DNA reveals the past and future of coral reefs
New DNA techniques are being used to understand how coral reacted to the end of the last ice age in order to better predict how they will cope with current changes to the climate. James Cook Univer
From 2005 to 2022, the main node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies was headquartered at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland (Australia)
Abstract: Marine calcifiers such as corals and foraminifera interact with their environment via a micro-layer, surrounding their tissue surfaces and individual cell bodies. By the application of microsensing technology, we show how the extracellular microenvironment (< 1cm) around corals and foraminifera is largely governed by their metabolism and how physical changes in the extracellular – such as covering coral tissue or applying low/stagnant flow conditions – can result in transport limitation, stressing corals and resulting in tissue death and necrosis. Perspectives on future research projects will be given, further investigating these concepts in coral/disease, coral/sediment and coral/lesion interactions.
Biography: Martin Glas got his PhD last year from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany where he is currently a postdoctoral fellow. His dissertation was entitled ‘The importance of microgradients for marine calcifiers’ during which his research combined microsensor, (fluorescence-) microscopy, hyper-spectral imaging, light absorption/reflectance, mass spectrometry and chemical analyses in marine environments both in the field and laboratory. During that time he had a joint project with researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. His current studies in the Microsensor Group at the Max Planck focus on microenvironmental controls in calcifier–substrate interactions.
New DNA techniques are being used to understand how coral reacted to the end of the last ice age in order to better predict how they will cope with current changes to the climate. James Cook Univer
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