Advisor: Christopher Lobban, Ph.D.

Advisor: Heloise Rouze, Ph.D.

Microbiome communities of the emerging coral model systems will be characterized along environmental gradients to infer microbiome diversity and function. Reciprocal transplant experiments will be used to test how flexible the microbiomes are in adapting to local conditions and their role in coral health. Combining detailed environmental characterizations of micro-habitats with genomic characterizations of coral microbiome communities will allow insights into the role of microbiomes in coral resilience.

Advisor: Ciemon Caballes, Ph.D.

Functional physiological traits of corals will be investigated in controlled lab and field experiments to understand their role in coral health and resilience. For example, the modulating effects of water flow on coral gene expression, symbiont photophysiology, and harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and build-up in coral tissues will be studied to quantify the effect of habitat on the coral response to stress. Our aim is to identify the environmental drivers that modulate differences in coral host and symbiont resilience to elevated rising sea surface temperatures.

Advisor: Robert Lasley, Ph.D.

Despite hundreds of years of exploration, most of the world’s marine invertebrate fauna remains unknown. For many groups of organisms, even the most fundamental knowledge—i.e., “what is it?”—has not been studied. Documenting this baseline data is imperative, especially given the current biodiversity crisis. We focus on discovering, documenting, and disseminating data on Guam’s diverse crustacean fauna. We do field collections, curation, and biodiversity research. Students will conduct field surveys (SCUBA, intertidal, snorkel, etc.) to build a list of crustaceans in Guam and/or conduct taxonomic, phylogenetic, or biogeographic research on their favorite marine species.

Advisor: Diego Vaz, Ph.D.

Fishes are the most diverse group of vertebrate animals, accounting for more than 35 thousand species, more than half of all vertebrate diversity. Fishes are present in almost every aquatic environment and display a wide variety of adaptations that enabled them to explore almost every niche available. Recognizing which morphological features allow adaptation of a species to a particular location is an essential task to infer how these organisms can react to a constantly changing environment, particularly caused by climate change. The understanding of morphological variation also enables inferences on evolutionary relationships among different groups of fish, the identification of current fish diversity, and the recognition of new species to science. Students will learn and use multiple techniques, from manual dissections to high technological computed tomography (CT-scan), to investigate these multiple morphological aspects of coral-reef fishes. Students will also have the opportunity to learn and use genetic tools to complement their investigations.