Stephan Bitterwolf
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2018
- Messages
- 18
- Reaction score
- 59
- Location
- Santa Cruz
- What state or country do you live in
- California
Hi all, in the last few days my friends and family have helped me raise a little over one thousand dollars for my coral research. That is already about 14% of my goal!
Yesterday, I shared a three minute video about my research. Today, I would like to share a short (712 word) research summary that I wrote with the general public in mind. I hope it adds clarity to the actual research I am conducting.
A stress test for coral reefs
Coral organisms create beautifully complex structures that serve as habitat for an estimated 1-9 million species and approximately a third of all marine fish (as juveniles or adults). Unfortunately, corals and the reefs they create are sensitive to changes in their environment and in the last 40 years, this environment has changed drastically. Some of these changes include warming of the oceans, acidification of the oceans, increased nutrient-rich runoff, changes to fish and invertebrate populations, and an overall increase in chemical pollutants that are easily absorbed into coral tissues.
These environmental changes have significant impacts on coral health. Warming oceans cause corals to lose their algal symbionts, turn bright white, and start to starve. Ocean acidification makes the construction of coral skeletons more energetically expensive. Nutrient pollution and loss of key herbivore species, force coral to compete with algae that both smother the seafloor and keep coral offspring from attaching to rocks. Chemical pollution affects coral biology causing mutations, disrupting reproduction, and hindering growth. When these stressors all exist on the same reef for extended periods, corals, and the organisms that depend on them, suffer drastically.
Since the 1980’s, scientists have estimated that environmental stressors have destroyed over 1/3rd of the world’s coral reefs. We’ve witnessed this loss through disease outbreaks, which include mass bleaching events, tissue loss, and changes to the reef’s overall health. The situation has become drastic enough to warrant intervention by concerned citizens, non-profit organizations, scientists, and federal programs. Together these entities have worked to develop restoration methods, restore damaged reefs, and fund scientific research focused on furthering our understanding of coral stress responses.
In my PhD research, I aim to determine if the coral stress response is predictable and telling of the coral’s stress environment. Essentially, I aspire to produce a “stress test” that can inform us about what stressors are ailing corals at the tested reef. To accomplish this, however, I must first characterize the genetic response of corals to potential local environmental stressors. These stressors include physical damage, sedimentation, excess nutrient input, and chemical toxins (such as heavy metals, fossil fuel run off, pesticides, herbicides, etc.). In my lab at UC Santa Cruz, I am growing corals and plan to expose genetically identical individuals to varying levels of these stressors. Thereafter, I will measure the gene expression of non-stressed and stressed corals to see which genes are turned on or off only for the stressed corals. This will be repeated for every stressor, allowing me to create a map of gene responses. This map will be examined to identify single or sets of genes that are uniquely regulated (turned on or off) in response to only one stressor (i.e. geneA only turns on for sediment stress and not nutrient stress). If such genes are discovered, they will need to be tested on a real coral reef. These field tests will not occur for a few years; however, they will follow a similar format to the lab tests: corals will be transplanted between known polluted and unpolluted sites. Thereafter, the corals’ gene expression will be measured to identify the known stressors present at the polluted site.
But why do this research? Well, if my lab and field research indicate that a “stress test” is feasible, then determining the stressors on a reef could be as simple as taking a small tissue sample and measuring its gene expression for approximately $200 (this cost is likely to decline). This entire procedure can take as little as one day. Furthermore, new technologies, such as hand-held gene sequencers, allow for this work to be completed in remote locations. Even if the stress test itself is not feasible, the results can still be used to help guide the discovery of corals that are naturally resilient to stress. These resilient corals could fare much better than currently transplanted coral and have the potential of saving restoration projects approximately 25% per year. Finally, furthering our understanding of the coral immune response also has implications for other organisms including humans. This is because, we share genes, molecular pathways, and innate immunity components with corals. We are also exposed to similar environmental pollutants and stressors. Thus, by understanding how corals respond to environmental stressors, we may also further the understanding of our own stress responses.
Support my research ($6,000 to go!
