This award will support collaborative research between Prof. Thomas Frost of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Dr. Clive Wilkinson of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, Queensland. The investigators will study the modeling of the interaction between autotrophy and heterotrophy in symbiotic associations by measuring autotrophic and heterotrophic activities for sponges, clams, and corals on the Great Barrier Reef and comparing measurements with models that have been developed by the U.S. investigator. The project combines the expertise of the U.S. investigator in the development of modeling approaches, with that of his Australian collaborator in the field of symbiotic effects in sponges. In addition to the light it can shed on the basic ecology of algal- invertebrate symbiosis, results of this research can be expanded to include a variety of mixotrophic organisms, thus increasing our understanding of the ecological effects of symbiosis in general.
