Kelvin D. Gorospe
Department of Zoology,
University of Hawai`i
2538 McCarthy Mall,
Edmondson 152
Honolulu, HI 96822
kgorospe@hawaii.edu

Research Interests:
My past research experiences have exposed me to the worldwide crisis of coral reef decline, while simultaneously demonstrating for me the urgency and importance of conserving these natural resources. As part of Cornell University's Biodiversity Laboratory, I collected data on a coral reef in the state of collapse in the Dominican Republic. My project consisted of surveying the ecological distribution of three species of fire coral (Millepora sp.) and testing each species for anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. The biochemical potential of natural products to cure human disease is one of the more tangible reasons for preserving biodiversity, and our studies leveraged this potential as part of an effort to increase the sustainability of local development and tourism.

After graduating from Cornell, I spent over a year in the Philippines as a Fulbright Scholar, helping in the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs). I was impressed with the complexity of these projects: the need to incorporate various stakeholders, to preserve the fishing rights of artisanal fishermen, to enforce local fisheries laws, to ban destructive fishing practices and to restrict commercial over-fishing. However, I also noticed that while conservationists have continued to forge ahead, the reality is that their efforts remain largely unguided and incomprehensive due to a lack of science-based evidence in marine reserve design, an insufficient attention placed on biodiversity issues, and most importantly, a deficiency in our understanding of coral reef ecosystems. This missing information, however, was not an oversight on the part of conservationists; instead, these are areas of scientific research that have yet to be fully explored.

As a doctoral student with Dr. Stephen Karl at the Hawai'i Institute for Marine Biology, I will be focusing my research on understanding coral population genetics on a micro-spatial scale. For example, how does one explain the occurrence of a healthy coral colony immediately adjacent to an unhealthy or bleached individual of the same species? Also, do coral larvae recruits generally originate from other individuals within the same reef or do they come from other reefs? More specifically, can the interplay between genetic and/or environmental factors help to explain these and other kinds of individual-level differences and patterns within a reef? By genotyping and mapping coral colonies throughout an entire reef and integrating this with data on environmental and physical parameters, we hope to create the first ever full genetic and physical characterization of a patch reef. This research diverges from the current trend in coral population genetics and connectivity, which so far have emphasized genetic structuring on macro-geographic scales. Researching on a micro-geographic scale will help to fill a major gap in the scientific understanding of coral populations, while elucidating some of the fundamental processes crucial to coral survivorship, larval recruitment, and the maintenance of reef health.