Meet the folks in the ToBo (Toonen & Bowen) Lab.

The P.I.s:

Brian Bowen: My research program is designed to serve conservation goals by illuminating the evolutionary processes that generate biodiversity. In terrestrial systems, populations are usually defined by discontinuous fragments of habitat. These populations may eventually develop intrinsic reproductive barriers, the starting point for speciation. Hence habitat discontinuities may explain most cases of speciation on land, but what about speciation in the sea, where few such barriers exist? In the sea, the evolutionary rules may be different, or they may operate on a vastly different scale due to the connectivity of a trans-global aquatic medium.

Rob Toonen: I did my Master’s Degree in the Pawlik Lab at UNCW, before moving on to a PhD in the Grosberg Lab at UC Davis. I joined the faculty at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology in 2003, but I have a hard time describing my research program in a few sentences. During my research career, I have used a variety of approaches (including individual behavioral assays, ecological experiments in both the field and laboratory, and molecular genetic tools) in an effort to address a variety of interesting biological questions. I don’t really fit neatly into a traditional field, but I tend to focus my research interests primarily on marine invertebrates. Projects that I have been involved with over the years include jellyfish feeding behavior, chemical defenses of coral reef sponges, genetic structure and patterns of dispersal in coral reef invertebrates, invasion biology, conservation and marine protected area design, cues for larval settlement, population genetics and phylogenetics of marine invertebrates, and marine ornamental culture & aquarium science.

Obviously, with that grocery list of interests, it is not easy to describe my research interests fully in a paragraph here. However, much of my current research focuses on the processes that influence dispersal and recruitment in coastal marine invertebrates, and I am particularly interested in the evolutionary consequences of larval developmental modes among Hawaiian coral reef species. In general, I try to approach my research from an ecological perspective to scale up from genes to individuals to populations, and ultimately to the micro- and macro-evolutionary consequences of the processes being studied.

Our Lab Manager:

Zoltan szabo: Zoli comes to us as a former post-doc in the UH Manoa medical school who decided that he wanted to spend less time searching for mutations in elastin, and more time diving. He is working on a number of projects to retrain as a marine biologist as he makes ends meet by managing the lab and helping out with the various research projects listed below.

The Post-docs:

Matt Craig: My research focuses on explaining the processes which create patterns of marine biodiversity. To accomplish this, I use both traditional, systematic approaches, as well as recent advances in coalescent theory and its application to phylogeography. In collaboration with several members of the ToBo Lab, as well as colleagues both abroad and in the U.S., I work towards understanding how processes like speciation and its relative rate and ease may affect parameters such as species richness and diversity over evolutionary time scales. Speciation in the marine environment remains a challenging topic in evolutionary biodiversity. The presence of a pelagic larval stage in many marine organisms makes it difficult to describe mechanisms of speciation as this life history trait may swamp out many historical signals that are more easily detected in terrestrial systems.

Chris Bird: The endemic limpets of Hawaii, collectively known as opihi, comprise a valuable fishery resource with prominent cultural significance in Hawaii. Three species of opihi, Cellana exarata (opihi maka’iauli), C. sandwicensis (opihi a’lena’lena), and C. talcosa (opihi ko’ele), can be found on most wave-exposed littoral rocky shores in the main Hawaiian Islands. A fourth species, C. melanostoma, is more abundant in the northwest Hawaiian Islands, with reports of small populations on the main islands. However the taxonomic validity of this fourth species remains a subject of debate. Using molecular genetic tools in concert with morphological studies, we seek to examine relationships between the Hawaiian opihi and resolve outstanding taxonomic issues. This work is being done in collaboration with Dr. Brenden Holland as well as the ToBo lab. We also seek to develop, test and use microsatellite DNA markers to document high-resolution patterns of genetic stock structure in opihi. A primary focus of this research is the comparison of population structure among the different opihi species. These same data can be used to infer patterns of dispersal among geographic locations within and among the Hawaiian Islands. A more solid understanding of patterns of intra-specific connectivity can then be applied to the planning and design of any management scheme targeting these species and aimed at enhancing yield and sustainability of the fisheries.

