{"id":1714,"date":"2011-11-08T14:23:20","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T00:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2021-06-03T11:06:05","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T21:06:05","slug":"web-tool-catalogs-coral-and-symbiotic-organism-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2011\/11\/08\/web-tool-catalogs-coral-and-symbiotic-organism-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Web tool catalogs coral and symbiotic organism data"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

\"map<\/p>\n

A new application created by a team of researchers from UH<\/abbr> Mānoa’s Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Institute of Marine Biology<\/a> makes comprehensive biological and ecosystem information on symbiotic zooxanthellae called Symbiodinium<\/em> widely available online to researchers for the first time.<\/p>\n

\"Symbiodinium
Symbiodinium<\/em> in 3D laser scanning confocal image by Michael Stat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Symbiodinium<\/em> are uni-cellular, photosynthetic dinoflagellates that live inside the cells of other marine organisms such as anemones, jellyfish and corals. The symbiotic organisms provide energy to their coral hosts, thereby driving the deposit of calcium carbonate that builds coral reefs. Responses of corals and Symbiodinium<\/em> to environmental stressors have important implications for the resiliency of coral reef ecosystems to climate change.<\/p>\n

The HIMB<\/abbr> team’s GeoSymbio<\/a> hybrid web application features an interactive global map of corals along with genetic identification and taxonomic description of more than 400 distinct Symbiodinium<\/em> subclades, or genetic lineages, in invertebrate hosts from a variety of marine habitats.<\/p>\n

HIMB<\/abbr> Junior Specialist Erik Franklin<\/strong> presented the web-based tool at the Environmental Information Management conference in September.<\/p>\n

“Building the capacity to examine the diversity of Symbiodinium<\/em> on coral reefs has global and societal implications for tropical nations,” said Franklin. “Dissemination of this information is essential.”<\/p>\n

GeoSymbio provides geographic details of records that were not well documented or easily accessible in previous databases, he said. GeoSymbio represents the first tool for discovering, exploring, visualizing and sharing data on Symbiodinium<\/em> ecology, diversity and geography in a rapid, cost-effective and engaging manner that is freely accessible and searchable by the public.<\/p>\n

\"Erik
Team members from left, Franklin, Stat, Pochon, Putnam and Gates<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The project compiles Symbiodinium<\/em> ITS2<\/abbr> sequence information, identifies redundant entries, summarizes the attribute information for all sequences, identifies the geospatial location and temporal information of the specimen collection and disseminates the data through the website.<\/p>\n

Working with Franklin on the HIMB<\/abbr> project team were colleagues from the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a> Michael Stat<\/strong>, Xavier Pochon<\/strong>, Hollie Putnam<\/strong> and Ruth Gates<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marine biology team creates web-based application for accessing comprehensive global data on symbiotic Symbiodinium<\/em> and host corals. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[109,53,175,92,9],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-coral-reefs","tag-hawaii-institute-of-marine-biology","tag-marine-biology","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t