Kevin B. Strychar

Grand Valley State University | GVSU · Annis Water Resources Institute

Global climate change and anthropogenic activities are threatening the future survival of coral reef ecosystems. The ability of reef-building zooxanthellate coral to survive these stressors may be determined through fundamental differences within their symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium sp.). We define the in vitro apoptotic response of 2 evol...

Over the last few years, we have pursued the use and exploitation of invertebrate immune systems, most notably their humoral products, to determine what effects their complex molecules might exert on humans, specifically their potential for therapeutic applications. This endeavor, called "bioprospecting," is an emerging necessity for biomedical res...

Volterra–Hamilton systems theory is used to model coral bleaching. The algal and coral partners in the obligate symbiont organism exchange compounds, each one producing compounds benefiting the other. It is found that the production equations, based on a homogeneous cost functional, have unstable solutions which become stable in a constant temperat...

Increases in Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) as a result of global warming have caused reef-building scleractinian corals to bleach worldwide, a result of the loss of obligate endosymbiotic zooxanthellae. Since the 1980's, bleaching severity and frequency has increased, in some cases causing mass mortality of corals. Earlier experiments have demons...

Over the years monitoring of Escherichia coli (E. coli) in water has traditionally been done using Colilert - a product from IDEXX that simplifies Method 1603 and produces results as “most probable number” in as little as 18-24 hours – and was/is considered the “gold standard”. In 2015 a more novel method was developed using qPCR. The advantage of...

Increased ocean warming is causing detrimental impacts to tropical corals worldwide. Compounding the effects of heat stress, incidences of tropical coral disease have risen concurrently. While tropical coral responses to these impacts are well studied, temperate coral responses remain largely unknown. The present study focused on the immune respons...

Coral reefs have been detrimentally impacted causing health issues due to elevated ocean temperatures as a result of increased greenhouse gases. Extreme temperatures have also exacerbated coral diseases in tropical reef environments. Numerous studies have outlined the impacts of thermal stress and disease on coral organisms, as well as understandin...

A great number of studies published on long-term ocean warming and increased acidification have forecasted changes in regional biodiversity preempted by aquatic invasive species (AIS). The present paper is focused on invasive Tubastraea coccinea (TC), an azooxanthellate AIS coral thriving in regions of the Gulf of Mexico, which has shown an ability...

Many fish species use intercoastal jetties throughout their life cycle to migrate to and from the ocean into bays and estuaries. During migration, fish may encounter rock, algae, sand, sea-grass, and coral. Anecdotal information indicates that some migrating fish of intercoastal jetties preferentially select colonies of gorgonian coral (Leptogorgia...

Coral communities of the Florida Reef Tract (FRT) have changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Coral cover throughout the FRT is disproportionately distributed; >70% of total coral cover is found within the inshore patch reef zone (<2 km from shore) compared to 30% found within the offshore bank reef zone (>5 km from shore). Coral mortality fr...

After brief summaries of several models of evolution of coral/algal symbiosis, stochastic Nelson mechanics is used to prove long-term heat stress can actually benefit scleractinian corals and their symbionts.

Coral reefs are under increasing pressure from global warming. Little knowledge, however, exists regarding heat induced stress on deeper mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs). Here, we examined the effect of acute (72 h) and chronic (480 h) heat stress on the host coral Montastraea cavernosa (Linnaeus 1767) collected from an upper MCE (~30 m) in Flori...

Circular Rep Encoding Single Stranded (CRESS) DNA viruses are a diverse group of viruses that have been identified in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Recent work in the Laurentian Great Lakes characterized the ecology and diversity of CRESS-DNA viruses associated with amphipods, Diporeia spp. In the last 20 years the Lake Michigan benthos...

The current volume, entitled Climate Change and Non-infectious Fish Disorders (CCNFD) is the first of the two-volume set, and it focuses on the development, physiology and health of fish. CCNFD has 11 chapters organized into two parts. Chapters 1 and 2 (Part I) are mainly for aquatic biologists including colleagues who study non-infectious fish dis...

After brief summaries of several models of evolution of coral/algal symbiosis, stochastic Nelson mechanics is used to prove long-term heat stress can actually benefit scleractinian corals and their symbionts.

Increasing seawater temperatures (SWT) resulting from climate change have greatly reduced coral cover world-wide; however, disease has also greatly reduced coral cover in many regions and is especially apparent for offshore bank reefs of the Florida Reef Tract (FRT). The deleterious capacity of future stressors is often dependent upon previous stre...

The Straits of Mackinac hydraulically link Lakes Michigan and Huron (Figure 1), and are wide and deep enough (average depth 20 m) to permit the same average water level in both water bodies, technically making them two lobes of a single large lake. The combined Michigan–Huron system forms the largest lake in the world by surface area and the fourth...

The Indo-Pacific azooxanthellate coral Tubastraea micranthus (Cairns and Zibrowius, 1997) has successfully invaded offshore oil/gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The genetic structure of these populations has been unknown. A question has arisen regarding whether there have been multiple invasions of this species. Five platforms were s...

