If you want to exercise your reefing brain there is no bigger conversation right now than the role of microbiology in both natural coral reefs and our home aquaria. So we asked Reef Builders contributor Salem Clemens to join Remy and Raj on the latest episode of the Reef Therapy podcast, explain a few things, as well as raising a whole bunch of questions on what seems like the next frontier both in reefing, and in wider biology as a whole.
He may be young, but Salem is in his senior year pursuing a degree in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology with a minor in Chemistry. He is researching coral pathogens, zooxanthella, and holobiont-associated signal transduction pathways. Microbiomes and coral holobionts are very much his thing, and in this episode, he educates us about bacteria as well as argues that too many of our reef tanks are biological deserts. There is so much more to come, microbiology is moving at record pace due to machine learning and according to Salem, our reef aquariums (and coral health,) will be so much better for it as we pick apart and finally begin to understand exactly what each microbe does for our corals.
Have a listen…
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