CORALASSIST LAB
Research
Physiological and proteogenomic traits
Despite corals been highly sensitive to changes in sea water temperature, some corals are more resistant to warming than others. Our research focuses on why some corals in a population are more heat tolerant of than others.
Trade-offs between adaptive coral traits
Some algal symbiont taxa confer higher heat tolerance to their coral hosts at the expense of other traits like growth, raising questions about the adaptive potential of corals under climate change. But do such trade-offs also exist independent of the symbiont, relating to the coral host itself?
Assisted evolution via selective breeding
Assisted evolution is one of the innovative methods being proposed to help corals to persist in the face of climate change. Out research focuses on examining the feasibility of selective breeding for heat tolerance as conservation tool.
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Restoration techniques
Our research focuses primarily coral larval propagation via sexual reproduction and how this approach can be incorporated into reef restoration and rehabilitation initiatives involving assisted evolution.
Populations, demographics & biophysical modelling
Linking individual-scale biology to large-scale population and ecosystem processes via computer modelling can help understand coral reef futures and provide useful tools for science and monitoring.
Coral reproductive biology and spawning phenology
Reproduction is a fundamental process that is essential to the recovery and persistence of coral reefs. Our research aims to unravel the causes of variation in reproductive biology among taxa and geographical locations.
