The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) has been awarded more than $3 million as part of a $17.2 million investment announced by the NOAA RESTORE Science Program to support long-term research on the Gulf of America ecosystem.
USM will lead one of five projects selected nationwide through NOAA’s highly competitive 2025 RESTORE Science Program funding competition. Each award supports five years of collaborative research focused on long-term ecological trends, with high-performing projects eligible to apply for an additional five years of funding.
The Southern Miss-led project, “Understanding Drivers of Change in Seagrass Ecosystems to Inform Management of Critical Habitats in the Gulf Islands National Seashore,” will receive $3,059,252. The research will be led by M. Zachary Darnell, associate professor and associate director for Coastal Sciences in the School of Ocean Science and Engineering.
“This project represents an unprecedented, long-term investment in understanding the role of seagrass for supporting the broader ecosystem across the northern Gulf,” Darnell said. “I look forward to collaborating with all project partners—including resource managers from Gulf Islands National Seashore and other local and regional management agencies—to collect data that not only advance our scientific understanding, but also directly inform management and conservation decisions.”
The project will identify drivers of change in seagrass communities within Gulf Islands National Seashore by monitoring water quality, mapping seagrass extent, characterizing soundscapes and nekton communities, and developing ecosystem models to examine linkages among these variables. The goal is to provide resource managers with improved ecological baselines and a framework for detecting changes in ecosystem structure and function over time.
“This project exemplifies how Southern Miss research delivers direct impact on natural resources for Mississippi and the nation,” said Kelly Lucas, Southern Miss vice president for research. “The science generated will inform federal and state decision-making, strengthen trust among partners, and support the sustainable management of fisheries and coastal habitats.”
Collectively, the five NOAA-funded projects will track long-term trends in fish spawning aggregations, fisheries habitat use, seagrass health, Rice’s whale recovery, and age and growth of commercially important fish species in the Gulf region. The awards support research teams from 15 institutions, including universities, government agencies, non-governmental organizations and private-sector partners.
Projects were selected by a panel of outside experts following a rigorous process that evaluated scientific merit, applicability to natural resource management, qualifications of project teams, and overall integration and cost effectiveness.
Funding is provided through the RESTORE Act—the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act—established following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The NOAA RESTORE Science Program supports research, observation and monitoring to advance the long-term sustainability of the Gulf ecosystem and its fisheries.