Scleractinian coral are experiencing unprecedented rates of mortality due to increases in sea surface temperatures in response to global climate change. Some coral species however, survive high temperature events due to a reduced susceptibility to bleaching. We investigated the relationship between bleaching susceptibility and expression of five me...

Gene expression data from reciprocal transplant. Ct values for corresponding genes are listed in columns 1–6. Transplant lists reef or origin and reef of transplant, respectively. Time refers to the season in which the fragment was sampled, i.e. Winter or Summer. (CSV)

Gene expression data from temperature and LPS experiments. Ct values for corresponding genes are listed in columns 1–6. Sample refers to the coral fragment the gene corresponds to with duplicate internal replicates, while individual refers to parent coral colonies. Transplant corresponds to reef or origin (i.e. Birthday Reef or Acer Reef). Treatmen...

This work can be considered a prequel to our previous paper on coral bleaching induced by global warming. We once again investigate, using Finsler geometry, dynamical energy budget theory and nonlinear modular mechanics, the origin of endosymbiosis, between reef-building corals and the algae. We assume their relationship starts out as entosymbiosis...

Coral reefs have been threatened for ≥35 years, primarily by global warming, disease, and unwanted inter-oceanic species introductions. Here we discuss differences between the evolution of corals and other organisms in the Atlantic vs. the Pacific Oceans through natural selection caused by oceanic cooling in the Atlantic and the resultant different...

In recent years, coral reefs worldwide have suffered high mortality rates due to coral bleaching, a phenomenon contributing to a 40% decrease in coral cover in the Florida Keys since the 1997/98 El Niño event. In the Florida Keys, coral from inshore reefs are known to be more thermotolerant than their conspecifics from offshore reefs but the mechan...

Although mass mortality from disease and climate anomalies are largely to blame for rapid losses in coral cover along the Florida reef tract, the failure of extant populations to recolonize the offshore zone is puzzling given improvements to water quality and narrower range in seawater temperature compared to the inshore patch reef zone. Using exis...

2nd paper of our 4-member team in a series on modelling bleaching and evolution in reef-building coral species. The first paper, published in NONRWA, was the most downloaded paper of 2014. The present work has been submitted.

A model of Entosymbiosis between corals and algae evolves to Endosymbiosis via formalism from Finsler Geometry and Analytical Modular Dynamics

Populations of the freshwater amphipod Diporeia spp. have steadily declined in Lake Michigan since the late 1980’s. Prior studies have provided inconclusive data on possible reasons for their decline. However, some authors suggest that food competition and/or diseases associated with aquatic invasive species (AIS), such as zebra mussels ( Dreissena...

Sediment and coral (Leptogorgia setacea) samples were analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations along the Port Aransas Jetties off the coast of south Texas. Total PAH concentrations ranged from 243-2121 ppm in corals and from 1-328 ppm in sediments. In addition to total PAH concentrations being higher in coral samples, most...

Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and threatened ecosystems in the world. Corals worldwide are at risk, and in many instances, dying due to factors that affect their environment resulting in deteriorating environmental conditions. Because corals respond quickly to the quality of the environment that surrounds them, corals have been identified...

Actual seawater temperatures for experimental trials. (DOC)

We introduce a new marine syndrome called ulcerated yellow spot, affecting the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi. To identify bacteria associated with tissue lesions, tissue and mucus samples were taken during a 2009 Indo-Pacific research expedition near the Wakatobi Island chain, Indonesia. Polymerase chain reaction targeting the 16S rDNA gene ind...

Zero exchange super-intensive recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) represent an environmentally “friendly“ alternative to traditional shrimp culture methods, however the susceptibility to pathogens typically increases as the density of cultured organisms increases. The study describes a greenhouse-enclosed super-intensive RAS, utilizing culture...

M illepore morphology is h ighly variable and shows signs of phenotypic plasticity. Two species of Millepora are present around the islands of the Bahamas: one exhibit ing a strong, blade-like structure, Millepora complanata, and the other having a delicate branch-like structure, Millepora alcicornis. The phylogenetic relationship of these corals h...

The question of whether global warming affects phytopigments within Symbiodinium spp. of coral is central to understanding the process of coral bleaching. In this study, corals Acropora hyacinthus, Porites solida, and Favites complanata were exposed to elevated temperatures (28, 30, 32, and 34 o C) for 48 h and the responses of Symbiodinium chl a,...

Construction of jetties along the Texas coast has provided hard substrate biota with suitable habitats for attachment that is otherwise scarce. Although similar to natural hard bottom environments such as coral reefs or offshore banks, jetties in temperate or subtropical areas are subjected to substantially more environmental instability including...

Bubble-gum corals (Paragorgia spp.) appear to lack predators common to many other deep-sea corals. The aim of this study was to determine whether compounds from red and white colored bubble-gum coral Paragorgia arborea (Linnaeus, 1758) from different geographical locations inhibit predation or elicit different behavioral responses. We extracted sec...

Gorgonian coral distributions are poorly known in the subtropical northwestern coast of the Gulf of Mexico (the area from Corpus Christi, TX to Tamaulipas, Mexico). Strip transect surveys were performed in July 2008 at the Aransas Pass and Brazos–Santiago Pass jetties in south Texas to determine distribution and community composition of gorgonian s...

