A Florida State University doctoral candidate has received a prestigious fellowship to perform coastal and marine conservation research in the Florida Keys.
Lillie Bradshaw, a doctoral candidate focusing on ecology and evolution in FSU’s Department of Biological Science, is one of eight graduate students statewide awarded the 2025 Guy Harvey Fellowship, offered collaboratively by the Guy Harvey Foundation and Florida Sea Grant program. This $5,000 grant will assist Bradshaw in her research within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, where she aims to examine how human activities affect ecosystems’ capacity to recover from extreme temperature fluctuations.
“The Keys represent a region that is economically, recreationally, and culturally significant for Florida,” Bradshaw stated. “This research not only enhances our understanding of coastal and marine ecosystems, but it also strengthens our capability to effectively manage them, ultimately boosting the region’s resilience.”
In light of the rising frequency of extreme events — such as the unprecedented marine heatwave in 2023 that resulted in extensive coral bleaching in the Keys — Bradshaw will explore how areas commonly utilized for fishing and snorkeling, for instance, compare in their capacity to recover versus fully protected regions within the marine sanctuary, which are not subjected to regular human use.
Since the Keys are relatively isolated — making it challenging for researchers to access them frequently — most data collection occurs on an annual basis. Bradshaw intends to augment existing data collection strategies by conducting surveys multiple times during the annual coral bleaching season, which generally spans from July to October. These repeated surveys will enrich the broader repository of independent research that informs decision-making in state and national natural resource management.
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