As a PhD student in the Baum lab at the University of Victoria, I explore how corals and their symbiotic partners, termed the holobiont, recover and adapt to environmental change. Using the Baum Lab’s long-term dataset from Kiritimati (Christmas Island), Kiribati, along with data collected during our annual expeditions through 2027, I combine field surveys, image analysis, and molecular techniques to investigate coral resilience and the potential trade-offs linked to survival a decade after the 2015–2016 El Niño event.
Kiritimati, the world’s largest atoll, is a great natural laboratory for studying reefs, from heavily impacted sites to pristine ecosystems. The I-Kiribati rely on these reefs for subsistence fishing, aquarium fish exports, and sport fishing tourism, making the health of the reefs essential for both the ecosystem and local communities. My research aims to uncover how coral communities persist or shift under heat stress and human impact, providing insights that can support reef conservation in a changing climate.
Learn more about the Baum lab's long-term Kiritimati research here.
Kiribati
