The Ridge to Reef Project

Ridge to Reef (R2R) was a five-year (2020–2025) environmental research program in the U.S. Virgin Islands, funded by a $20 million U.S. National Science Foundation EPSCoR award. This project was the first of its kind in the territory to take a “ridge-to-reef” approach – examining how land-based activities impact the coastal and marine ecosystems downstream and offshore. R2R’s mission was to advance science-based strategies for small island resilience, focusing on natural and human-driven disturbances that affect coastal ecosystems. By monitoring everything from rainfall runoff and mangrove health to fish behavior and coral genetics, the R2R team improved understanding of the processes that impact coastal areas and Caribbean reefs and identified what can help these ecosystems resist and recover from these impacts. Equally important, the project emphasized solutions – for example, developing new coral restoration techniques that leverage genetic and species diversity to build tougher reefs in the face of climate change.

Cinnamon Bay, St. John waterfall courtesy of Steve Simonsen Photography

Over the life of the grant, R2R made significant contributions to both science and the local community. Researchers discovered previously undocumented pollution threats in the territory’s ghuts (ephemeral streambeds) sediments – finding elevated heavy metals and chemicals even in remote areas. These findings are informing stronger watershed protection measures. R2R scientists also led the fight against a devastating coral disease outbreak, pioneering response and restoration efforts that earned national recognition (lead researcher Dr. Marilyn Brandt received a U.S. Coral Reef Task Force award for her work). On the reef, studies revealed why some corals and fish populations thrive despite disturbances, guiding managers in protecting these resilience “hotspots.” For instance, long-term research and conservation helped endangered Nassau grouper fish begin to rebound locally – over 1,000 groupers were counted at a protected spawning site in 2024, a remarkable recovery while other Caribbean populations remain in decline. R2R’s oceanographers provided data to predict coral bleaching events, allowing proactive efforts to save corals, and mapped ocean currents to understand larval dispersal and water quality across the islands.

Building local capacity was a cornerstone of the project’s legacy. R2R’s Education and Workforce Development programs trained and inspired the next generation of Virgin Islands scientists and teachers. Hundreds of local students participated in hands-on research and environmental outreach, from high schoolers growing mangroves in classrooms to teachers taking “deep dives” with NOAA support and investments to bring ocean science into their lessons. The program’s success in strengthening STEM education was recognized in 2021 with the National Academies selecting the R2R team to showcase its holistic approach in a national STEM outreach town hall. R2R also boosted the Territory’s research infrastructure at the University of the Virgin Islands, leaving behind new tools (like a state-of-the-art ocean monitoring network) and enhanced facilities. The productivity of the project further underscores its impact: in its first three years alone R2R investigators published nearly 40 peer-reviewed studies and attracted over $12 million in additional external grants to the territory. This momentum is expected to continue as R2R-trained researchers and students carry on the work already underway in our new NSF–EPSCoR”s E-RISE award to Dr. Tyler Smith this past year.

In summary, the Ridge to Reef project has created a legacy of scientific knowledge, environmental stewardship, and local capacity building of the next generation of STEM educators and environmental stewards. By uniting research on land, sea, and community, it generated practical insights and interventions to help ensure the U.S. Virgin Islands’ precious natural resources – from the mountaintop forests to the coral reefs – remain resilient in the face of change.

Ridge to Reef Research Areas

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Watershed Terrestrial Monitoring & Land Use

The Watershed and Land Use team examined how activities on land—such as construction, farming, and land clearing—affected the waters and coral reefs downstream. By monitoring “ridge-to-reef” processes in two pilot watersheds (Salt River Bay on St. Croix and Fish Bay on St. John), researchers tracked when and how rainwater carried soil, nutrients, and pollutants down through guts (streams) to the sea.

Mangrove Ecosystem Function & Recovery

The Mangrove research team studied the “nurseries of the sea” – the mangrove forests fringing the islands – to understand their past and present health and to enhance their recovery.

Fish Ecology and Herbivory

The Fish Ecology component zeroed in on coral reef fish – especially parrotfish – and their role in reef resilience. Herbivorous fishes like parrotfish are often called “reef gardeners” because they eat algae that can otherwise overgrow and smother corals. The team, led by Dr. Richard Nemeth, investigated how environmental stressors (such as sediment runoff from land or coral bleaching events) alter parrotfish populations and their grazing behavior.

Oceanography

The Oceanography team served as the connective thread for the entire Ridge to Reef project, examining how ocean conditions around the USVI influence reef ecosystems and interact with other factors like watershed runoff. The team’s work included ocean current modeling, water quality monitoring, and larval dispersal studies.

Coral Reef Resilience

The Coral Reef Resilience team tackled one of the most pressing questions for our time: Why do some coral reefs persist and recover after disturbances while others decline? Reefs in the USVI have endured hurricanes, mass bleaching events, disease outbreaks, and more. Yet in certain spots, corals have shown surprising resilience – for instance, some reefs rebound with baby corals after a bleaching, or resist algal overgrowth thanks to robust herbivore populations.

Coral Disease & Restoration

This dual-focus team addressed both the dark side and the healing side of coral reefs: the spread of coral diseases that have recently devastated Caribbean reefs, and the restoration efforts to bring back corals in damaged areas.

Emerging Area: Shoreline Response

This emerging research area addressed the changing shorelines of the Virgin Islands and the new challenges they face, from invasive seaweed inundations to climate-driven erosion.

Emerging Area: Seagrass Ecology

This project’s emerging seagrass research focused on Halophila stipulacea, an invasive seagrass that has spread through USVI waters in recent years. Additionally, because healthy seagrass beds can buffer wave energy and reduce beach erosion, the team explored how different seagrass species influence water motion and sediment on our coasts.

Emerging Area: Movement Ecology

The movement ecology sub-project pioneered high-tech tracking of sea creatures in Brewers Bay, St. Thomas, to learn how animals use our nearshore habitats. Researchers installed a fine-scale acoustic positioning system – essentially an underwater GPS – that allowed them to follow the minute-by-minute movements of tagged marine animals.

Teacher Professional Development, Mentoring & Research Infrastructure

This component of R2R focused on strengthening the STEM education pipeline in the Virgin Islands, from K-12 teachers to college faculty. The goals were to equip teachers with new skills and curricula (especially around the R2R environmental themes), to mentor and support students and early-career scientists, and to improve the territory’s educational infrastructure. In practice, that meant organizing teacher training institutes, building a network of mentors for undergraduate research, offering professional development workshops, and even helping develop new academic programs at UVI.

Undergraduate Education Research

The Undergraduate Education Research (UER) initiative was a study-within-the-study, examining how to improve the success of UVI students in STEM fields. In particular, it looked at ways to increase the recruitment, retention, and persistence of underrepresented minority students in science – a core aim of VI-EPSCoR’s workforce development mission.

Informal Learning

The Informal Learning (IL) program was the outreach heartbeat of the R2R project, aiming to ignite curiosity and scientific understanding outside of formal classrooms. Its mission was to bring science to the community in accessible and culturally relevant ways, thereby broadening participation in STEM – especially among groups historically underrepresented in science.