Sniffing out the secrets of the sea: Dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) in the coral microbiome (STEPH GARDNER - PHD STUDENT)

Project Member(s): Petrou, K.

Funding or Partner Organisation: PADI Foundation
PADI Foundation

Start year: 2016

Summary: Coral-associated bacteria might reduce the impact of global warming on coral reefs by producing a key sulphur molecule enhancing cloud formation. Determining if bacterial production increases or decreases during thermal stress will unravel the potential role of this molecule as temperature buffer. This project will be the first to explore the influence of thermal stress on DMSP degradation in reef-building corals to better understand the impact this may have on the release of climate-active gas dimethylsulphide (DMS).

Keywords: Coral, Sulphur, Microbial ecology, Physiology

FOR Codes: Microbial Ecology, Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.