Temperature stress is the single largest threat to coral reefs globally and is also the focal topic of the newly established Coral Bleaching Research Coordination Network (CBRCN). The goal of the CBRCN is to work with the broader coral reef research community to develop a common framework for coral bleaching research, sample collection, and data collation to facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations. These goals are imperative given the ongoing global coral bleaching crisis. The framework has been developed over the course of three workshops to move the science of coral bleaching research forward.
The third workshop of the CBRCN was held, virtually, on 11-14 May 2021. The workshop was hosted by Dr. Andréa Grottoli, from the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University, and led by Dr. Robert van Woesik, Institute of Global Ecology at the Florida Institute of Technology. Twenty-nine investigators from the USA, Germany, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Australia assembled to discuss the state of coral bleaching research, data, metadata, and modeling from a suite of disciplines, from the latest in –omics to regional and ocean-wide patterns of bleaching. The workshop was a success, and the participants are drafting up a manuscript to synthesize the major findings of the workshop. A webinar outlining the findings of the workshop will be presented mid-autumn 2021.
The Director of the CBRCN is Professor Andréa Grottoli. Steering committee members are Professors Robert Toonen, Robert van Woesik, Rebecca Vega Thurber, and Mark Warner. For additional information, you can visit the CBRCN website at http://u.osu.edu/grottoli.1/coral-bleaching-rcn/ or email Professor Grottoli directly at grottoli.1@osu.edu.
Figure caption: Coral Bleaching Research Coordination Network virtual workshop participants (left to right, top row to bottom row): Jesse Zaneveld, Jose Eirin-Lopez, Christian Voolstra, Robert van Woesik, Scott Heron, Mark Warner, Hugo Harrison, Andrea Grottoli (Director), Eric Crandall, Maria Vega-Rodriguez, Danwei Huang, Adrianna Humanes Schumann, Thomas DeCarlo, Thomas Krueger, Rowan McLachlan, Rebecca Vega Thurber, Robert Toonen, Erinn Muller, Derek Manzello, Lisa McManus, Thomas Shlesinger, Mary Donovan, Rebecca Albright, Leila Chapron, Dan Thornhill, Josh Madin, Ann Marie Hulver, Mauricio Rodriguez-Lanetty, Mikhail Matz
