human health. He continues to study the general health of coral reefs throughout the Caribbean. He has authored about 200 peer-reviewed publications.
  
  
• Alexander Soloviev
  Dr. Alexander Soloviev's primary interest is upper ocean turbulent boundary layer and coastal circulation. He is author and co-author of more than 50 research articles. Dr. Soloviev is currently an Associate Professor at the NOVA Southeastern University's Oceanographic Center.
  
  
• Peter Swart
  Dr. Peter Swart is a Professor of Marine Geology and Geophysics at the University of Miami. His research interests include stable isotope geochemistry, carbonate diagenesis, sedimentology and petrology, and cosmochemistry.\
  
  
• Michelle Wood - NOAA AOML
  Dr. Michelle Wood is the Director of AOML's Ocean Chemistry Division. Her research interests include using tools from genetics, cell biology, oceanography, and remote sensing to explore connections between microorganisms in the sea and the physical processes that determine their abundance, distribution and productivity.