The primary focus of my research is the resilience and recovery of tropical coral reefs under continuing anthropogenic climate change.
In particular, I am investigating the roles of the various members of the coral holobiont (which encompasses the coral host and all of its associated symbiotic partners) and their manifold interactions in maintaining the health of the reef ecosystem, using cutting edge genomic and bioinformatic techniques.
The research is funded by the Bertarelli Foundation (as part of the Bertarelli Program in Marine Science) and the field sites where I undertake this work are the islands and atolls of the British Indian Ocean Territory, one of the largest marine protected areas in the world. It is the relative remoteness of the archipelago from direct human activity which provides for an almost unique opportunity to study the effects of global climate change on coral reefs in isolation.