The aim of this study was to prepare and investigate the mechanism of uptake of the dendriplexes prepared with ornithine-conjugated polyamidoamine (PAMAM) G4 dendrimers. Ornithine-conjugated PAMAMG4 dendrimers were prepared by Fmoc synthesis. A comparative transfection study in NCI H157G cells and polyamine transport-deficient cell line NCI H157R w...

Oil spills are the most common sources of pollution in marine ecosystems occurring worldwide, causing problems not only for benthic and pelagic organisms but also for terrestrial species that feed on marine organisms. Coral, more so than many other organisms, are sensitive to tiny changes in the marine environment, which makes them an excellent bio...

Commonly called "bubblegum coral', Paragorgia is a genus of cold-water gorgonian coral that has a broad global distribution and is eurybathic from depths of meters to kilometers. Such ecological breadth, however, may be confounded by the presence of cryptic species. In this study the genetic distances of various Paragorgia spp. across their distrib...

Coral exposed to short periods of temperature stress (≥1.0∘C above mean monthly maximum) and/or increased frequencies of high temperatures may bolster resilience to global warming associated with climate change. We compared Montastraea cavernosa (Linnaeus, 1767; Cnidaria, Scleractinia, Faviidae) from the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary (FKNM...

Millepore morphology is highly variable and shows signs of phenotypic plasticity. Two species of Millepora are present around the isl- ands of the Bahamas: one exhibiting a strong, blade-like structure, Millepora complanata , and the other having a delicate branch-like structure, Millepora alcicornis . The phylogenetic relation- ship of these coral...

Ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are predicted to increase by 2ºC by 2050, and over the next 100 years, global warming is expected to cause additional increases by as much as 2ºC to 4ºC. In this study, pigment concentrations were used to determine the effects of temperature and salinity stress on the sponge Cliona celata. Pigments extracted...

Aim of the study was to prepare and to evaluate gene transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity of the ornithine-conjugated PAMAMG4 dendrimers. Ornithine-conjugated PAMAMG4 dendrimers were prepared by Fmoc synthesis. A comparative gene transfection study between PAMAMG4 dendrimers and the surface modified dendrimers was conducted in HEK 293T, GM7373...

Genetically modified foods (GMFs) have been in the market for some time, and make up a significant portion of the food most people eat. How aware is the general population of the prevalence of genetically modified foods in their diet? There is reason to believe that the level of awareness of GMFs and the understanding of the technology behind GMFs...

Increased sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) associated with climate change/global warming have caused bleaching in scleractinian corals (the loss of obligate symbiotic zooxanthellae) on a global basis, resulting in mass mortality of corals and decimation of reefs. This symbiotic relationship makes these corals an excellent bioindicator of climate cha...

Scleractinian corals are known to suffer bleaching or loss of their symbiotic zooxanthellae under conditions of elevated seawater temperatures often associated with climate change (i.e. global warming). This can occur on a massive scale and has caused the decimation of reefs on a global basis. During the bleaching process, the expelled zooxanthella...

Recent evidence suggests that processes of cell death, apoptosis, and necrosis may be the primary cause of zooxanthellar loss and coral bleaching as our global climate changes and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) increase. A question that has remained unanswered, however, is whether the coral hosts themselves are sensitive to climate change, and, if...

The deleterious effects of temperature-induced coral bleaching, a process by which corals lose their endosymbiotic algae (zooxanthellae; genus Symbiodinium) primarily at temperatures above mean yearly maximums, has not been well described for alcyonacean soft corals (Coelenterata, Octocorallia). The study of Symbiodinium cells lost from Sarcophyton...

Many deep-water coral species 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. We are currently comparing the genetic distances between Paragorgia sp. and Primnoa sp. across their distribution and depth range in Canada using 18S...

Mechanisms which regulate abundances of Symbiodinium populations during bleaching are not yet fully understood. Currently proposed mechanisms include cell exocytosis, host-cell detachment, apoptosis and necrosis. Here we have analysed zooxanthellae of soft and scleractinian corals under thermal stress using light, fluorescence and transmission elec...

The study of symbiont cells lost from bleached scleractinian corals Acropora hyacinthus, Favites complanata, and Porites solida and octocorals Sarcophyton ehrenbergi, Sinularia sp., and Xenia sp. using flow cytometry shows that Symbiodinium die from either apoptosis or necrosis. Despite the majority of lost Symbiodinium cells being viable at 28 °C,...

Coral bleaching results from the dissociation of Symbiodinium and is primarily related to sea surface temperatures above mean yearly maximums. The numbers of live, dead, and mitotic Symbiodinium cells lost from three scleractinian corals from three different families (Acropora hyacinthus, Favites complanata, and Porites solida), which have not been...

A large portion of the oyster industry in eastern Canada is located in the northeastern part of New Brunswick. Peat mining industries exist in the same region and concern exists over the release of particulate matter and its potential impact on oyster feeding, growth, and survival. We examined the feeding response and absorption rates of several gr...