Ecological Monitoring

Research Team

Lab

Florida International University (FIU)

Principal Investigator

Dr. Alastair Harborne

Co-investigators

Dr. James Fourqurean, Dr. Alain Duran, PhD candidate Emily Jackson

Measuring the Ecological Impact of Living Seawalls™

Kind Designs partnered with Florida International University (FIU) to conduct a year-long ecological monitoring study of our Living Seawalls™ in Biscayne Bay, led by Dr. Alastair Harborne and his team at FIU’s Tropical Fish Ecology Lab. The study evaluates how marine communities—fish, algae, invertebrates, and filter feeders—develop on our 3D-printed Living Seawalls™ compared to adjacent conventional seawalls.

This collaboration provides scientific data on how Living Seawalls™ support biodiversity, enhance water quality, and contribute to long-term ecological resilience in urban coastal environments. This research is part of a broader effort to redefine coastal infrastructure as living systems that restore marine habitats while protecting shorelines.

Research Objectives

Evaluating Biodiversity, Habitat Formation, and Carbon Sequestration

The FIU monitoring program is designed to:

Quantify biodiversity on Living Seawalls™ compared to traditional seawalls.
Track ecological succession, including colonization by algae, invertebrates, and fishes.
Assess carbon storage potential through accumulation of organic material and calcareous organisms.
Inform future seawall designs by identifying textures and geometries best promote ecosystem growth.

Together, these metrics demonstrate how Living Seawalls™ transform hardened shorelines into productive, self-mitigating ecosystems.

Methodology

Integrated Field Surveys and Carbon Sampling by FIU Marine Scientists

Study Sites: Four coastal zones in Biscayne Bay (Miami Beach and Venetian Islands), characterized by brackish water, high sediment load, and low larval inflow.

Survey Schedule:

Monthly diver surveys for the first six months, followed by bimonthly surveys through 12 months.
All fieldwork conducted between 11:00–14:00, around high tide for data consistency.

Survey Components:

Fish Assemblages:
- Roving snorkel surveys along Living Seawalls™ and adjacent control walls.
- Unbaited GoPro 12 cameras (two per wall, 60-minute deployments) recorded fish species that avoid divers.
Benthic Community Development:
- Video quadrats (15 per wall) documented colonization of algae, invertebrates, and sessile organisms.
- Videos analyzed to determine percentage cover of each benthic taxon.
Carbon Analyses:
- Sentinel tiles (10 cm × 10 cm) made from the same 3D-printed material were installed to measure organic carbon accumulation and carbonate formation.
- Sediment cores collected at the base of the seawalls to track changes in sedimentary carbon storage.

This integrated monitoring framework evaluates biodiversity succession, fish community use, and carbon sequestration on Living Seawall structures, while providing comparative data against adjacent conventional seawalls.

Key Findings

Early Ecological Indicators of Success

Across all monitoring sites, Kind Designs’ Living Seawalls™ demonstrated clear and rapid ecological response—showing biological colonization and habitat use within weeks of deployment.

Rapid Colonization: Species established quickly across multiple trophic levels—from algae and filter feeders to mobile invertebrates and small fishes. For example, FIU monitoring documented 72.5% coverage after one month of installation at our Venetian Islands seawall.
Enhanced Biodiversity: Living Seawalls™ supported a higher diversity of marine life than adjacent flat concrete seawalls, including early recruitment of soft corals and crustose coralline algae. These taxa are strong precursors for later hard coral settlement.
Functional Habitat: The complex surface geometry and mangrove-root cavities of our panels provided microhabitats for shelter, foraging, and recruitment not available on flat concrete structures (i.e. sea urchins, stone crabs, juvenile grey snapper, and crested gobies found within Living Seawall™ “roots”).

To date, 51 distinct species have been documented living on or actively foraging around Kind Designs’ Living Seawalls™—forming a developing benthic community with active filtration and trophic interactions.

