Ep 60: Human-assisted evolution: Conserving coral diversity (with Hollie Putnam)

Why are some corals more resilient to bleaching than others? How should we leverage genetic and epigenetic information to conserve coral diversity?

On this episode of Big Biology, we talk with Hollie Putnam (@HolliePutnam), a professor at the University of Rhode Island, about threats to coral reefs and the steps she and her colleagues are taking to preserve coral diversity. Warming oceans disrupt the relationships between corals and their symbiotic algae, which can lead to coral bleaching. Warming also alters the composition and function of the entire coral holobiont, the diverse community of other organisms that live together with corals and their algae. Hollie’s lab studies the causes of coral bleaching and the physiology of coral holobionts, both to understand the basic biology of corals and to selectively breed corals that can better tolerate future ocean conditions.

This episode is sponsored by Journal of Experimental Biology. The journal is published by the Company of Biologists, a not-for-profit that has been supporting and inspiring the biological community since 1925. JEB is at the forefront of comparative physiology and biomechanics.