[Coral-List] Call for abstracts - ICRS 2020

[Robert Richmond]

For those interested in the use of molecular tools and emerging technologies, we invite abstracts for our session:

What can molecular approaches contribute to determining sublethal stressor effects on coral reefs and evaluating the effectiveness of management interventions?

 In a world of continuing and accelerating coral reef losses, it is essential to determine the key stressors, their thresholds, and combined effects in order to design, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of appropriate interventions.  Ecological approaches largely rely on correlation to determine relationships among multiple stressors and the effects on coral reef ecosystems, and it takes months, years and decades to measure many responses and trends.  Molecular tools, including proteomics, genomics, metabolomics and transcriptomics, can identify true cause-and-effect relationships between stressors and responses over shorter time periods, from hours, to days and weeks.  They can also be used to identify and quantify changes tied to stressor exposure in organisms on the reef and under controlled laboratory conditions.  As molecular tools are further refined and associated costs decrease, it is now possible and practical to include these in coral reef assessment and monitoring programs.  It is also possible to determine threshold stressor levels that result in impairment of functions such as reproduction, or result in outright mortality.  This session is organized to include researchers studying organisms across coral reef taxa, resource managers who could use these data to guide interventions, stakeholders affected by coral reef losses, and policy makers who can apply such information to develop effective legislation to improve the effective allocation of limited human, institutional and financial resources to address and reverse the present downward trajectory of coral reefs. The intention of this session is to highlight the latest research, address how such studies can be applied to supporting coral reef persistence, resilience and restoration, and address key information gaps and management challenges.

 Chairs:  Bob Richmond, Kaho Tisthammer and Narrissa Spies

Robert H. Richmond, Ph.D.
Research Professor and Director
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Kewalo Marine Laboratory
41 Ahui Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 USA
Phone: 808-539-7330
Fax: 808-599-4817
e-mail: richmond at hawaii.edu