These observations confirm that the biomimetic design of Living Seawalls™ not only restores habitat complexity but also accelerates the return of ecological function to hardened urban shorelines.

*please note these surveys are ongoing with more results coming as it progresses*

Fig. 1 Within this small section of the Living Seawall, organisms from multiple trophic levels coexist, demonstrating how complex surface textures & designs create miniature ecosystems that support an entire food web.

Family	Genus	Species	Common Name	Site	Trophic Level	Site
Corallinaceae	Lithothamnion	L. sp.	Crustose coralline algae	Pine Tree Dr	Producers	Pine Tree Dr
Cladophoraceae	Cladophora	C. sp.	Filamentous turf algae	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, Key Largo	Producers	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr
Zygnemataceae	Spirogyra	S. sp.	Filamentous turf algae	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, Key Largo	Producers	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr
Rhodomelaceae	Polysiphonia	P. sp.	Filamentous turf algae	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, Key Largo	Producers	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr
Rhodomelaceae	Herposiphonia	H. sp.	Filamentous turf algae	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, Key Largo	Producers	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr
Ceramiaceae	Ceramium	C. sp.	Filamentous turf algae	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, Key Largo	Producers	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr
Serpulidae	Spirobranchus	S. giganteus	Christmas Tree Worms	Key Largo	Primary Consumers	Key Largo
Pomacentridae	Abudefduf	A. saxatilis	Sergeant Major	Venetian Way, Key Largo, North Bay	Primary Consumers	Venetian Way, North Bay
Scaridae	Sparisoma	S. viride	Stoplight parrotfish	Venetian Way, North Bay	Primary Consumers	Venetian Way, North Bay
Echinometridae	Echinometra	E. lucunter	Sea urchin	Venetian Way	Primary Consumers	Venetian Way
Mytilidae	Mytilus	M. edulis	Blue mussels	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Isognomonidae	Isognomon	I. alatus	Flat Tree osyter	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Ascidiidae	Phallusia	P. nigra	Black tunicate	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Halisarcidae	Halisarca	H. sp.	Black Star encrusting sponge	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Tedaniidae	Tedania	T. ignis	Fire sponge	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Balanidae	Balanus	B. sp.	Barnacles	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Hymedesmiidae	Phorbas	P. amaranthus	Red sieve encrusting sponge	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Clionaidae	Anthosigmella	A. varians	Brown variable sponge	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Clavelinidae	Clavelina	C. sp.	Bulb tunicates	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Sabellidae	Hypsicomus	H. sp.	Ruffled feather duster	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Ostreidae	Crassostrea	C. virginica	Eastern oyster	Pine Tree Dr	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Mugilidae	Mugil	M. cephalus	Mullet	Pine Tree Dr, Bryan Pl	Primary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr, Bryan Pl
Portunidae	Callinectes	C. sapidus	Blue Crab	Key Largo	Secondary Consumers	Key Largo
Haemulidae	Haemulon	H. sciurus	Bluestripped grunt	Venetian Way, North Bay	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way, North Bay
Tetraodontida	Sphoeroides	S. testudineus	Checkered pufferfish	Venetian Way, North Bay, Bryan Pl	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way, North Bay, Bryan Pl
Haemulidae	Haemulon	H. flavolineatum	French grunt	Venetian Way, North Bay	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way, North Bay
Haemulidae	Haemulon	H. plumieri	White grunt	Venetian Way, North Bay	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way, North Bay
Gerreidae	Gerres	G. cinereus	Yellowfin mojarra	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, North Bay	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, North Bay
Palinuridae	Panulirus	Argus	Florida spiny lobster	Venetian Way	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way
Blenniidae	N/A	N/A	unidentified blenny	Venetian Way	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way
Haemulidae	Anisotremus	A. virginicus	Porkfish	Pine Tree Dr, North Bay, Venetian	Secondary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr, North Bay, Venetian
Atherinopsidae	Menidia	M. menidia	Silverside	Pine Tree Dr, North Bay, Venetian	Secondary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr, North Bay, Venetian
Gobiidae	Lophogobius	L. cyprinodies	Crested goby	Pine Tree Dr, North Bay, Venetian, Bryan Pl	Secondary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr, North Bay, Venetian, Bryan Pl
Haemulidae	N/A	N/A	unidentified grunt	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr	Secondary Consumers	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr
Cichlidae	Pelmatolapia	P.mariae	Spotted tilapia	Bryan Pl	Secondary Consumers	Bryan Pl
Sparidae	Archosargus	A. probatocephalus	Sheepshead	Bryan Pl	Secondary Consumers	Bryan Pl
Menippidae	Menippe	M. mercenaria	Stonecrab	Pine Tree Dr	Secondary Consumers	Pine Tree Dr
Lutjanidae	Lutjanus	L. griseus	Grey snapper	Venetian Way, North Bay, Bryan Pl	Tertiary / Top Predator	Venetian Way, North Bay, Bryan Pl
Sphyraenidae	Sphyraena	S. barracuda	Great Barracuda	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, North Bay	Tertiary / Top Predators	Venetian Way, Pine Tree Dr, North Bay
Centropomidae	Centropomus	C. undecimalis	Common snook	Pine Tree Dr	Tertiary / Top Predators	Pine Tree Dr
Lutjanidae	Lutjanus	L. apodus	Schoolmaster Snapper	Bryan Pl	Tertiary / Top Predators	Bryan Pl

