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<p class="MsoNormal">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Biology Department Seminar<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thursday, April 14, 2022 – 12:00 Noon <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Cynthia Becker<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">PhD Candidate MIT-WHOI Joint Program<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Evaluating Modern Tools for Understanding the Status of Florida's Coral Reef<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Recently, there have been promising efforts in the use of ‘omics techniques to identify and quantify two key components of the reef ecosystem that may serve as sensors for reef health - microorganisms and dissolved metabolites. These proposed
sensors are connected; dissolved metabolites are the chemical currencies released by reef organisms, and these compounds are transferred among microorganisms, contributing to nutrient cycling on reefs. In Florida’s Coral Reef (FCR), the largest barrier reef
system in the United states, decades of anthropogenic pressure, warming oceans, and disease outbreaks have deteriorated these reefs. In contrast, at the westernmost edge of this reef system, the Dry Tortugas National Park harbors reefs with generally higher
coral cover, greater coral calcification rates, and is relatively isolated from anthropogenic influence. Additionally, this region showed years of resilience to the highly contagious stony coral tissue loss disease that spread across the rest of the reef system.
To better understand the chemical and microbial signatures of Florida’s Coral Reef, we conducted a cruise in 2019 where we sampled 84 total reefs for organic carbon, inorganic nutrients, and microbial cell abundances. At a subset of reefs, we sampled coral
reef seawater for microbial metagenomes and metabolomics. In addition, we sampled coral tissue and near-coral seawater of corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease. I will share our findings from these multi-‘omic datasets and discuss how they shed
light into our understanding of Florida’s Coral Reef.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>In person</b>: Redfield Auditorium <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Zoom</b>: <a href="https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/91823347169">
https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/j/91823347169</a> Meeting ID: 918 2334 7169 <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>By dial</b>: Find your local number: <a href="https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/u/aeI9oL5wBV">
https://whoi-edu.zoom.us/u/aeI9oL5wBV</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
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