FAU - M. Dennis Hanisak, Ph.D.

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Fri, May 11 Spoil Island Clean-up. Depart from Harbor Branch’s Ocean Discovery Center at 9:30am and return around 1pm. Help Harbor Branch take care of its recently adopted spoil island in the Indian River Lagoon. Learn about the biodiversity of the lagoon and what’s going on right now on the waterway with scientist and boat captain Dennis Hanisak and Ocean Discovery Center guide Sunny Gardner. Take a turn on the rope swing and enjoy the beauty of the IRL. Board the pontoon boat on the Harbor Branch-FAU campus. Bring your water shoes, gloves, and a brown bag lunch for the cooler. Reservations required. Call (772) 242-2559.

Tues, May 22 VIP Tour for HBOI/Members & Guests-Reservations required. 9:30am-11:30am. Meet at the Ocean Discovery Center at 9:30am. Join us for a morning of shoreline discovery on the Indian River Lagoon.

Wed, May 23 at 7pm

The Other Side of Harbor Branch: Conservation on the Scrub Ridge
Presented by Dr. Jon Moore
Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University

About the Lecture
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution was established in 1971 along the shoreline of the Indian River Lagoon. Large tracts of land were purchased at the inception of HBOI, but have remained relatively undisturbed since then. As the east coast of Florida has continued to develop over the decades, this undisturbed land at HBOI has become a de facto nature preserve. One particularly endangered habitat preserved along the west side of HBOI's property is Atlantic Coastal Ridge scrub. This presentation will describe research on and conservation of the endangered plants and animals found in scrub habitat.

Johnson Education Center, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, 5600 US 1 North, Fort Pierce, FL. Telephone 772-242-2506.

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M. Dennis Hanisak, Ph.D.

Director, Marine Ecosystem Health

dhanisak@hboi.fau.edu
772-242-2306

Title

Research Professor & Director, Marine Ecosystem Health

Director of Harbor Branch Education

Education

1977 Ph.D., Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island

1973 M.S., Botany, University of Rhode Island

1971 A.B., Biological Sciences, Rutgers University

Career

M. Dennis Hanisak is a Research Professor at Harbor Branch, Director of its Center for Marine Ecosystem Health, and Director of Education. He has 30 years of experience in marine biology and ecology, with emphasis on marine plants, particularly macroalgae (seaweeds) and seagrasses. He has worked at Harbor Branch since 1977, conducting research on marine plants in the Indian River Lagoon and in other parts of Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean.

Dr. Hanisak is the author of over 70 scientific publications, a frequently invited participant at national and international meetings and workshops, a past President of the International Phycological Society, and a past President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Phycological Society of America.

Research in his lab currently focuses on determining the relationships of water quality with seagrass and with algal communities (both benthic seaweeds and phytoplankton) in the Indian River Lagoon and understanding and preventing losses in shallow and deep water coral communities that result from both natural and anthropogenic causes.

Research Interests

Physiological Ecology of Marine Plants (Macroalgae and Seagrasses), Nutrient Dynamics, Coral Reef Ecology, Biology of Deep-water Macroalgae, Aquaculture (particularly Marine Plant Cultivation)

Submersed Plants of the Indian River Lagoon: A Floristic Inventory & Field Guide is a comprehensive floristic compendium for those who wish to increase their botanical or ecological knowledge of Florida’s remarkable Indian River Lagoon.