Kim Selkoe: I am generally interested in using population genetic tools to answer ecological questions in marine systems. I am currently working on two projects for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve Initiative: (1) I am evaluating the vulnerability of the NWHI ecosystem to anthropogenic threats with an approach that considers the ecological impacts of threats on different habitats. GIS whiz Eric Franklin will help me to map the distribution of threats and their impacts on the NWHI. (2) I am developing a simulation approach to inferring connectivity patterns from empirical genetic datasets. This is an individual-based model, coded in Matlab by my collaborator Brian Kinlan, that allows detailed input of values for many life history, dispersal, demographic, marker and sampling parameters in order to mimic real datasets. I will team up with all of the other ToBo lab members working on the population genetics of NWHI species to analyze their datasets with this tool and build a community-level picture of similarities and differences in connectivity patterns across the NWHI.

Luiz Rocha: My research interests and experience are centered on the evolution, phylogeography (or the geographic distribution of genetic lineages), biogeography, systematics and community and behavioral ecology of coral reef fishes. I frequently try to combine these fields, invoking ecology to help explain evolutionary patterns and using molecular tools to test biogeographic and systematic hypotheses. The overall objective of this interdisciplinary research is to test existing hypotheses (and propose new ones) about what generates and maintains the extremely high biodiversity in tropical coral reefs.

The Students working in our lab:

Kim Andrews: The Hawaiian spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) is found throughout all of the main Hawaiian Islands and some of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and is genetically distinct from other spinner dolphin populations worldwide. The goal of this research is to determine the genetic structure within the Hawaiian spinner dolphin population. Hawaiian spinner dolphins are found closely associated with islands and are rarely seen in the deep channels between the islands. Within the Hawaiian spinner dolphin population there is plasticity of social structure—in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands they have more stable social groups whereas in the Main Hawaiian Islands they have more fluid social groups. Data on the genetic structure of these dolphins will be used to determine which ecological factors, such as geographic distance between islands or differences in social structure, are creating barriers to gene flow within the Hawaiian spinner dolphin. These data will allow assessment of the conservation status of the Hawaiian spinner dolphin as well as recommendations for the development of effective management units within the population. Preliminary results suggest that spinner dolphins at each of the Main Hawaiian Islands form a genetically distinct population, and these populations are distinct from the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

Dan Barshis: In the near future, the threat of Global Climate Change will increase dramatically. Natural resource managers around the world will be faced with the challenge of how to combat a universal problem on local scale. Because of the minimal response of national and international communities to this imminent threat, the responsibility will likely fall on the shoulders of local area policy makers, ecologists, and resource managers to develop effective conservation strategies. My research focuses on developing an ecological framework from which to understand the response of corals to large-scale environmental changes. I am examining specific internal mechanisms that the corals and their associated symbionts can use to survive environmental stresses, specifically, the production of heat-stress and antioxident defense proteins. If it is shown that intrinsically some corals are predisposed towards surviving stress, than it is important to protect these areas from local disturbances so they may serve the purpose of regeneration after large-scale mortality events.

Greg Concepcion: Greg is interested in the systematics and phylogeograpy of scleractinian corals, and is working on the phylogeography and evolution of Hawaiian Acroporid corals for his dissertation. He has been developing new molecular markers to use for his research as a graduate student starting this fall. He is currently evaluating these new tools for use in clarifying species-level relationships among scleractinian corals, and together with a variety of collaborators is trying to complete a world-wide phylogeny of the coral genus Pocillopora. Greg is also collaborating with Marc Crepeau and Sam Kahng (below) on a study of the snowflake coral, Carijoa riisei. The snowflake coral was first reported in Hawaii in 1972 and has since spread throughout the main Hawaiian islands. Unlike the hard corals more familiar to us in Hawaii, Carijoa is a soft coral forming erect, branching colonies with thin, flexible stems. Based on morphological characters, this soft coral was identified as Carijoa riisei which is native to the western Atlantic. Using DNA marker technology we are studying the phylogeography of Carijoa to determine how it has spread across the Pacific. When did Carijoa arrive in Hawaii and where did it come from? Did this species arrive once and spread, or has it been introduced repeatedly? How has this coral managed to spread so quickly throughout the Hawaiian Islands? How are the populations in Hawaii related to populations elsewhere in the Pacific? Are the populations throughout the Pacific also invaders? The answers to these questions will not lead to the eradication of Carijoa, but the answers may help us learn how the coral got here, how to prevent it from spreading further, and possibly where to look in order to prevent future introductions.

