The Randolph Bromery Spring 2019 Seminar Series: Gabriela Farfan

Description

Dr. Gabriela Farfan, a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History, will give a talk entitled "Mineral and Chemical Perspectives on Corals in a Changing Ocean" for the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Abstract:

Coral reef ecosystems provide essential habitats for marine life across the globe and support the economies of many island and coastal communities. How corals build their skeletons to make up coral reef architecture is an ongoing topic of debate and an important step to better predicting how corals will respond to climate change. Rather than tackling coral biomineralization mechanisms directly, a mineralogical and chemical perspective provides detailed information on the end-products of coral biomineralization: coral aragonite (CaCO3). Exploring crystallographic similarities and differences between coral aragonite and other forms of aragonite may help to predict the most important drivers in coral biomineralization. Crystallographic and chemical observations can also be used to characterize corals across natural pH gradients in order to better understand how skeletons may change in ocean acidification conditions. Beyond traditional mineralogical and chemical techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry, new advanced synchrotron-based X-ray methods used to map the chemical bonding environments of S and Ca in coral skeletons and tissues may also open opportunities for future in situ studies on the impacts of climate on corals.