Mary Alice Coffroth
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Mary Alice Coffroth | |
|---|---|
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| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Marine Biology |
| Institutions | State University of New York at Buffalo |
Dr. Mary Alice Coffroth is an American marine biologist. She is a Professor in the Department of Geology at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Her research is focused on coral larval ecology, recruitment and cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis.
Early years and education
Dr. Coffroth was born in Somerset, PA in 1954. She is the daughter of James Merwin and Mardelle Redrick Coffroth. Her father was a geologist and her mother a secretary. She grew up in Marion, VA, St. Albans, WV and Manassas, Va. and graduated from Stonewall Jackson High School. Dr. Coffroth obtained a B.S. in Biology in 1976 from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, her M.S. (1981) and Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography (1988) from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. She was a postdoctoral research associate at SUNY Buffalo (1988-1989) in the laboratories of H.R. Lasker and J.A. Bruenn working on molecular biology of gorgonian corals. She received an NSF Biotechnology postdoctoral fellowship to work on population genetics of gorgonians which was carried out at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (1990-1992).
Academic career
After her postdoctoral training Dr. Coffroth was a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at SUNY Buffalo from 1992 to 1997. She was then an Assistant (2000-2001), Associate (2001-2005) and Full (2005-2006) Professor in the same department. Dr. Coffroth was a Full Professor in the Department of Geology at SUNY Buffalo from 2006 to 2016. She is currently a Research Professor (semi-retired) in the same department. She was a visiting professor at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in Nice, France in 2014 and a Visiting Scientist at Institut de Cie`ncies del Mar, Barcelona, Spain in 2014.
Research
Dr. Coffroth’s Ph.D. research focused on the production of coral mucus by poritid corals and its role in the reef ecosystem. She was an early adopter of molecular approaches in marine ecology initially examining gorgonian population genetics using DNA fingerprinting. Subsequently, Dr. Coffroth was a pioneer in the use of molecular taxonomy of cnidarian photosymbionts and conducted some of the first studies on the early ontogeny of the symbiosis. Her work has shown how corals can initially take up a range of symbiont species which are then winnowed to a predictable subset of the available species. Her more recent work examines how these symbionts are responding to climate change and increasing in sea water temperatures. She established one of the largest algal collections for cultures from Caribbean corals and octocorals (BURR Culture Collection). Her cultures are widely used by labs around the world. She has also carried out research on the Upside-down Jellyfish Cassiopea.
Mentorship
Dr. Coffroth was the program director of the undergraduate B.S. Degree Program in Environmental Geoscience at SUNY Buffalo. She mentored 5 Ph.D. and 16 M.S. students.
Selected awards and professional service
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2014 Visiting Professor - Fellowship, University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, France, November 2014 1990 NSF Marine Biotechnology Postdoctoral Fellowship 1986 Rowlands Fellowship, RSMAS, University of Miami 1985 Reitmeister Fellowship, RSMAS, University of Miami 1983 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) Short-Term Fellowship 1978-81 Maytag Fellowship, RSMAS 1976 Phi Beta Kappa
Selected publications
- 1. McIlroy, SE, Cunning, R, Baker, AC, Coffroth, MA 2019 Competition and succession among coral endosymbionts. Ecology and Evolution 9:12767-12778 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5749
- 2. Poland, DM and Coffroth, MA 2019 Growth and survivorship varies with endosymbiotic algal partner in developing cnidarians. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 612: 87-100. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12876
- 3. Quigley K.M., Baker A.C., Coffroth M.A., Willis B.L., van Oppen M.J.H. (2018) Bleaching Resistance and the Role of Algal Endosymbionts. Ch. 6 pp. 111-151. In: Coral Bleaching: Patterns, Processes, Causes and Consequences eds; J. Lough and M. van Oppen. Springer Ecological Series. Cham, Switzerland
- 4. McIlroy, SE and Coffroth, MA. (2017) Coral ontogeny affects early symbiont acquisition in laboratory reared recruits. Coral Reefs DOI 10.1007/s00338-017-1584-7
- 5. Poland, DM and Coffroth, MA Trans-generational specificity within a cnidarian-algal symbiosis. Coral Reefs 36:119-129 DOI 10.1007/s00338-016-1514-0 (2017)
- 6. McIlroy, SE, Kleuter, Gillette, P, Cunning, R, Capo, T, Baker, A and Coffroth, MA The effects of Symbiodinium identity on growth, survival and photosynthesis of newly settled polyps. J. Phycol. 52:1114-1124 (2016).
