I participated in the following projects as a undergraduate researcher in the Correa lab |
Transgenerational effects of chronic nutrient enrichment on corals |
Impacts of stormwater runoff on offshore reefs |
Viral and dinoflagellate dynamics in heat-stressed corals |
My undergraduate senior thesis work looked at the effects of nitrate enrichment on the microbial communities of adult Pocillopora acuta colonies in French Polynesia and their individual larval offspring. Results of this work, combined with gene expression data, suggest that P. acuta holobionts may be resilient to the impacts of nitrate upon mitigation of the stressor. Find the published results here.
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As part of a larger team working to monitor the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary following several massive flooding events on the Texas Gulf Coast (e.g. Hurricane Harvey), I looked for evidence of human wastewater contamination and reduced seawater salinity in sponge microbiomes using qPCR. Find the published results here, and read more about the work here and here.
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To examine the impact of heat stress on the coral microbiome, Lauren Howe-Kerr and I performed tank based experiments on colonies of Acropora hyacinthus in Mo'orea, French Polynesia. We compared the communities of dinoflagellates and their associated viruses that were retained vs expelled from the coral tissues using molecular methods and transmission electron microscopy. See some of the results published here.
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