SYMBIOSIS OF ALGAE WITH CORALS, SEA ANEMONES AND OTHER MARINE ORGANISMS |
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Nature is filled with examples of symbiotic relationships--those sometimes strange partnerships that allow
one type of organism to benefit from another. The most familiar examples are bees and other animals that
pollinate flowers while collecting food from them. On Wednesday, February 19, for the next event in the
ongoing HARBOR BRANCH Ocean Science Lecture Series, Dr. Clay Cook will describe an equally engaging example
of symbiosis in the sea--the relationship between algae known as zooxanthellae and a host of marine creatures,
including the spectacular reef-building corals as well as anemones, jellyfish and others. These algae live
inside the cells of their gracious hosts and provide food for them, and the hosts in turn provide the algae
with essential nutrients. If corals lose their zooxanthellae permanently, they may not survive and build reefs.
This is exactly what happens during the phenomenon known as coral bleaching. As Dr. Cook will explain, bleaching
seems to be getting more common at regions around the globe, possibly due to global warming, threatening the
very existence of live coral at some locations.
First attracted to coral reef research while working toward his Ph.D. in zoology at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, Dr. Cook has been studying the zooxanthellae-coral symbiosis for 35 years. He has taught and done research at a variety of institutions, including the University of Georgia, UCLA, and Ohio State. Besides writing over 50 scientific papers, he has authored or co-authored three books. Dr. Cook will give his talk at both 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at the main auditorium of the Johnson Education Center at HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, 5600 U.S. 1 North, Fort Pierce, FL. The talk is free to the public. For more information, please contact the Marine Education Office at 772-465-2400, ext. 506, or email education@hboi.edu. FULL SCHEDULE FOR 2003 OCEAN SCIENCE LECTURE SERIES: January 8 - Shirley Pomponi & Don Liberatore - Submersible Science at Harbor Branch: Looking from the Inside Out January 15 - John Tucker - Marine Foodfish Culture and Stocking January 22 - Edie Widder - Bioluminescent Oddities and Wonders January 29 - Ned Smith - What Goes Around Comes Around: The Gulf Stream and the Circulation of the North Atlantic Ocean February 5 - Greg Bossart - Emerging Diseases in Marine Mammals: Should "Flipper" Be Worried? February 12 - Tammy Frank - Lifestyles of the Very Hot, the Very Cold and the Very Deep: How Do They Survive There? February 19 - Clay Cook - "Hunger Makes Strange Bedfellows": Symbiosis of Algae with Corals, Sea Anemones and other Marine Organisms February 26 - Joe Lopez - The World as a Classroom: Molecular Studies of Marine Biodiversity in the Field March 5 - Lee Frey - Robot Explorers: A Look at Unmanned Underwater Vehicles March 12 - Amy Wright - DBMR: The Deep Sea-Link to Drug Discovery March 19 - Megan Davis & Ken Riley - A Fish Eye's View of Aquaculture March 26 - Dennis Hanisak - "The Gleaming Indian River with Its Waves of Blue": Poetic License or Remembrances of Things Past? (Kermit Returns) HARBOR BRANCH Oceanographic Institution, Inc., is one of the world's leading nonprofit oceanographic research organizations dedicated to exploration of the earth's oceans, estuaries and coastal regions for the benefit of humankind. CONTACTS: Mark Schrope - Science Writer 772-465-2400 x433) • schrope@hboi.edu Jan Petri - Government and Public Relations 772-465-2400 x241 • petri@hboi.edu |