A01班 (研究代表者 : James  D. Reimer)
Environmental, ecological, and genetic observations of coral reef Symbiodiniaceae-host holobiont symbioses  

In this research we will examine zooxanthellate species living in well-lit areas and azooxanthellate sibling species in caves and cracks of coral species in genus Palythoa. We will first collect environmental data from the microenvironment of individual colonies on coral reefs, and then genetically examine collected specimens. This will be followed by in situ reciprocal light/dark transplant experiments of all species to examine changes in zooxanthellae types/ratios and gene expression. We will collate this multi-variable environmental, ecological and genetic dataset, to inform downstream aquaria experiments and network analyses. Palythoa specimens will be provided for these downstream experiments from our group. Furthermore, we will then ground-truth predictions generated by network analyses. This work represents a unique, first-time chance to understand the roles of environment and symbiont types (or lack of symbionts) on the evolution of coral species, and will create a radical new template for symbioses studies along with a new model system for hexacorals.