About This Project

Corals come in a rainbow of colors, due to fluorescent proteins (FPs) these coral hosts produce. The high diversity and repeated evolution of these FPs indicates an important role in host biology, but we don’t know what that role is. By capturing fluorescent profiles using a custom low-cost fluorometer followed by experimental bleaching assays, we seek to understand the role of FPs in coral symbiosis maintenance and bleaching tolerance on Fijian coral reefs.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

FPs absorb light at one wavelength, and reemit it at lower, less energetic wavelengths—characteristics that can be used to identify different types of FPs. Using these fluorescent profiles, we can identify the different FPs produced by various color morphs of coral species and relate those to experimental bleaching tolerances and symbiont communities of those coral hosts. Characterizing FP profiles for different species in combination with performance in experimental bleaching stress tests can identify the roles of different types of FPs – allowing for the identification of more stress-tolerant coral colonies by simple visual qualification of color morphs.

What is the significance of this project?

This project will characterize the fluorescent protein cohort for different species of the genera Acropora, Pocillopora, and Porites on Fijian coral reefs. These proteins are related to many biological functions in coral hosts, including those related to maintaining symbioses with their algal partners.

The fluorometer developed as part of this project will be low-cost, non-invasive, and open source-- creating a new tool for restoration practitioners to use to increase the efficacy of reef restoration efforts. Once the FPs of different morphs of a species have been characterized and related to host bleaching tolerance, restoration practitioners will only need their eyes to identify those color morphs on the reefs to know what to include in selective propagation efforts.

What are the goals of the project?

This project will develop a tool to capture phenotypic profiles of different color morphs of coral species using multiple wavelengths of light integrated into a low-cost fluorometer. This information will be compared with experimental bleaching results to understand how different types of fluorescent proteins are related to host bleaching tolerance and the maintenance of the coral-algal symbiosis under stress. We will target species that are dominant reef-builders and vital to reef communities in Fiji. This data will all be combined to profile specific color morphs that are most hardy in the face of climate change and identify types of FPs that are related to increased bleaching tolerance for different coral species.