Name: Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Selecting Corals for Reef Restoration
Start: 2025-12-11T12:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-12-11T13:00:00-05:00
Location: 100 Old Mason Farm Rd, Chapel Hill, NC, United States, North Carolina 27517

Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: Selecting Corals for Reef Restoration

With Carlo Caruso, Senior Scientist, Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology - Coral Resilience Lab
Thursday, December 11
12-1 p.m.
Hybrid: In-person and on Zoom
Free!
Register: https://reg.learningstream.com/reg/event_page.aspx?ek=0005-0014-d606345138804b26a9be22739dd18472
Corals are the foundation of complex and biodiverse reef ecosystems often called 'the rainforests of the sea'. Reef-building corals are engaged in an ancient intracellular symbiosis with photosynthesizing algae which provides the energetic budget driving bio-mineralization and the physical formation of reefs.
As climate change degrades these reefs, coral restoration is increasingly being considered and implemented as a resource management strategy. Selecting coral stocks more likely to survive impending heat stress is one way to potentially increase the likelihood of a restoration project's success.
The Coral Resilience Lab investigates heat-tolerance in corals with a variety of techniques and innovative research methods, including genetics, field experiments, on-shore aquaria systems, and novel instrumentation. We explore the efficacy of sexual and asexual propagation approaches in empirical research-scale restoration plots and seek techniques for predicting and promoting heat-tolerance in coral stocks.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carlo Caruso is Senior Scientist at the Coral Resilience Lab at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology. His research focuses on the adaptation of corals under warming ocean conditions and resource management actions informed by the biology of coral bleaching (the breakdown of symbiosis between corals and their photosynthesizing algae). He also develops novel experimental apparatus combining engineering, programming, and instrumentation to support coral research. Carlo attended the NC School of Science and Mathematics and earned a BA in Education at UNC Chapel Hill, a Masters in Biological Science at Stanford, and a PhD in Marine Biology at the University of Hawai'i Manoa. He has previously worked as a middle school science teacher in Davidson County, NC, as the manager of molecular biology and genetics laboratories in NC and CA, and as District Ranger of the Manu'a Islands park unit in the National Park of American Samoa.