:D):
1. https://people.ucsc.edu/~sbitterw/support.html
2. venmo id: @Stephan-Bitterwolf-1
Yesterday, I shared a three minute video about my research. Today, I would like to share a short (712 word) research summary that I wrote with the general public in mind. I hope it adds clarity to the actual research I am conducting.
A stress test for coral reefs
Coral organisms create beautifully complex structures that serve as habitat for an estimated 1-9 million species and approximately a third of all marine fish (as juveniles or adults). Unfortunately, corals and the reefs they create are sensitive to changes in their environment and in the last 40 years, this environment has changed drastically. Some of these changes include warming of the oceans, acidification of the oceans, increased nutrient-rich runoff, changes to fish and invertebrate populations, and an overall increase in chemical pollutants that are easily absorbed into coral tissues.
These environmental changes have significant impacts on coral health. Warming oceans cause corals to lose their algal symbionts, turn bright white, and start to starve. Ocean acidification makes the construction of coral skeletons more energetically expensive. Nutrient pollution and loss of key herbivore species, force coral to compete with algae that both smother the seafloor and keep coral offspring from attaching to rocks. Chemical pollution affects coral biology causing mutations, disrupting reproduction, and hindering growth. When these stressors all exist on the same reef for extended periods, corals, and the organisms that depend on them, suffer drastically.
Since the 1980’s, scientists have estimated that environmental stressors have destroyed over 1/3rd of the world’s coral reefs. We’ve witnessed this loss through disease outbreaks, which include mass bleaching events, tissue loss, and changes to the reef’s overall health. The situation has become drastic enough to warrant intervention by concerned citizens, non-profit organizations, scientists, and federal programs. Together these entities have worked to develop restoration methods, restore damaged reefs, and fund scientific research focused on furthering our understanding of coral stress responses.
In my PhD research, I aim to determine if the coral stress response is predictable and telling of the coral’s stress environment. Essentially, I aspire to produce a “stress test” that can inform us about what stressors are ailing corals at the tested reef. To accomplish this, however, I must first characterize the genetic response of corals to potential local environmental stressors. These stressors include physical damage, sedimentation, excess nutrient input, and chemical toxins (such as heavy metals, fossil fuel run off, pesticides, herbicides, etc.). In my lab at UC Santa Cruz, I am growing corals and plan to expose genetically identical individuals to varying levels of these stressors. Thereafter, I will measure the gene expression of non-stressed and stressed corals to see which genes are turned on or off only for the stressed corals. This will be repeated for every stressor, allowing me to create a map of gene responses. This map will be examined to identify single or sets of genes that are uniquely regulated (turned on or off) in response to only one stressor (i.e. geneA only turns on for sediment stress and not nutrient stress). If such genes are discovered, they will need to be tested on a real coral reef. These field tests will not occur for a few years; however, they will follow a similar format to the lab tests: corals will be transplanted between known polluted and unpolluted sites. Thereafter, the corals’ gene expression will be measured to identify the known stressors present at the polluted site.
But why do this research? Well, if my lab and field research indicate that a “stress test” is feasible, then determining the stressors on a reef could be as simple as taking a small tissue sample and measuring its gene expression for approximately $200 (this cost is likely to decline). This entire procedure can take as little as one day. Furthermore, new technologies, such as hand-held gene sequencers, allow for this work to be completed in remote locations. Even if the stress test itself is not feasible, the results can still be used to help guide the discovery of corals that are naturally resilient to stress. These resilient corals could fare much better than currently transplanted coral and have the potential of saving restoration projects approximately 25% per year. Finally, furthering our understanding of the coral immune response also has implications for other organisms including humans. This is because, we share genes, molecular pathways, and innate immunity components with corals. We are also exposed to similar environmental pollutants and stressors. Thus, by understanding how corals respond to environmental stressors, we may also further the understanding of our own stress responses.
Support my research ($6,000 to go!
1. https://people.ucsc.edu/~sbitterw/support.html
2. venmo id: @Stephan-Bitterwolf-1
