Current Research

Our current primary research interests are:

Fundamental molecular, cellular and physiological processes involved in the establishment, maintenance and breakdown of cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis;
Mechanisms that underlie the sensitivity or resilience of the cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis to environmental stressors such as global warming (i.e. coral bleaching research) and ocean acidification;
The adaptability of reef corals to climate change;
The physiology and ecology of temperate cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbioses;
Coral disease and coral reef virology, from molecular to ecological levels.

Recent work has been supported largely through the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Marsden Fund, with nearly NZ$3 million of funding in the last seven years.