People

I am a Senior Research Fellow studying meta-organism response to environmental stressors, host-microbe interactions, and symbioses in the marine environment. My research aims to determine how host-microbe interactions influence organism physiology, adaptation and acclimation, and responses to climate change.

Research Areas: Stress biology, Cell biology, Immunity, Disease, Symbiosis 

The main focus of my research is to investigate the cellular and molecular response’s of corals to environmental stressors as a means to better understand the impact of climate change and disease in reef ecosystems.

Student projects are available in the following research areas

• Bacterial symbioses in reef organisms
• Coral and coral reef microbial ecology
• Cell death regulation in lower organisms
• Tissue regeneration in reef forming corals
• Mechanistic links between thermal stress events and coral disease
• Deep water, cold water and mesophotic coral reef biology

Publications online

Selected Publications

• Kelly, Lisa A.,Heintz, Tom, Lamb, Joleah B., Ainsworth, Tracy D., and Willis, Bette L. (2016) Ecology and pathology of novel plaque-like growth anomalies affecting a reef-building coral on the Great Barrier Reef. Frontiers in Marine Science, 3. pp. 1-12.
• Cinner, Joshua Eli,Pratchett, Morgan Stuart, Graham, Nicholas Anthony James Graham, Messmer, Vanessa, Fuentes, Mariana Menezes Prata Bezerra, Ainsworth, Tracy, Ban, Natalie, Bay, Line Kolind, Blythe, Jessica, Dissard, Delphine, Dunn, Simon, Evans, Louisa, Fabinyi, Michael, Fidelman, Pedro, Figueiredo, Joana, Frisch, Ashley, Fulton, Christopher John, Hicks, Christina Chemtai, Lukoschek, Vimoksalehi, Mallela, Jenny, Moya, Aurelie, Penin, Lucie, Rummer, Jodie Lynn, Walker, Stefan, and Williamson, David Hall (2016) A framework for understanding climate change impacts on coral reef social–ecological systems. Regional Environmental Change, 16 (4). pp. 1133-1146.
• Ainsworth, Tracy D.,Heron, Scott F., Ortiz, Juan Carlos, Mumby, Peter J., Grech, Alana, Ogawa, Daisie, Eakin, C. Mark, and Leggat, William (2016) Climate change disables coral bleaching protection on the Great Barrier Reef. Science, 352 (6283). pp. 338-342.
• Ainsworth, Tracy D., andGates, Ruth D. (2016) Corals’ microbial sentinels: the coral microbiome will be key to future reef health. Science, 352 (6293). pp. 1518-1519.
• Wada, Naohisa,Pollock, Frederic J., Willis, Bette L., Ainsworth, Tracy, Mano, Nobuhiro, and Bourne, David G. (2016) In situ visualization of bacterial populations in coral tissues: pitfalls and solutions. PeerJ, 4.
• Correa, Adrienne M.S.,Ainsworth, Tracy D., Rosales, Stephanie M., Thurber, Andrew R., Butler, Christopher R., and Thurber, Rebecca L. Vega (2016) Viral outbreak in corals associated with an in situ bleaching event: atypical herpes-like viruses and a new megavirus infecting Symbiodinium. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7. pp. 1-14.
• Hernandez-Agreda, Alejandra,Leggat, William, Bongaerts, Pim, and Ainsworth, Tracy D. (2016) The microbial signature provides insight into the mechanistic basis of coral success across reef habitats. mBio, 7 (4). pp. 1-10.
• Li, Xin,Gorle, Anil K., Ainsworth, Tracy D., Heimann, Kirsten, Woodward, Clifford E., Collins, J. Grant, and Keene, F. Richard (2015) RNA and DNA binding of inert oligonuclear ruthenium(II) complexes in live eukaryotic cells. Dalton Transactions, 44 (8). pp. 3594-3603.
• Casey, Jordan M,Connolly, Sean R., and Ainsworth, Tracy D. (2015) Coral transplantation triggers shift in microbiome and promotion of coral disease associated potential pathogens. Scientific Reports, 5. pp. 1-11.
• van De Water, Jeroen A.J.M.,Leggat, William, Bourne, David G., Van Oppen, Madeleine J.H., Willis, Bette L., and Ainsworth, Tracy D. (2015) Elevated seawater temperatures have a limited impact on the coral immune response following physical damage. Hydrobiologia, 759 (1). pp. 201-214.
• Hess, Sybille,Wenger, Amelia S., Ainsworth, Tracy D., and Rummer, Jodie L. (2015) Exposure of clownfish larvae to suspended sediment levels found on the Great Barrier Reef: impacts on gill structure and microbiome. Scientific Reports, 5. pp. 1-8.
• Ainsworth, T.D.,Knack, B., Ukani, L., Seneca, F., Weiss, Y., and Leggat, W. (2015) In situ hybridisation detects pro-apoptotic gene expression of a Bcl-2 family member in white syndrome-affected coral. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms, 117 (2). pp. 155-163.
• Hess, Sybille,Wenger, Amelia, Ainsworth, Tracy, and Rummer, Jodie (2015) Too turbid for nemo: suspended sediment impacts gills and favours pathogenic bacteria in clownfish larvae. In: [Presented at 145th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society]. From: AFS 2015: 145th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, 16-20 August 2015, Portland, OR, USA.
• Bourne, D.G.,Ainsworth, T.D., Pollock, F.J., and Willis, B.L. (2015) Towards a better understanding of white syndromes and their causes on Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Coral Reefs, 34 (1). pp. 233-242.
• Bourne, David G.,Ainsworth, Tracy D., and Willis, Bette L. (2015) White syndromes of Indo-Pacific corals. In: Woodley, Cheryl M., Downs, Craig A., Bruckner, Andrew W., Porter, James W., and Galloway, Sylvia B., (eds.) Diseases of Coral. John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ, USA, pp. 300-331.
• Ainsworth, Tracy D.,Krause, Lutz, Bridge, Thomas, Torda, Gergely, Raina, Jean-Baptiste, Zakrzewski, Martha, Gates, Ruth D., Padilla-Gamino, Jacqueline L., Spalding, Heather L., Smith, Celia, Woolsey, Erika S., Bourne, David G., Bongaerts, Pim, Hoegh-Guldberg, Ove, and Leggat, Bill (2015) The coral core microbiome identifies rare bacterial taxa as ubiquitous endosymbionts. ISME Journal: multidisciplinary journal of microbial ecology, 9. pp. 2261-2274.
• van de Water, A.J.M.,Ainsworth, Tracy D., Leggat, William, Bourne, David G., Willis, Bette L., and Van Oppen, Madeleine J.H. (2015) The coral immune response facilitates protection against microbes during tissue regeneration. Molecular Ecology, 24 (13). pp. 3390-3404.
• Casey, Jordan M.,Ainsworth, Tracy D., Choat, J. Howard, and Connolly, Sean R. (2014) Farming behaviour of reef fishes increases the prevalence of coral disease associated microbes and black band disease. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B, Biological Sciences, 281 (1788). pp. 1-8.