Toby Daly-Engel: Many animals, including sharks, have a reproductive strategy that includes multiple paternity, which is the fertilization of a single batch of eggs by sperm from more than one male. Females accomplish this by storing sperm from multiple matings for long periods of time in a gland called the oviducal, and using it to self-fertilize later. This practice is thought to maintain genetic diversity, especially in populations that are small or have undergone population depletion due to human exploitation and other pressures. This project addresses the question of multiple paternity in three related species of sharks in Hawaii, and expands on one of these species, the sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus), by measuring the frequency at which multiple paternity occurs in the population. Hawaii provides a unique setting for this study because of the lack of commercial fishing for coastal sharks, the only place in the world where these species are not targeted. These data will be important in helping to expand the body of knowledge on the reproductive strategy of sharks, an area of research that is becoming increasingly important in the face of escalating concern about the over exploitation of sharks throughout the world and a growing need for shark conservation.

Matt Dunlap: The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are one of the few coral reef ecosystems that receive little direct human influence.  Spanning about 1200 nautical miles, these islands support ecosystems teeming with life.  The remote nature of the reefs both protects them, and endangers them. My research will use molecular techniques to address important questions about coral reef ecosystem monitoring and marine reserve design.  For a couple of years, I have been working with the National Marine Fisheries Service in the Coral Reef Ecosystem Division to categorize benthic habitat with video towboard surveys of these remote coral reefs.  The goal is to characterize the ecosystem regularly and identify change. Some questions to be addressed by molecular techniques are: how much overlap is there between populations of the various islands of the NWHI?   For example, if an entire coral population on one island were lost to bleaching, would new recruits come from elsewhere?  The identification of adult and newly settled coral recruits with genetic methods is a potentially useful tool, because visual identification is problematic.

Jeff Eble: The collection of fishes from the wild for the aquarium trade is a hot issue here in Hawaii due, in part, to documented declines in the abundance of collected species. The state of Hawaii stands third as a world source of aquarium fishes, exceeded only by exports of live specimens from the Philippines and Singapore. Recently, Hawaii has made attempts to mitigate impacts from the aquarium trade through the establishment of a series of experimental aquarium no-take zones along the Kona Coast. Whether our attempts to manage marine populations are ultimately successful is dependant on our understanding of how marine species interact with their environment. The life cycle of most reef fish consists of an early larval phase that is potentially subject to dispersal by ocean currents. Through genetic examinations of the popular Hawaiian reef fish, the Yellow Tang (Zebrasoma flavescens) we are working to better understand how to optimize the success of Marine Protected Areas by identifying patterns of larval dispersal among and within islands.

Michelle Gaither: Coral reef ecosystems are facing a perilous future due to a number of well-defined factors that include over-fishing, pollution, and habitat destruction. To preserve the biodiversity inherent in these rich ecosystems and to protect overexploited resources, many nations are setting aside areas of coral reef habitat to form marine protected areas (MPAs). Due to social and political constraints the amount of habitat that can be set aside and the degree of protection it can be afforded is limited. As a result scientists and managers must carefully design these preserves to ensure maximum benefit. Understanding population dynamics of reef organisms, the extent of larval dispersal, and the patterns of interconnection of local populations, are essential to the design of MPAs. For my dissertation, I am studying recruitment in reef-fish populations around the Hawaiian Islands. I want to determine how spatially separated populations are connected through larval dispersal, the significance of self-recruitment to population maintenance and how these factors relate to the design of MPAs. He interests also include invasive species, because she is focused on the invasive blue-line snapper (Lutjanus kasmira or Ta’ape) which was intentionally introduced to Hawaii in the 1950s.

Ranya Henson: has just begun to work in the lab, and has yet to add anything to the web page. Her interests include invertebrate biology, phylogeography and population structure, and plans examine phylogeography of the shingle urchin genus Colobocentrotus.

Matt Iacchei: Matt’s interests include community ecology, conservation biology, & population genetics. He is currently using molecular genetic techniques to study the population genetics of Hawaiian spiny lobster (Panulirus marginatus) and scaly slipper lobster (Scyllarides squammosus) across the Hawaiian archipelago. He is also involved in projects tracking movements of California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) using both mark-release-recapture and genetic techniques.

