Heidi Luter

Transgenerational adaptation of sponges in a changing environment

Coral reefs worldwide are facing increasing pressures due to elevated sea surface Given the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios are predicting further increases in both SST and OA, we are likely to see significant loss of coral cover in the future. However, non-calcifying organisms like sponges may not be affected in the same way. Previous work from our group has demonstrated species-specific responses to climate change, with some species displaying higher productivity at increased pCO2 conditions. While we are beginning to understand sensitivity thresholds for many sponge species, little is known of the mechanisms that enable some sponges to cope with and acclimatize to environmental pressures. The objective of my project is to test the hypothesis that sponges can acclimatize to IPCC predicted increases in seawater temperature and pCO2 by altering the structure/function of their symbiotic microbial communities and/or altering their transcriptomic expression patterns. Experiments for this research will be undertaken at the Australian Institute of Marine Science’s National Sea Simulator (SeaSim) in collaboration with Dr Nicole Webster and part of a Marsden funded project to explore transitions to sponge dominated reefs.