Dr. Mary Alice Coffroth

Office: 661 Hochstetter Hall Phone: 716.645.2363 ext.187 Email: coffroth@buffalo.edu Website: http://www.nsm.buffalo.edu/Bio/burr/ Title: Professor Degree: Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, Rosenstiel of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Miami Specialty: Evolutionary biology and Ecology; Population biology of marine invertebrates

Courses Offered

GLY 409 – Advance Ecology

GLY 411/511   - Marine Ecology

GLY 310 - Ecological Methods

GLY 412/512 - Field Course in Tropical Marine Ecology

GLY Colloquium in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior

Research Interests

My research interests are centered on using the population structure and genetic diversity of marine species to provide insight into their current and past population dynamics and to elucidate the mechanisms that maintain the observed diversity. My current research examines the population dynamics and early ontogeny of the symbioses between the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium spp . and cnidarian hosts such as coral. Gaining a better understanding of host-symbiont relationships in coral reef ecosystems will have implications for atmospheric and ocean sciences, conservation biology and the study and diagnosis of microbial diseases in corals.

Recent Publications

Santos, S.R, Shearer, T.L., Hannes, A.R. and Coffroth , M.A. Fine-scale diversity and specificity in the most prevalent lineage of symbiotic dinoflagellates ( Symbiodinium , Dinophyceae) of the Caribbean . Molecular Ecology 13, 459-469 (2004)

Shearer, T.L. and Coffroth , M.A. Isolation of microsatellite loci from the scleractinian corals, Montastraea cavernosa and Porites astreoides Molecular Ecology Notes 4:435-37. (2004)

Lewis, C.L. and Coffroth , M.A. The acquisition of exogenous algal symbionts by an octocoral after bleaching. Science 304: 1490-92 (2004)

Goulet, T.L. and Coffroth , MA . The genetic identity of dinoflagellate symbionts in Caribbean octocorals. Coral Reefs 23: 465-472 (2004)

Kim, E.A. B., Lasker, H.R., Coffroth , M.A. and Kim, K. Morphological and genetic variation across reef habitats in a broadcast-spawning gorgonian coral. Hydrobiologia 530/531:423-432. (2004)

Shearer, T.L, Gutierrez-Rodriguez, C. and Coffroth , M.A. Generating molecular markers from zooxanthellate cnidarians. Coral Reefs 24:57-66 (2005)

LaJeunesse TC, Lambert G, Andersen, RA, Coffroth , MA, Galbraith, DW Symbiodinium genome size is smallest among dinoflagellates J.Phycol. 44:880-886 (2005)

Coffroth , M.A. and Santos , S.R. Genetic diversity in Symbiodinium Protist 156:19-34 (2005) (Invited review)

Kirk, N., Ward, J. Harvell, D. and Coffroth , M.A. Zooxanthella diversity within diseased and healthy seafans ( Gorgonia , Octocorallinacea). Biological Bulletin. 209:227-234 (2005)

Shearer, TL and Coffroth , MA Genetic identification of Caribbean scleractinian coral recruits at the Flower Garden Banks and the Florida Keys . Marine Ecology Progress Series 306: 115-124 (2006)

Coffroth , MA ,Lewis, CL, Santos , SR, Weaver, JL. Environmental populations of symbiotic dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium (Freudenthal) can initiate symbioses with reef cnidarians Current Biology 16:985-987 (2006)