Joe O’Malley: In 2000, after 25 years of operations, the Hawaii-based commercial fishery for spiny lobster (Panulirus marginatus) and slipper lobster (Scyllarides squammosus) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands was closed because of increasing uncertainty about the status of the lobster stocks and the mathematical population models used to assess the stocks and their abundance. The NWHI lobster fishery had been one of Hawaii’s largest commercial fisheries and information on the lobster populations represented one of the longest time-series in the region, providing potentially key information on the status of the NWHI ecosystem. I have been working at the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Biology and Stock Assessment Division to provide the necessary key biological information missing from our understanding of lobster life history strategies. Current research, aboard federal research vessels and chartered fishing vessels, include a large-scale tagging program for information on lobster growth rates, movements, and natural mortality, a trap camera system that records lobster behavior in-and-around traps, and various attempts at understanding recruitment processes. I am also interested in how large environmental shifts effect lobster populations and biology.

Jon Puritz: Recent actions in public policy such as the Final Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy and the Kyoto Protocol are designed to identify and remedy negative anthropogenic alterations to the environment and to the species of the global biosphere. These polices are dependent on ground-breaking ecological and conservational research that reveals the wide-ranging impacts of industrialized life. However, most of this research has only emerged in the last two decades and remains focused on readily apparent biological indicators, and analyses of proposed conservation solutions often focus only on ecological/economic indicators. The swiftness and magnitude of anthropogenic ecological forces may have farther-reaching, long-term implications beyond what is already understood; altering ecosystems will influence the evolution of species contained within them, and applying conservation solutions without a complete understanding of the ecosystem, ecologically and evolutionarily, may doom our efforts.

Marine ecosystems, in particular, face a precarious situation: large social and economic needs for conservation, but limited evolutionary research on these unique systems. As the largest biosphere on the planet, the world's oceans provide many important ecosystem services, but complex trophic interactions, multipart oceanographic processes, and the potential for high gene flow (80 percent of all marine taxa have planktonic larvae) makes their evolutionary study a daunting task. I hope to combine ecological field sampling techniques with evolutionary lab methods into a research approach that can uniquely address the challenges of marine systems and to further the knowledge of the evolutionary consequences of modern industrialized society.

Jenny Schultz: Have you ever wondered why some marine fish are found throughout the world and others are only found locally? It is not surprising that highly migratory oceanic species are widely dispersed; likewise, ocean currents may carry fish eggs and larvae very far. But how is it possible that a live-bearing species with limited movement can be found in all oceans? The lemon shark is one such species. Individuals give birth to live young and have a small home range, yet both Pacific and Atlantic species exhibit a wide distribution throughout their respective ocean basins. Is their present-day distribution reflective of an ancient dispersal before the spreading of continents or the emergence of oceanographic or geological barriers? Or do these “coastal” sharks migrate much farther than we realize, even across the open ocean? I will answer these questions by comparing the DNA of lemon sharks from throughout the world.

My second project revolves around the endangered Hawaiian monk seal which is found only in Hawaii. Until a few years ago, you would have to go to the Northwest Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) to catch a glimpse of one. Now, sightings are common on and off the shores of the Main Hawaiian Islands (MHI) as well. Though most NWHI seals were tagged as pups by the National Marine Fisheries Services, many of the MHI seals do not have tags. So where did these seals come from? Do these seals mate with NWHI seals? To answer these questions, we will compare the DNA from NWHI and MHI seals. In doing so, we will provide the National Marine Fisheries Services with important scientific data to aid in making informed management decisions.

Derek skillings: Derek is interested in both biology and philosophy, and is hoping to combine them in his dissertation. He is currently working on the population genetic structure of sea cucumbers (Holothuria atra & H. whitmaei) across the Hawaiian archipelago. In collaboration with members of Paul Barber & Gustav Paulay’s labs, he is also planning to complete a study of population structure in these edible sea cucumbers across the entire Pacific.

Tonatiuh Trejo: Effective conservation and management strategies for commercially targeted marine fishes require knowledge of their population structure. I am using microsatellites as a genetic marker to study the population structure, genetic diversity, patterns of dispersal, and the age and stability of Pacific stocks of two species of deepwater snappers, Ehu (Etelis carbunculus) and Onaga (Etelis coruscans). These fishes occur throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean at depths of 90 to 400 meters, and support major fisheries in Hawaii and across the West Pacific. However, recent stock assessments in Hawaii, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands indicate substantial declines in the snapper fishery.

In addition to my current research, I hope to continue previous molecular work I've done with sharks. I recently graduated from the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, where I studied the global phylogeography of thresher sharks (Alopias pelagicus, A. superciliosus, and A. vulpinus). My data provide evidence for significant genetic differentiation among thresher shark populations; therefore, international cooperation will be required for the sustainable management of these species, which are vulnerable to exploitation because they grow slowly, produce few offspring, and have long inter-birth intervals.

