This seminar will present a summary of research done over the last 15 years that investigates what makes some corals more resistant vs. sensitive to climate change impacts, particularly global warming. The research results are from studies done in American Samoa and Micronesia in the South Pacific, Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea, and even a project working with the Northern Star Coral here in the Mid-Atlantic. Of particular interest are results that show how short-term exposures to high temperatures can actually condition corals to be stronger and more resistant to climate impacts, though this increased resistance may come at a cost as things continue to get warmer.

Dan Barshis is currently an Assistant Professor of Marine Biology at Old Dominion University. He did his undergraduate degree at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington; M.S. and Ph.D. at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa; a postdoc at the Hopkins Marine Station; and a second postdoc at NOAA Fisheries, Santa Cruz. Dan's work primarily examines the evolutionary basis behind stress tolerance in reef-building corals. He employs a combination of field transplantation, controlled acclimation experiments, and advanced genomic techniques to uncover the relative roles of adaptation and acclimatization in determining coral tolerance limits and sensitivity to climate change impacts.

CCPO Innovation Research Park Building I 4111 Monarch Way, 3rd Floor Old Dominion University Norfolk, VA 23508 757-683-4940