Meeting Abstract 6.2  Sunday, Jan. 4  Population genetic structure of symbiotic dinoflagellates associated with Caribbean reef-building corals, Montastraea annularis and M. faveolata. THORNHILL, D.J.*; SANTOS, S.R.; Bowdoin College; Auburn University thornhill.dan@gmail.com Symbiodinium is a highly diverse genus of unicellular dinoflagellate symbionts that associate with a variety of marine protists and invertebrates, including reef-building corals. Although the diversity […]

Meeting Abstract 6.5  Sunday, Jan. 4  Microarray analysis of the effects of symbiont type and microhabitat on heat stress responses in the coral Acropora hyacinthus WATERSON, Tyler*; BARSHIS, Daniel; STILLMAN, Jonathon; San Francisco State Univ.; Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa; San Francisco State Univ. waterson@sfsu.edu In the face of climate change and the worldwide decline of coral reefs […]

Meeting Abstract 6.4  Sunday, Jan. 4  Factors influencing coral recruitment: sediment and depth PEREZ III, Kaipo*; JOKIEL, Paul L.; RODGERS, Kuulei S.; Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology; Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology; Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology kaipop@hawaii.edu Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine survival rates from the effects of sediment on planulae of the coral Pocillopora […]

Meeting Abstract 6.3  Sunday, Jan. 4  Context-dependency of growth rate and vulnerability to predators of Caribbean coral reef sponges WULFF, Janie; Florida State University wulff@bio.fsu.edu Sponges play key functional roles on coral reefs, including filtering the water column, gluing live corals to the reef frame, protecting exposed carbonate skeletons from excavating organisms, and facilitating regeneration of damaged […]

Meeting Abstract 6.1  Sunday, Jan. 4  Aplysina Red Band Syndrome: An emerging infectious disease of coral reef sponges THACKER, R.W.**; GOCHFELD, D.J.; OLSON, J.B.; Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham; Univ. of Mississippi; Univ. of Alabama thacker@uab.edu Disease is often implicated as a major factor contributing to continuing declines in the health of Caribbean coral reef communities. Most […]

Meeting Abstract 6.4  Monday, Jan. 4  Protein Modularity and Evolvability: Evolutionary Origins and Consequences RORICK, Mary/M.*; WAGNER, Gunter/P.; Yale University, New Haven, CT mary.rorick@yale.edu It is well recognized that “modularity” is an important feature of living systems, though we lack concrete definitions for what this term means. Being able to quantify modularity, at least at one level […]

Meeting Abstract 6.2  Monday, Jan. 4  Mitochondrial genome rearrangements in animals: An update with perspectives on computational tractability PETT, Walker*; KAYAL, Ehsan; LAVROV, Dennis; Iowa State University willpett@iastate.edu Animal mitochondrial genomes are typically small circular molecules, in the range of 15 – 20kb, with an almost invariant set of 13 protein coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs and […]

Meeting Abstract 6.5  Monday, Jan. 4  Evolution of physical interactions between transcription factors HoxA-11 and FOXO1A: thinking beyond cis-regulation. BRAYER, KJ*; LYNCH, VJ; WAGNER, GP; Yale University kathryn.brayer@yale.edu The cis-regulatory paradigm attributes evolutionary novelty to changes in non-coding DNA sequences. According to the theory, changes in DNA sequence affect the ability of transcription factors to bind regulatory […]

Meeting Abstract 6.3  Monday, Jan. 4  Evolution of genome size in tetraploid suckers (Catostomidae: Cypriniformes) STANHOPE, B. A.*; BERENDZEN, P. B.; University of Northern Iowa; University of Northern Iowa bstan@uni.edu Genome size varies among organisms and is often correlated with developmental rate and morphology. It has long been observed that a larger genome size will positively correlate […]

Meeting Abstract 6.1  Monday, Jan. 4   Conflicting Evolutionary Hypotheses from the Analysis of 10 Glass Sponge Mitochondrial Genomes HAEN, K.M.*; LAVROV, D.V.; Iowa State University; Iowa State University khaen@iastate.edu Although progress has been made toward understanding the phylogenetic relationships among the early branching metazoan clades (the Porifera, Cnidaria, Ctenophora and Placozoa), the resolution of their relationships […]