Daniel Wagner: Black corals are of major ecological, cultural and economic importance to the State of Hawaii. The Hawaiian black corals A. dichotoma and A. grandis are among the major habitat forming species at depths between 70-125 m, and therefore ecologically critical for a myriad of fish and invertebrate species. Black coral is the official gemstone of the state, and the black coral fishery supports a multi-million state wide precious coral jewelry industry. Until recently, the black coral fishery has been sustainable. However, new developments such as black coral overgrowth by an invasive octocoral (Carijoa sp.), as well as increases in harvesting pressure, have renewed scrutiny on the black coral fishery and raised questions about whether regulations need to be redefined in order to maintain a sustainable harvest. Through the study of black coral reproduction and genetic connectivity among different populations, I hope to be able provide information that can guide decisions about future management of these important foundational species.

Nick Whitney: Whitetip reef sharks (Triaenodon obesus) don’t seem to move around much. Though most sharks have to keep swimming in order to breath, whitetips can breathe while lying in place. They take advantage of this skill by resting in caves for much of the daylight hours, and only come out at night to feed on the reef. Despite spending so much time resting, whitetips can be found throughout the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. How do they maintain such a broad distribution if they never go anywhere? We’re examining that question using three different methods. First, we’re attaching electronic tags to whitetips that allow us to track their movements from a boat, or by monitoring them with underwater listening stations. Second, we are collecting pictures of whitetips to use for photo-identification. These sharks have spot patterns on their sides that are unique for each individual, and thus act as a fingerprint or a “natural tag.” We’re developing a photo library of individual sharks to keep track of when and where they have been seen. The third method we’re using is population genetics. We’re analyzing differences in the DNA of whitetip populations throughout the tropical Indo-Pacific. Taken altogether, this research should tell us if whitetip reef sharks really are as site-attached as they seem, and how much gene flow takes place between apparently isolated populations. This information is critical for management purposes because shark populations around the world are in decline from over-fishing. More info online at whitetip.hawaii.edu

Other folks working in the lab with us:

Ross Shaw: Ross is a faculty member in the Department of Biology at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He came out for a summer professional exchange program to learn molecular techniques of studying coral population biology, and we plan to continue that collaboration into the future. Together with Greg Concepcion (above), Ross is currently working on a phylogeny of the Hawaiian coral genus Montipora with a focus on some Species of Concern for conservation and management.

Carly Allen & Crow White: are working on the whelk Kelletia kelletia in collaboration with Danielle Zacherl to compare directly the results of population genetic inferences of larval dispersal and connectivity to those obtained with statolith microchemistry.

Alumni:

Kanesa Duncan: Kanesa completed her dissertation on scalloped hammerhead sharks in 2005, and promptly moved on to a teaching position in Biology at Manoa. Her research focused on the importance of nurseries for juvenile hammerhead sharks: We know that nurseries are important habitats for newborn scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) for at least a year. However, we wondered about the importance of specific nurseries, like Kaneohe Bay, to populations of scalloped hammerhead sharks. To investigate this, we collected small clips of shark fin from baby sharks in nurseries around the world. We collected from the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans: 258 sharks in total. We then used these shark fin clips to compare the mitochondrial DNA from sharks in different nurseries. Since mtDNA is passed only from mother to offspring (fathers don’t contribute mtDNA), this allowed us to determine if female sharks, like salmon or sea turtles, return to their home nursery every breeding season. We have found a high degree of genetic separation between nurseries, but we also see evidence of straying. In other words, it looks like hammerheads generally return the area where they were born, but they are not as loyal to these areas as sea turtles are to their home beach or salmon to their home stream. Our data also suggest that the first scalloped hammerhead evolved in the Pacific Ocean, spread into the Indian Ocean, and then into the Atlantic. We also see that there are more sharks traveling between the Pacific and Indian than from the Indian into the Atlantic. This data is important because it confirms that scalloped hammerheads generally do return to their home nursery. This behavior means that populations are relatively local, and therefore more easily over fished. It also provides a mechanism for hammerhead sharks to isolate populations and develop into new species, which has happened seven times in the genus Sphyrna. And, we now think that there may even be a newer eight species in the Atlantic Ocean.

