Current Research

Our current primary research interests are:

• Fundamental molecular, cellular and physiological processes involved in the establishment, maintenance and breakdown of cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis;
• Mechanisms that underlie the sensitivity or resilience of the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis to environmental stressors such as global warming (i.e. coral bleaching research) and ocean acidification;
• The adaptability of reef corals to climate change;
• The physiology and ecology of temperate cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbioses;
• Coral disease and coral reef virology, from molecular to ecological levels.

Recent work has been supported largely through the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Fund, with nearly NZ$3 million of funding in the last seven years.

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