[Coral-List] ICRS 2021 Session: How can we leverage cnidarian model systems to improve our understanding of symbiosis and the processes driving coral reef decline?

[Koty Sharp]

Dear colleagues:

Please consider submitting your abstract to the following ICRS meeting
session:

*“How can we leverage cnidarian model systems to improve our understanding
of symbiosis and the processes driving coral reef decline?”*
at the 2021 International Coral Reef Symposium, which is being held 18-23
July 2021 in Bremen, Germany.

Abstract submission closes *this Thursday, 15 September 2020*.
If your work is relevant to this session, please submit an abstract to *Session
(4C)*, under *Theme 4: Microbial ecology, Holobionts and Model Organisms*.
https://www.icrs2021.de/program/call-for-abstracts/


*Session Description:*
Global change, and the resultant disruption of symbiosis and mass
bleaching, is threatening coral reef ecosystems worldwide. Recent research
efforts have identified several cnidarian species with broad thermal ranges
and/or variable states of symbiosis with Symbiodiniaceae as excellent model
systems for addressing specific questions about the ecology and physiology
of coral symbiosis. Some of these species, including calcifying corals of
the genera Astrangia and Oculina, and the anemones Nematostella and
Aiptasia, are rapidly improving our understanding of symbiotic
interactions, elucidating how relationships between cnidarian hosts and
their microbiomes (including prokaryotes, fungi, Symbiodiniaceae, etc.)
influence bleaching, calcification, growth, behavior, nutrition,
reproduction, immune response, and thermal adaptation. These model systems
allow the disentanglement of host and symbiont processes that drive
response and resilience to environmental change. The aim of this session is
to explore how cnidarian model systems can inform our understanding of
symbiosis in the coral holobiont and the factors that drive dysbiosis,
leading to tropical coral decline. We encourage submissions that utilize
temperate, facultatively symbiotic, asymbiotic, and/or cold-water
cnidarians to address these questions from the host, symbiont, or holobiont
perspective. This session offers a platform for the recently formalized
collaborative groups centered on emerging model cnidarian systems, but also
for a broader audience of reef researchers interested in re-examining the
fundamentals of coral symbiosis biology.
*Please visit the conference website for more information: *
https://www.icrs2021.de/program/session-program/#c236




We hope to see you at this session in the 2021 hybrid ICRS meeting - either
in person or remotely! Please feel free to contact us with any questions.


*Co-organizers:*

Koty Sharp, Roger Williams University (Bristol, RI, USA)

Sean Grace, Southern Connecticut State University (New Haven, CT, USA)

Hanny Rivera, Boston University (Boston, MA, USA)

Randi Rotjan, Boston University (Boston, MA, USA)

Sam Vohsen, Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA, USA)

-- 

Koty Sharp
she/her/hers
Associate Professor
Department of Biology, Marine Biology & Environmental Science
Roger Williams University
1 Old Ferry Road
Marine & Natural Sciences Building
Bristol, RI 02809
401-254-3170
kotysharp at gmail.com
http://www.kotysharp.weebly.com
Twitter: @Sharpkoty