The modern world has presented many threats to the health and stability of ecosystems worldwide. One of the most biodiverse ecosystems, coral reefs, faces particularly strong pressures, and is already declining rapidly in complexity and area. Although the stressors that affect reefs are diverse, ranging from nutrient pollution to overfishing,...
Despite nutrient-depleted conditions, coral reef waters harbor abundant and diverse microbes; as major agents of microbial mortality, viruses are likely to influence microbial processes in these ecosystems. However, little is known about marine viruses in these rapidly changing ecosystems. Herewe examined spatial and short-term temporal variability in marine viral abundance...
Vibrio bacteria are commonly found in freshwater, marine, and estuarine environments. Members of this genus can exist in commensal relationships with marine animals or as planktonic bacteria, however, they are well known for their roles as pathogens towards humans and animals. In this dissertation, I investigated aspects of host-bacteria relationships...
Seagrasses and coral reefs play important roles in nutrient cycling, coastal protection, and maintaining marine biodiversity. However, these coastal marine organisms are declining globally due to anthropogenic stressors, such as rising ocean temperatures, ocean acidification, and eutrophication. These organisms live in close association with their microbiomes, which can be beneficial...
Losses of corals worldwide emphasize the need to understand what drives reef decline. Stressors such as overfishing and nutrient pollution may reduce resilience of coral reefs by increasing coral–algal competition and reducing coral recruitment, growth and survivorship. Such effects may themselves develop via several mechanisms, including disruption of coral microbiomes....
On coral reefs, disturbances rarely occur in isolation. Global stressors such as increasing seawater temperature often coincide with local stressors like nutrient pollution. In the face of increasing anthropogenic stress, corals can function as environmental sentinels, although little is known about how multiple stressors interact to disrupt their associated bacterial...
Stony corals are the ecosystem engineers of the vital, dynamic, and complex marine ecosystem known as coral reefs. Globally, coral reefs are undergoing degradation from multiple anthropogenic stressors. Coral reef organism holobionts, or the host along with its microbial components, are key to reef ecosystem success and functioning. Marine microbes...
Cyanophage are viruses that infect cyanobacteria, photosynthetic microorganisms which are known to produce several anticancer and antibacterial chemical compounds. Cyanophage are significant members of microbial communities in marine and freshwater environments. There has been significant difficulty inventorying marine and freshwater cyanophage, however, due to the difficulty in cultivating their hosts....
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. Rebecca Vega-Thurber
Dr. Kerry McPhail
Dr. Thomas Sharpton
Dr. RyanMcMinds
Dr. Stephanie Rosales
Grace
Cyanophage are viruses that infect cyanobacteria, photosynthetic microorganisms which are known to produce several anticancer and antibacterial chemical compounds. Cyanophage are significant members of microbial communities in marine and freshwater environments. There has been significant difficulty inventorying marine and freshwater cyanophage, however, due to the difficulty in cultivating their hosts....
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development, Kerry McPhail for providing samples and associated metadata, RyanMcMinds for assistance with