Growing insight into microbial symbioses highlights the need to model these systems mathematically. We discuss three areas requiring theoretical advan…

Synopsis. Our understanding and appreciation for the role of microbial symbioses in the evolution and speciation of macro-organisms has fluctuated over tim

Understanding the stability of microbial community assembly on coral reefs is crucial for determining their response to changing environments. Here, we evaluate how the marine sediment, water column, ...

Abstract. Coral reefs face severe threats from human activity, resulting in drastic biodiversity loss. Despite the urgency of safeguarding these ecosystems

Biofilms are three-dimensional structures containing one or more bacterial species embedded in extracellular polymeric substances. Although most bi...

Sequence-based microbiome studies have revealed much about how hosts interact with communities of symbiotic microbiota but often lack a spatial understanding of how microbes relate to each other and t...

Corals with high trophic plasticity, i.e., the ability to change the relative contribution of heterotrophic and autotrophic nutrition to their mixotrophic diet, can have increased tolerance to indivi...

Coral resilience varies across species, with some exhibiting remarkable stability and adaptability, often mediated by their associated microbiomes. Given the species-specific nature of coral-microbiom...

Genome assembly and annotation of Acropora pulchra from Mo’orea French Polynesia

Synopsis. Microbiomes play an important role in physiology and development in cnidarians, but how these communities influence tissue regeneration is poorly

Abstract. Dinoflagellates are an abundant and diverse group of protists that inhabit aquatic environments worldwide. They are characterized by numerous uni

Barcoding microbial ribosomal RNA creates a recording of gene transfer events without requiring translation.

We characterised the Symbiodiniaceae ITS2-based diversity across a tropical coral reef to quantify the connectivity between seawater, turf algae, sediment, coral tissue and coral mucus communities. A...

Coral reefs experience numerous natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients that alter biophysical conditions and affect biodiversity. While many studies have focused on drivers of reef biodiver...

Background Seawater microbes (bacteria and archaea) play essential roles in coral reefs by facilitating nutrient cycling, energy transfer, and overall reef ecosystem functioning. However, environmenta...

Abstract. Phytoplankton are known ecosystem engineers that modulate ocean community assembly processes, but the universality and extent of their microbiome

Ecosystems are intrinsically linked, such that management actions in one ecosystem can influence adjacent ecosystems. However, adequate data, and even…

Assessing coral reefs across the inner Seychelles islands, using a 28-year dataset, we document faster coral recovery from the 2016 than the 1998 marine heatwave events. Further, a reef that had regi....

Background Evolutionary tradeoffs between life-history strategies are important in animal evolution. Because microbes can influence multiple aspects of host physiology, including growth rate and susce...

Nature Microbiology - A 471-metagenome time series from Lake Mendota in Wisconsin, USA, reveals seasonal and decadal shifts in bacterial functional and ecological dynamics, especially in response...

Abstract. Soil organic carbon is the foundation for soil health and a livable climate. Organic carbon is concentrated in coastal wetland soils, but dynamic

Abstract. Microbial functional ecology is expanding as we can now measure the traits of wild microbes that affect ecosystem functioning. Here, we review te

Seasonal variations of temperature modify coral thermal tolerance threshold for Pocillopora verrucosa species while Acropora spp. remain unchanged when exposed to the same in situ conditions.

Longitudinal studies are crucial for understanding complex microbiome dynamics and their link to health. We introduce TEMPoral TEnsor Decomposition (TEMPTED), a time-informed dimensionality reduction ...

A new study reveals corals must be within only a few metres of each other to successfully reproduce, leaving them vulnerable in a warming world.

Abstract. Giant viruses (GVs; Nucleocytoviricota) impact the biology and ecology of a wide range of eukaryotic hosts, with implications for global biogeoch

A key unresolved question in microbial ecology is how the extraordinary diversity of microbiomes emerges from the behaviour of individual populations. This process is driven by the cross-feeding netwo...

A new UBC study shows that climate warming can potentially make bacterial and fungal infections deadlier for cold-blooded animals.

The global rise of antimicrobial resistance has intensified efforts in bioprospecting, with researchers increasingly exploring unique marine environments for novel antimicrobials. In line with this tr...

Early studies in coral reefs showed that simple measurements of ecosystem metabolism (primary production and ecosystem respiration) were useful for understanding complex reef dynamics at an ecosystem...