 |  |
Josh and Lexie traveled to Havana, Cuba to lead research on zooxanthellae isolation and quantification methods with collaborators at the Centro de Investigaciones Marinas-Universidad de la Habana. The team learned how to isolate algal symbiont cells from coral tissue, count isolated algal cells, measure surface area of coral fragments, and calculate zooxanthellae density all through relatively simple methodologies and low-cost/accessible materials. Quantifying algal symbionts can help researchers learn about the health status of the coral holobiont and about how the holobiont may be responding to different environmental parameters, such as light levels. The graduate students and researchers worked together to practice this protocol on samples of the coral Montastraea cavernosa collected from the Guanahacabibes marine protected area during a 2017 research cruise which circumnavigated the island surveying mesophotic reefs. This research is part of an ongoing collaboration between U.S. researchers at FAU-Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Cuban researchers. Juliett González Méndez, a PhD student co-advised under Dr. Voss and Dr. Patricia González Díaz, director of CIM-UH, will be incorporating these methods into an analysis of symbiont communities of Cuban M. cavernosa as part of her dissertation research. Stay tuned for updates as we plan for a follow-up cruise to conduct targeted mesophotic coral sampling along western Cuba in late summer 2019!
