Coral Elementome

This project aims to integrate elemental stoichiometry (the coral and symbiont elementome), bio-elemental imaging and metabolomics to develop a common ‘elemental currency’ as a new diagnostic of coral fitness. This project is exploring how species chemical traits influence their biogeochemical niche and competitive fitness. Coral reefs generate invaluable ecosystem services but are on the verge of global collapse.

Efforts to resolve coral traits that promote ecological resilience have been unable to integrate biological and environmental complexities of reef systems into a unifying diagnostic of reef health. Natural extremes will provide the platform to identify key metabolic traits vital for future survival, to establish adaptive elemental signatures that can scale from organism to ecosystem.

Furthermore, outcomes from this work are leading my group to explore how coral nutrition can be manipulated to augment coral resilience. We are exploring the suitability of coral nutraceuticals to boost reef resilience to the impacts of climate change.