A5019572104- Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
- Marine and fisheries research
- Marine and coastal plant biology
- Isotope Analysis in Ecology
- Ichthyology and Marine Biology
- Marine Bivalve and Aquaculture Studies
- Marine animal studies overview
- Marine Biology and Ecology Research
- Lipid Membrane Structure and Behavior
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Mycorrhizal Fungi and Plant Interactions
- Genetic diversity and population structure
- Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Ocean Acidification Effects and Responses
Old Dominion University
2021-2025
Dominion University College
2025
California Academy of Sciences
2024
The University of Queensland
2018-2023
Australian Research Council
2018-2022
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
2019-2021
Temple University
2016
Abstract Oceanographic processes shape coral reefs worldwide by redistributing inorganic nutrients and particulate resources over depth. Deep‐water upwelling occurs frequently in reef ecosystems, but its impact on nutrition remains unclear. This study investigated the influence of trophic ecology three common reef‐building corals ( Galaxea fascicularis , Pachyseris speciosa Pocillopora verrucosa ) from different depths (shallow reef, 10 m, vs. deep 30 m) exposures (oceanic rim Inner Sea)...
Marine animal forests (MAFs) are benthic ecosystems characterised by biogenic three-dimensional structures formed suspension feeders such as corals, gorgonians, sponges and bivalves. They comprise highly diversified communities among the most productive in world's oceans. However, MAFs decline due to global local stressors that threaten survival growth of their foundational species associated biodiversity. Innovative scalable interventions needed address degradation increase resilience under...
The ecological success of shallow water reef-building corals has been linked to the symbiosis between coral host and its dinoflagellate symbionts (herein 'symbionts'). As mixotrophs, symbiotic depend on nutrients 1) transferred from their photosynthetic (autotrophy) 2) acquired by feeding particulate organic resources (heterotrophy). However, species differ in extent which they heterotrophy for nutrition these differences are typically poorly defined. Here, a multi-tracer fatty acid approach...
Abstract Background Mesophotic coral communities are increasingly gaining attention for the unique biological diversity they host, exemplified by numerous mesophotic fish species that continue to be discovered. In contrast, many of photosynthetic scleractinian corals observed at depths assumed depth-generalists, with very few characterised as mesophotic-specialists. This presumed lack a specialised community remains largely untested, phylogenetic studies on have rarely included samples and...
Mesophotic ecosystems (approx. 30–150 m) represent a significant proportion of the world’s oceans yet have long remained understudied due to challenges in accessing these deeper depths. Owing advances underwater technologies and growing scientific management interest, there has been major expansion research both (sub)tropical mesophotic coral temperate ecosystems. Here, we characterize recent global trends through an updated release ‘mesophotic.org’ database ( www.mesophotic.org ) where...
Climate change has caused drastic declines in corals. As sessile organisms, response to shifting environmental conditions may include changes gene expression, epigenetic modifications, or the microbiome, but as of yet, a common mechanism stress response, alternative splicing (AS), been under-explored Using short-term acute thermal assays, we investigated patterns AS scleractinian coral Acropora cervicornis during and subsequent overnight recovery phase from low (33°C), medium (35°C), high...
Abstract Coral mortality is occurring worldwide at an alarming rate. Despite the immense and underestimated biodiversity of reef-building corals, very few genomes are available. Further, almost all genomic resources originate from shallow water corals even though photosynthetic, symbiotic occur mesophotic depths deeper than 30 m >100 m. We present annotated, de novo for two mesophotic, scleractinian (reef-building) Montipora cf. grisea Leptoseris scabra American Sāmoa, latter being...
Climate change has caused drastic declines in corals. As sessile organisms, corals acclimate to environmental shifts through genome-wide changes gene expression, epigenetic modifications, and alterations microbiome composition. However, alternative splicing (AS), a conserved mechanism of stress response many been under-explored Using short-term acute thermal assays, we investigated patterns AS the scleractinian coral Acropora cervicornis during low (33°C), medium (35°C), high (37°C) heat...
Abstract Heterotrophic feeding on plankton and particulate organic matter (POM) by tropical Scleractinian corals is known to aid in the resistance recovery from thermally induced bleaching. However, relative importance of heterotrophy promoting bleaching likely vary based ecological context severity heat stress. In 2019, Pacific Island Mo'orea experienced mass coral mortality during a widespread marine heatwave. Many Acropora hyacinthus colonies shallow reef slope (5 m) were resistant...
Abstract Mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs) and temperate mesophotic (TMEs) occur at depths of roughly 30–150 m depth are characterized by the presence photosynthetic organisms despite reduced light availability. Exploration these dates back several decades, but our knowledge remained extremely limited until about a decade ago, when renewed interest resulted in establishment rapidly growing research community. Here, we present ‘mesophotic.org’ database, comprehensive curated repository...
Mesophotic corals live at ~30-150 m depth and can sustain metabolic processes under light-limited conditions by enhancing autotrophy through specialized photoadaptations or increasing heterotrophic nutrient acquisition. These acclimatory are often species-specific, however mesophotic ecosystems largely unexplored acclimation limits for most species unknown. This study examined coral using a remotely operated vehicle (Ashmore Reef, Western Australia 40–75m depth) to investigate the trophic...
Abstract The differential survival of corals and their recovery from oceanic thermal stress is related not only to coral bleaching susceptibility but also physiological plasticity including trophic strategy. We investigated post‐bleaching event three morphologically diverse, reef‐building species shallow (10 m) mesophotic (30 reefs across the Maldives archipelago. Trophic was evaluated by carbon nitrogen contents stable isotopes hosts algal symbionts isotopic niche position size. Seawater...
Abstract Coral capacity to tolerate low pH affects coral community composition and, ultimately, reef ecosystem function. Low submarine discharges (‘Ojo’; Yucatán, México) represent a natural laboratory study plasticity and acclimatization in relation ocean acidification. A previous >2‐year transplant experiment ambient common garden sites revealed differential survivorship across species sites, providing framework compare mechanistic responses exposures. Here, we examined gene expression...
Addressing the global decline of coral reefs requires effective actions from managers, policymakers and society as a whole. Coral reef scientists are therefore challenged with task providing prompt relevant inputs for science-based decision-making. Here, we provide baseline dataset, covering 1300 km tropical habitats globally, comprised over one million geo-referenced, high-resolution photo-quadrats analysed using artificial intelligence to automatically estimate proportional cover benthic...
Abstract Back‐to‐back marine heatwaves in 2016 and 2017 resulted severe coral bleaching mortality across the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Encouragingly, some corals that survived these events exhibit increased resistance may represent thermally tolerant populations can better cope with ocean warming. Using GBR as a natural laboratory, we investigated whether history of minimal (Heron Island) or (Lizard equates to stress tolerance successive heatwave (2020). We examined genetic diversity,...