BIOS/BMS Joint Seminar Series: Sponge-Microbe Symbioses: Novel Insights from an Ancient System

The Biological and Biomedical Sciences Departments will host Dr. Cara Fiore from the Biology Department at Appalachian State University. Dr. Fiore investigates how coral reef sponge microbial symbionts have influenced the evolution and ecology of the sponge community and how these symbionts and the sponge influence dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition on coral reefs. Her early work was the first study of its kind to begin characterizing how sponges, which can process vast amounts of water, alter DOM. That work has ongoing impacts on how many researchers and coral reef managers view sponges as part of the reef system. They have also begun using local freshwater sponges as a novel host-microbe system.