Research
Research at the Bay Lab
As an undergraduate student at UC Davis, I spent time as an undergraduate researcher in the Bay Lab, which uses a combination of ecological and physiological experiments as well as large-scale genomic and environmental data to study the impacts of climate change on corals. I attended a weekly faculty-led reading group in which we discuss scientific papers regarding molecular, genomic, and ecological frameworks pertaining to our changing reefs. I also maintained and cared for corals on our on campus laboratory. As a lab, we conducted a group meta-analysis to assess the environmental and anthropogenic drivers of the genetic diversity of coral reefs and discuss consequences for recovery. We compiled a global database of over 3500 estimates of genetic diversity from microsatellites in Acropora species, the largest coral genus. Preliminary analyses showed that pH was the variable most strongly associated with genetic diversity. Additionally, we find that the Caribbean Acropora palmata has unexpectedly high genetic diversity, the highest of any Acroporid species. These findings suggest that there is evidence for species-specific genetic diversity levels and that abiotic factors and anthropogenic-induced stressors may influence the genetic diversity of the genus Acropora.