Collaborative Research: Assessing the Effect of Environmental Stressors on Invertebrate Innate Immunity using a Coral Pathosystem

Mydlarz, Laura IOS-1017458

LiT: Collaborative Research: Assessing the effect of environmental stressors on invertebrate innate immunity using a coral pathosystem

The abundance of reef-building corals has declined dramatically over the last decades. The main causes of coral loss are related to ocean warming, nutrient pollution and disease outbreaks, all resulting from anthropogenic-induced climate change. Observations indicate that number and prevalence of coral diseases have increased over the last two decades and new epizootics nearly every year suggest that environmental stressors drive or exacerbate coral disease. This project will examine coral resistance to pathogens and variation in innate immunity, as well as quantify the effects of ocean warming and nutrient pollution on the effectiveness of coral immune responses. The project will focus on the Montastraea faveolata Yellow Band Disease (YBD) system. The genus Montastraea is one of the most important groups of corals of modern western Atlantic coral reefs, however, Montastraea spp. populations have declined dramatically mainly due to bleaching and disease.

Using assays for cellular and cell-free processes in coral immunity, the PIs will examine the variability in disease resistance in naturally infected corals, the reaction time and recovery time from temperature stress and how the combination of stressors influence coral immunity in the presence of YBD pathogens. This project will also train undergraduates and graduate students at multiple universities, and promote exchange between four universities. Funding will support a novel service-learning project. Undergraduate students from an upper-level marine biology course will prepare and execute a lesson plan for junior high school students based on concepts from their course and this project. One of the investigators on this project will collaborate with professional educators and outreach specialists at a Planetarium and a public-oriented Science Center to develop an interactive museum display and K-4 summer camp programs.