Anuschka Faucci: Anuschka was a student of Mike Hadfield, but worked on two projects in collaboration with our lab. She first finished a phylogenetic study of host preference in Phestilla nudibranchs (Faucci et al. 2006), and is now working to revise and submit her dissertation project for publication. Her main dissertation research focused on the systematics and phylogeography of vermetid gastropods in the Hawaiian Archipelago, and the role of life history differences in patterns of connectivity among marine invertebrates.

Kim Weersing: My research interests are diverse, so narrowing my focus for grad school turned out to be a lengthy and meandering task which involved working on seabird foraging projects in Oregon and Alaska, ecotoxicology research in Maryland, and teaching marine biology in British Columbia. I ultimately settled on marine ecology and conservation and decided that the most promising and exciting conservation work lay in marine protected areas. Effective design and management of marine refuges requires detailed knowledge of population structure and connectivity. For my graduate work, I did a meta-analysis of 300 published studies to examine the relationship between the duration of pelagic larval stages of marine species and resultant population genetic structure as it relates to the design and effectiveness of MPAs.

Sarah Daley: Sarah came to Hawaii from Davis, where she worked in the DBS core sequencing facility. She set up and ran the EPSCoR Evolutionary Genetics facility at HIMB from 2003 - 2006. In her spare time around that full-time job, she developed and optimizing microsatellite primers for isopods of the genus Idotea in a collaborative project with John Wares at the University of Georgia. She has moved on to Arizona where she is working in a medical lab and taking graduate classes in preparation for Vet School.

Marc Crepeau: Marc worked as our lab manager from 2004-2006, before moving on to manage a medical lab in Mexico.

Laurie Sorenson: worked in our lab as part of the NSF/Sea-Grant funded Marine Science Undergraduate Research Fellowship (MSURF) program before becoming a lab assistant on a variety of projects for the remainder of her undergraduate degree. She did a great job and recently moved on to a graduate program to pursue her own research.

Sam Kahng: Sam completed his dissertation in 2006, and is currently applying for jobs. Hawaii's black coral is used to make jewelry and other objects, and is the official state gem of Hawaii. The black coral industry in Hawaii is currently worth an estimated $30 million-per-year. However, this industry is now threatened by the growth of the snowflake coral, Carijoa riisei. The snowflake coral is overgrowing black coral colonies and invading large expanses of barren areas on the ocean floor. Despite its potential economic significance very little is known about the origin, reproduction and dispersal of Carijoa. Although typically known as a shallow water species, in its native range, in 2001 deep-water surveys near Maui discovered Carijoa riisei overgrowing many dead black coral colonies where healthy live black corals had previously dominated at depths of 65-115 meters. In shallow water, Carijoa is limited to areas with ledges and ridges that provide shade in shallow water, but the coral grows explosively into the open at depths of 180 or deeper. Sam is working on the ecological impact and potential for control of Carijoa riisei in Hawaii. The beautiful, but deadly, snowflake coral has exploded in abundance and is still spreading at depth throughout Hawaii. Sam is especially interested in studying the characteristics of this species that make it so effective at monopolizing these deep habitats as a model to understand invasions in the marine habitat.

Brian Boeing: Brian completed his Master’s degree in Oceanography in 2007 before departing to travel around the world for a year. Coral bleaching, in which corals lose their photosynthetic algal symbionts, is a phenomenon that is recognized as one of fundamental ecological importance. However, mechanisms by which bleaching occurs are not at all well understood. Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS) is an enzyme which beaks down the amino acid arginine to form the free radical gaseous signaling molecule Nitric Oxide (NO). It has previously been shown that the amount of NO produced by the algal symbiont corresponds to the amount of bleaching undergone by that particular coral colony. Also different types of algal symbionts that live inside the corals produce different amounts of NO under the same stressed conditions and therefore undergo different amounts of bleaching. Biochemical and molecular biological tools will be used to study the dynamics of the coral-algal symbioses, which will present a more clearly defined picture of the intricacies of coral bleaching.

Iliana Baums: Iliana completed her post-doc in the ToBo lab in 2006 before moving to a faculty position at Penn State. Molecular evolution and ecology encompasses studies of process on three different time scales - affecting populations, affecting species, and affecting long-term molecular evolution. My interest lies in testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses concerning all three time scales. I focus on research projects that can contribute to both our basic understanding of ecosystems and have applications in conservation biology. Currently, I develop and apply molecular tools to understand the influence of biogeography, population structure, and mating patterns on the survival and evolution of corals and other marine organisms.

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