CORAL GENETICS RESEARCH

Principle Investigator:

Dr. Iliana Baums
Assistant Professor, Research
Department of Biology
The Pennsylvania State University
208 Mueller Laboratory
University Park, PA 16802

Collaborators:

Bill Precht, Emma Hickerson (FGBNMS)

Research Focus:

Genetics of Acropora at the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary

Research Summary:

Iliana Baums works on the molecular ecology and evolution of marine organisms and has participated in a comprehensive study of the connectivity and population structure of Acropora palmata in the Caribbean using molecular tools. This study identified two separate populations of this important reef-building coral with little genetic exchange between them.

These two populations, one in the western and one in the eastern Caribbean, also have different contributions of asexual recruitment to their population structure indicating that the two populations may deserve differential management approaches. Even within the two populations, gene flow maybe limited and asymmetrical with some reefs providing larvae for downstream areas. 

The finding of an Acropora palmata recruit at FGBNMS begged the question of its origin. Iliana and her collaborators are now using molecular tools in an attempt to assign this recruit to its population of origin.