James Culter
- Ecology
- Ecological Indicators
- Hypoxia
- Invasive Species
- B.A. Invertebrate Zoology, University of South Florida, FL, USA, 1974
- M.A. Zoology, Marine Invertebrate Ecology, University of South Florida, FL, USA, 1979
Mr. Culter joined Mote in May 1979, and manages the Benthic Ecology Program. As a staff scientist he specializes in marine/estuarine ecology and environmental assessment. He has advanced dive training through TriMix, and is actively investigating the biology of offshore karst features (springs, sinks and caves). In June of 2005 he assembled a technical dive team to conduct the first scientific dives on the Pulley Ridge Reef, the deepest hermatypic coral reef in the US. He has conduced research in the bays and estuaries of Florida and Caribbean areas and many Florida tidal rivers, including the Withlacoochie River, Wacasassa River, Weeki Wachee River, Crystal River, Alafia River, Hillsborough River, Manatee River, Little Manatee River, Myakka River and the Peace River. He is project manager for studies of thermal impacts in Hillsborough Bay for Tampa Electric Company. Other studies have included expert assistance to the Southwest Florida Water Management District for the evaluation of the benthos of the lower Hillsborough River, and many monitoring studies of beach nourishment effects including nearshore reef systems. Mr. Culter served as an invited instructor for Mudflat Fauna for a Department of Environmental Protection workshop and for mollusk taxonomy for an US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region IV Marine Invertebrate Workshop in Athens, Georgia. He was an invited instructor to the International Society of Aquatic Medicine in 1997 and 1999, for the topics of environmental assessment, and coral diseases and global climate change. Mr. Culter authored a "Manual for Identification of Marine Invertebrates" published by the USEPA.
Mr. Culter is Mote's Organizational Representative to the the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS). He is listed as a pre-qualified expert for the Expert Assistance Pool for the South Florida Water Management District. He is a member of the Technical Advisory Committees for the Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay and Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Programs. He was elected to The Explorers Club as a National Fellow in 1997.
Mr. Culter has over 30 years experience in coastal, estuarine and freshwater benthic ecology, and has a strong educational background in statistics, population biology, community ecology, and invertebrate biology and taxonomy. Mr. Culter has qualified as an expert witness in benthic ecology for legal proceedings in 1989, 1990 and 1992.