Dr. Gisèle Muller-Parker
My primary research interest is understanding how intracellular symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae and zoochlorellae) interact with their animal hosts (sea anemones and corals). My students and I are currently studying the seasonality of symbiont photosynthesis, symbiont dispersal via predators on animal hosts, and coral and anemone bleaching. I am also interested in seaweeds, teaching the Algae course and advising graduate students with seaweed projects.
The contrasting conditions for symbiosis that exist in tropical and temperate environments help us understand the role of the environment versus the role of the host in controlling production and growth of the symbiotic algae. We are characterizing the stability of discrete algal populations in the temperate sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima under seasonally varying environmental conditions, and relating these responses to those occurring in tropical anemones and corals.
Our tropical research is specifically examining the sequence of events during "bleaching" - the stress-induced disruption of the symbiosis between zooxanthellae and their tropical anemone and coral hosts. Please go to SEARUN website for details.
I teach marine science courses in oceanography, marine biology, and algae. I also teach general botany and a symbiosis course to Biology majors, and introductory biology to non-majors. I supervise many independent research projects by undergraduates.
My graduate students work on intertidal marine research projects with symbiotic sea anemones or seaweeds. I also have graduate students working on coral reefs and freshwater algal symbiosis (in salamander eggs).
Muller-Parker, G., J. Pierce-Cravens, and B.L. Bingham. 2006. Broad thermal tolerance of the symbiotic dinoflagellate Symbiodinium muscatinei (Dinophyta) in the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima from northern latitudes. J. Phycol.. in press.
Bachman, S. and G. Muller-Parker. 2006. Viable algae released by the seastar Dermasterias imbricata feeding on the symbiotic sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima. Mar. Biol. available online (Oct 2006)
Secord, D. and G. Muller-Parker. 2005. Symbiont distribution along a light gradient within an intertidal cave. Limnol. Oceanogr. 50(1): 272-278.
Lewis, L.A. and G. Muller-Parker. 2004. Phylogenetic placement of "zoochlorellae" (Chlorophyta), algal symbiont of the temperate sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima. Biol. Bull. 207: 87-92.
Bingham, B.L., S.D. Sulkin, S. Strom and G. Muller-Parker. 2003. Increasing diversity in the marine sciences through the Minorities in Marine Science Undergraduate Program. J. Geoscience Ed. 51: 474-480.
Seavy, B. Emerson and G. Muller-Parker. 2002. Chemosensory and feeding responses of the nudibranch Aeolidia papillosa to the symbiotic sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima. Invertebrate Biology 121: 115-125.
Pelletreau, K.N. and G. Muller-Parker. 2002. Sulfuric acid in the phaeophyte alga Desmarestia munda deters feeding by the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis. Marine Biology 141: 1-9.
Muller-Parker, G. and J. Cortes. 2001. Spatial distribution of light and nutrients in some coral reefs of the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica during January 1997. Revista de Biol. Trop. 49. Supl. 2: 251-263.
Muller-Parker, G. and S.K. Davy. 2001. Temperate and tropical algal-sea anemone symbioses. Invertebrate Biology 120: 104-123.
Engebretson, H.E. and G. Muller-Parker. 1999. Translocation of photosynthetic carbon from two algal symbionts to the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima. Biol. Bull. 197: 72-81.
Augustine, L. and G. Muller-Parker. 1998. Selective predation by the mosshead sculpin Clinocottus globiceps on the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima and its two algal symbionts. Limnol. Oceanogr. 43: 711-715.
Muller-Parker, G. and C.F. D'Elia. 1997. Interactions between corals and their symbiotic algae. Pp. 96-113 in: Life and Death of Coral Reefs. Edited by C. Birkeland. Chapman and Hall, New York. 536 pp.
Saunders, B.K. and G. Muller-Parker. 1997. The effects of temperature and light on two algal populations in the temperate sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima (Brandt, 1835). Jour. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 211:213-224.
Muller-Parker, G., K.W. Lee and C.B. Cook. 1996. Changes in the ultrastructure of symbiotic zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium sp., Dinophyceae) in fed and starved sea anemones (Aiptasia pallida) maintained under high and low light. Journal of Phycology 32:987-994.