Image

Sampling Coral Health

WHOI scientist Amy Apprill collects a small sample of an elkhorn coral in November 2017 during an unprecedented joint expedition with Cuban and American scientists to study the Gardens of the Queens in Cuba, one of the most pristine and unexplored coral reefs in the Caribbean. She and Laura Weber, a graduate student in the MIT-WHOI Joint Program, study small molecules called metabolites and the microbial cells that use and produce them as part of the chemical processes that occur within organisms to maintain life. Microorganisms and their metabolites are central components of ecosystems, and studying them illuminates the health and functioning of marine ecosystems such as coral reefs. (Photo by Laura Weber, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)