Research Summary

Dr. Strychar's research involves the molecular ecology of deep-water and shallow-water tropical corals and the bleaching of coral reefs. Anecdotal evidence suggests that deep-water corals (DWC) may resemble tropical reef biodiversity. These corals, however, have very broad global distributions and are eurybathic from depths of meters to kilometers. Such ecological breadth may be confounded by the presence of cryptic species. Over the last two years, he has examined the genetic distances of various DWC using 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) and restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). Current research goals are to build a comparative data set from other regions of the genome (e.g. internal transcribed spacer (ITS-1, ITS-2) of the ribosomal DNA) and from other deep-water fauna. Ultimately, the aim is to develop microsatellite markers to elucidate patterns of gene-flow between isolated patches of DWC found globally. Such results may reveal new lineages that have considerable ecological and/or taxonomic importance.
The second area of research involves the deleterious effects of bleaching on soft alcyonacean corals in comparison to scleractinian corals utilizing molecular ecology via Symbiodinium taxonomy (symbiotic dinoflagellate), which is not well studied. His studies show that the more resistant soft coral species (Sarcophyton ehrenbergi) have the same type of Symbiodinium (clade C) as do the less resistant soft corals (Xenia sp.). Further testing using other clade markers and genes (e.g., ITS-1, ITS-2) are being used to compare and contrast between soft and scleractinian corals found globally at various depths.
A third area of research explores the consequences of global warming that causes bleaching of tropical corals and the subsequent loss of their symbionts (Symbiodinium). The significance of this research is in the methodologies (flow cytometry, FC). Previously, researchers who examined bleached corals used trypan blue (TB) staining techniques to assess the viability of lost symbiont cells. Dr. Strychar found, however, many of the viable cells determined using TB are in fact actually undergoing apoptosis or necrosis, when examined using FC. Two "spin-offs" from this study include: The development of FC techniques using novel medical immunofluorescent markers that allow the user to identify how a particular nutrient (or pollutant) is metabolized by plankton assemblages in "real-time"; and the investigation of a possible invertebrate immune system using FC and immunological techniques.