For more than 20 years, I have been working at sea, starting as a dive instructor and now as a researcher. I love to explore new places and realms in the deep sea using rebreather diving or at the lab. My research interests include but are not limited to coral reef ecology, ecophysiology, and food webs. The association between scleractinian corals and photosynthetic dinoflagellates is one of the most well-known nutritional symbioses. Algal symbionts transfer most of their autotrophically acquired nutrients to their coral hosts and benefit from host heterotrophic feeding on external plankton. However, with the degradation of the shallow reefs due to different stressors from global warming, CO2 increase, anthropogenic pollution, overfishing and more, some coral populations are at risk and need to adapt or find refuge in a less stressful environment. In my current research, I will try to examine the health of the coral reef at the atoll of Ulithi in Micronesia by looking at the coral host/symbiont relationship. I will do that using compound-specific stable isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA). This method let us estimate the organism's trophic position, carbon and nitrogen sources. By knowing these parameters we can estimate how reliant is the coral on its symbiont and what is the symbiosis status. This can teach us about coral health and once we have this data we can apply proper management to the reef.

Education:

B.S. Marine Science, Ruppin Academic Center, Kfar Monash, Israel, 2004

M.S. Ecology and Environmental Quality, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 2008

Ph.D. Marine Biology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, 2020

Contact Information:

Email: stephane.martinez@uri.edu