Newswise — Dr. Richard E. Dodge is Dean of and Professor at the Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center. He is Executive Director of the Center's National Coral Reef Institute (NCRI). He received the B.A. degree from Univ. of Maine in 1969, and the M.Phil. and Ph.D. from Yale University in 1973 and 1978. He has served as Editor of the international scientific journal Coral Reefs and now serves on the editorial Board. He was the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium 2008. He is an elected Board member of the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) which includes the states of Florida, George, South Carolina, and North Carolina. He is the elected Secretary.
Dr. Dodge is a recognized authority on corals and coral reefs. 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 oil effects on corals and coral reefs. He has conducted reef related research in Haiti, Saudi Arabia, Puerto Rico, Barbados, Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Panama, Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Florida. Dodge has held grants and contracts for reef related work from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the US Geological Survey, the U.S. Navy, Florida SeaGrant, NOAA, the Environmental Protection Agency, South Florida Water Management District, Marine Spill Response Corporation, Office of Naval Research, State of Florida, Broward County Department of Planning and Environmental Protection, and the US Department of Justice. He is the author of many publications in the scientific literature and reports for various agencies and companies. He has served as an expert witness. He has been involved in on coral reef ecosystem injury and restoration related matters.
ResearchCoral Reef geology, ecology, biology, paleoclimatology. SclerochronologyCoral growth (extension, density, and calcification)Coral reef mapping and characterizationCoral Reef RestorationDr. Dodge has conducted research in assessing and analyzing coral reefs. This includes research on sedimentation effects, bomb range impacts, ship grounding injuries, as well as adverse effects of oil to coral reefs and coral reef environments. He has worked extensively in examining coral climate relationships. Studies and projects have included evaluating sedimentation and other impacts of dredging for construction and beach renourishment projects, as well as of Naval land bomb range usage on offshore reefs. Dr. Dodge and team serves as contracted biological scientists for Broward County on beach renourishment monitoring and assessment. Dr. Dodge has experience on investigation and analysis of the effects of ship groundings on coral reefs. He has worked on many ship grounding events including the ships Wellwood, Elpis, Mavro Vetranic, Mini-Laurel, Sealand Atlantic, Hind, Firat, Igloo Moon, the nuclear submarine Memphis, and the Captain Joe to evaluate and assess injuries to coral reef habitat. His experience includes use of HEA (Habitat Equivalency Analysis) to determine amounts of compensatory restoration that may be required following an injury to natural resources.
Dr. Dodge has been involved in reef restoration investigations including hypothesis based restoration following the grounding and other injuries to coral reefs. He has served on the Reef Restoration Working Group of the World Band GEF Targeted Research Project. Dr. Dodge has been involved in projects involving effects of oil, oil drilling products (drill mud), and oil dispersants on coral reefs. He has conducted experiments in Bermuda and Panama on dispersed oil effects. He has served for 5 years as a member of the Scientific Review Board of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to oversee a Minerals Management Service contract with the Smithsonian dealing with the Galeta oil spill on a Panama coral reef. He was a principal investigator on the Tropical Oil Pollution Investigations in Coastal Systems (TROPICS) study investigating effects of experimental dosing of coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves with oil and dispersed oil in Panama. He conducted a 10-year follow up study on reefs of Panama.
He participates in coral reef mapping, assessment, monitoring, and restoration activities of the National Coral Reef Institute where he serves as Executive Director.
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