- 7. Parkinson, JE, Coffroth, MA, LaJeunesse, TC. New species of clade B Symbiodinium (Dinophyceae) from the greater Caribbean belong to different functional guilds: S. aenigmatum sp. nov., S. antillogorgium sp. nov., S. endomadracis sp. nov., and S. pseudominutum sp. nov. J. Phycol- 51: 850–858 (2015)
- 8. Shoguchi, E., Shinzato, C., Kawashima, T. Gyoja, F., Mungpakdee S., Koyanagi R, Takeuchi T, Hisata K, Tanaka M, Fujiwara M, Hamada M, Seidi, A, Fujie M, Usami T, Goto H, Yamasaki S, Arakaki N, Suzuki Y, Sugano S, Toyoda A, Kuroki Y, Fujiyama A, Medina M, Coffroth MA, Bhattacharya D and Satoh N. Draft assembly of the Symbiodinium genome reveals dinoflagellate gene structure. Current Biology 23:1-10 (2013)
- 9. Coffroth MA, Poland DM, Petrou EL, Brazeau DA and Holmberg JC. Environmental symbiont acquisition may not be the solution to warming seas for reef building corals. PLoS One 5(10): e13258. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013258 (2010)
- 10. Voolstra, C, Schwarz, J, Schnetzer, J. Sunagawa, S., DeSalvo, M. Szmant, A., Coffroth, M.A., Medina, M. The host transcriptome remains unaltered during the establishment of coral-algal symbiosis Molecular Ecology 18: 1823-1833 doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04167.x (2009)
- 11. 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)
- 12. Coffroth, M.A. and Santos, S.R. Genetic diversity in Symbiodinium Protist 156:19-34 (2005) (Invited review)
- 13. Lewis, C.L. and Coffroth, M.A. The acquisition of exogenous algal symbionts by an octocoral after bleaching. Science 304: 1490-92 (2004)
- 14. 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)
- 15. Santos, S.R., Gutierrez-Rodriguez, C and Coffroth, M.A. Phylogenetic identification of symbiotic dinoflagellates via length heteroplasmy in domain V of chloroplast large subunit (cp23S)-rDNA sequences. Marine Biotechnology 5:130-140 (2003)
- 16. Goulet, T.L. and Coffroth, MA. Long term temporal and spatial stability of an octocoral-aglal symbiosis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 250:117-124. (2003)
- 17. Santos, S.R. and Coffroth, M.A. Molecular genetic evidence that dinoflagellates belonging to the genus Symbiodinium Freudenthal are haploid. Biological Bulletin 204:10-20. (2003)
- 18. Coffroth, M.A, Santos, S.R.,and Goulet, T.L Early ontogenic expression of specificity in a cnidarian-algal symbiosis. Mar. Ecol. Prog.Ser. 222:85-96. (2001)
- 19. Coffroth, M.A. and Lasker, H.R. Population structure of a clonal gorgonian coral: the interplay between clonal reproduction and disturbance. Evolution 52: 379-383. (1998)
- 20. Coffroth, M.A., Lasker, H.R., Diamond, M.E., Bruenn, J.A., Bermingham, E. DNA fingerprints of a gorgonian coral: A method for detecting clonal structure in a vegetative species. Marine Biology 114:317-325. (1992)
- 21. Coffroth, M.A. Mucous sheet formation on poritid corals: An evaluation of coral mucus as a nutrient source on reefs. Mar. Bio. 105: 39-49. (1990)