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Think of a coral’s skeleton as a house in which tiny algae live and produce nutrients that feed the coral.

That cooperative living arrangement, known as symbiosis, is what Rachel Geyer is studying. As part of her Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), she is trying to understand why some corals grow more complex skeletons, possibly making the coral more resilient. She hopes her findings may help tropical coral species threatened by rapidly warming waters and excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“Having more skeleton is like increasing the square footage of the house so that more symbionts can live in those nooks and crannies, which is a good thing,” said Geyer. Scientists are looking for traits that increase coral resiliency. “At coral nurseries, when selecting coral to transplant in new coral colonies, they try to repopulate corals with those good traits. The better we can understand what those good traits are, the better those efforts will go.”

Geyer is working in the lab of Karl Castillo, associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Earth, marine and environmental sciences department (EMES), under the guidance of biology doctoral student Stephanie Peak. The senior from Waxhaw, North Carolina, is majoring in environmental science with minors in journalism and geology. READ MORE

Stephanie Peak
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