Table 1: Species richness observed at Miami Beach and Miami, identified by Prof. Alastair Harborne and PhD candidate Emily Jackson (FIU Tropical Ecology Lab).

Fig. 1 & 2: Octocoral, anemones, macroalgae (including crustose coralline algae), and sponges encrusting the “mangrove root” space of the Venetian seawall. November 2025

Fig. 3. School of Mullet observed congregating near the Living Seawall™ in Oct ’25, where colonization by algae and invertebrates have created a localized feeding zone.

Fig. 4: An urchin (likely Echinometra lucunter) sheltering in a Living Seawall™ cave, which provides protected habitat. March ‘25

Fig. 5. Wall algal assemblage at North Bay Rd, dominated by turf algae, an important food source for grazing fish species.

Fig. 6. Riprap quadrats at North Bay, dominated by thick corticated and filamentous algae species, not typically consumed by grazing fishes. October 2025

Fig 7. A school of tilapia using the Living Seawall™ as a foraging and shelter zone in Ft. Lauderdale— a sign of early multi-trophic engagement as fish respond to the growing community of algae and invertebrates. Oct 13th ‘25

Practical Applications

Natural Hardscapes That Improve Water Quality and Resilience

Living Seawalls™ function as self-mitigating systems that restore ecological processes while providing durable coastal protection.

The biological communities that form on our seawalls enhance carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, and habitat availability—critical ecosystem functions absent in traditional seawalls. Filter feeders such as oysters, mussels, and sponges actively improve water clarity and quality by removing suspended particles from the water column. EX. 1 oysters can filter up to 200 liters of water per day & 1 mussels can filter up to 150 liters per day.

By supporting the entire coastal food web—from primary producers to top predators—Living Seawalls™ transform built shorelines into thriving, self-sustaining ecosystems that improve water quality, enhance biodiversity, and strengthen community resilience.

Ongoing Research

Long-Term Monitoring and Design Refinement

FIU’s research provides a foundation for multi-year ecological monitoring and design optimization. Findings from Biscayne Bay are informing the next generation of Living Seawalls™ – Kind Designs continues to collaborate with research institutions to refine textures, materials, and geometries that maximize biodiversity, resilience, and water quality benefits. We’re expanding our biomimicry research to develop next-generation Living Seawalls™ inspired by native coastal habitats across the nation to maximize both biodiversity and resilience.

Our mission: to transform coastal infrastructure into living, regenerative systems that protect both people and the planet.

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