2003 Edwin W. Pauley Summer Program in Marine Biology

Assessing the Health of Pacific Corals: Week 3

Main Introduction • Schedule • Tentative Syllabus

Tentative Syllabus for Microbial ecology of coral reefs

Dr. Forest Rohwer, San Diego State University

Topics

Marine Microbial Food Web (MMFW) and Coral Reefs

the MMFW
Microbial trophic levels in reef systems (C, N, P, Fe)

Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Microbes as Food

Corals, holothurians, sponges, mussels

The Unseen Reef

Microbial dynamics within the caves and caverns

Culture-dependent and -independent analyses of coral bacteria and archaea

microbial diversity, geographic distributions, coral-microbe symbioses

Fungi, Endolithic Algae, and Protozoa

Coral Diseases

Koch’s postulates and culturing
Uncultured approaches to disease studies (16S rDNA, microprobes)
Black Band Disease, White plague, White pox, White Band Diseases,
V. coralliiyticus / P. damicornuis, Aspergillosis
Bleaching as a bacterial or viral disease
Anthropogenic effects and Microbes

Microbes and the Death of Coral Reefs

Labs

Culturing - plating, Biologs, infections (LD50)
16S rDNA analyses - PCR, cloning, sequencing, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis
Microbial production in the water column and on corals
Epifluorescence microscope - direct counts, in situ hybridization

Suggested readings

Azam (1998) Microbial control of oceanic carbon flux: The plot thickens. Science, 280: 694-696.

Bak, Joenje, de Jong, Lambrechts, and Nieuwland (1998) Bacterial suspension feeding by coral reef benthic organisms. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 175: 285-288.

Richardson (1998) Coral diseases: what is really known? Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 13: 438-443.

Rohwer, Seguritan, Azam, and Knowlton (2002) Diversity and distribution of coral-associated bacteria. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 243: 1-10.

Kushmaro, Rosenberg, Fine, and Loya (1997) Bleaching of the coral Oculina patagonica by Vibrio AK-1. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 147: 159-165.

Smatacek (2002) The ocean’s veil. Nature, 419: 565.

[ Top of the page | Pauley Summer Program home page ]