Animals are key to restoring
the world’s forests
Animals will help restore tropical forests if people locate reforestation projects near existing forest reserves and control hunting.
Forest Ecology Animal Behavior Conservation Biology Long-term monitoring Biodiversity Natural History
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reforest
Smithsonian receives a $10 million donation to support research and education on climate resilience
The gift will establish the Adrienne Arsht Community-Based Resilience Solutions Initiative, a multi-year program to study tropical resilience and educate the public about the role of resilience.
Smithsonian Institution
Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet
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Donation
STRI special events,
October 2022
Reforestation initiative, A great idea, Pioneers of science, STRI and Panamanian culture, workshop prior to Our Ocean Conference 2023, Science Girls and more
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Events
Termites could play an important
role in climate change
A study spanning six continents explored the role of termites and microorganisms in wood decay.
Adapted from University of Miami press release
Forest Ecology Ecosystem Ecology Global Change Microbial Ecology Connections in nature: Plants, Animals, Microbes and Environments Barro Colorado
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S. Joseph WrightWood
eaters
Atlas of the Panamanian Caribbean macroalgae, their autofluorescence and uses
Although these seaweeds are very popular among the Guna Yala community, it is no less true that their use is unknown to the public.
Biodiversity Bioinformatics Botany Chemical Ecology Conservation Biology Microbial Ecology Connections in nature: Plants, Animals, Microbes and Environments
brownA useful
tool
The astonishing diversity of animals, algae and plants that live in the world’s oceans today would either not exist, or would exist in a very different form, if organisms had not interacted with microbial partners for millions of years. If we truly want to understand how biological diversity originated, how species coexist and how organisms cope with global changes, we must study the functional role of microbial partners and how microbes co-evolve with hosts.
In our lab, we conduct basic and applied research on (1) the mechanisms of coral reef resilience with the ultimate goal of finding ways to boost coral reef resilience; (2) the ecology of evolution of host-microbe interactions by leveraging the many sister species of fish, crustacean and mollusks that emerged after the closure of the Isthmus of Panama; (3) the population dynamics of endangered sharks and rays in the Tropical Eastern Pacific using non-invasive environmental genomics.
The dynamic nature of microbes may provide a unique source of ecological and evolutionary novelty to support host responses to local (deoxygenation, pollution) and global environmental stressors (warming, acidification). The composition of microbiomes can shift rapidly through the loss, gain, or replacement of taxa. In addition, high rates of mutation and exchange of genetic material generate new genetic variants that may be better suited to novel conditions. We study how microbes influence host traits and how they are influenced by host traits over ecological and evolutionary time scales. We address these questions in a range of taxonomic groups, including corals, fish, crustaceans and mollusks.
The classical explanation for how many species can co-exist in species rich communities, such as coral reefs, is fine-scale niche partitioning of resources. High levels of morphological, behavioral and/or physiological specializations provide a refuge for species during periods of intense competition such as when ecosystems are in healthy states. Alternatively, specializations can make species vulnerable when resources become scarce. We study how coral reef associated fish and invertebrates with apparent specializations can switch to alternative resources as a mechanism to cope with changing environmental conditions. We investigate the consequences of niche versatility for the persistence of populations and the functional role of organisms on coral reefs of the Anthropocene.
Natural experiments, such as time-calibrated geological events with well-characterized environmental gradients, provide unique ecological and evolutionary contexts to understand how hosts and microbes have coevolved. Organisms on opposing sides of dispersal barriers follow separate evolutionary trajectories under the influence of local environmental conditions. We are leveraging a natural experiment, the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, to investigate how similar features arise in different organisms in response to experiencing similar selective pressures.
Many vulnerable shark and ray species, use mangrove-fringed bays and estuaries of the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) as nurseries and feeding grounds. However, the persistence of these populations is threatened due to habitat loss, unregulated fishing pressure and pollution that impact them directly as well as their food source. The implementation of effective management strategies requires high frequency time series data (such as monthly or seasonal population size estimates) that traditional methods such as mark-recapture, acoustic and satellite tagging cannot provide effectively because they are time-consuming, expensive, and often invasive. We develop and apply non-invasive environmental DNA (eDNA) genomic techniques to scale up our understanding of shark and ray population dynamics for conservation.
M.Sc. University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris 6, France, 2008
Ph.D., University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris 6, France, 2012.
** shared first authorship
Clever F, Sourisse JM, Preziosi RF, Eisen JA, Rodriguez Guerra EC, Scott JJ, Wilkins LGE, Altieri AH, McMillan WO, Leray M. 2022. The gut microbiome variability of a butterflyfish increases on severely degraded Caribbean reefs. Communications Biology In Press
Leray M, Knowlton N, Machida R. 2022. MIDORI2: A collection of quality controlled, preformatted, and regularly updated reference databases for taxonomic assignment of eukaryotic mitochondrial sequences. Environmental DNA. 0, 1-14
Leray M**, Wilkins LGE**, Apprill A, Bik HM, Clever F, Connolly SR, De León ME, Duffy EJ, Ezzat L, Gignoux-Wolfsohn S, Herre EA, Kaye JZ, Kline DI, Kueneman JG, McCormick MK, McMillan OW, O’Dea A, Pereira TJ, Petersen JM, Petticord DJ, Torchin ME, Vega Thurber R, Videvall E, Wcislo WT, Yuen B, Eisen JA. 2021. Natural experiments and long-term monitoring are critical to understand and predict marine host-microbe ecology and evolution. PLoS Biology. 19, e3001322
Johnson MD**, Scott JJ**, Leray M**, Lucey N**, Bravo LMR, Wied WL, Altieri AH. 2021. Rapid ecosystem-scale consequences of acute deoxygenation on a Caribbean coral reef. Nature Communications. 12, 1-12
Leray M, Knowlton N, Ho S, Nguyen BN, Machida R. 2019. GenBank is a reliable resource for 21st century biodiversity research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116, 22651-22656
Wilkins LGE**, Leray M**, Yuen B, Peixoto R, Pereira TJ, Bik HM, Coil DA, Duffy JE, Herre EA, Lessios H, Lucey N, Mejia LC, O'dea A, Rasher DB, Sharp K, Sogin EM, Thacker RW, Vega Thurber R, Wcislo WT, Wilbanks EG, Eisen JA. 2019. Host-associated microbiomes drive structure and function of marine ecosystems. PLoS Biology 17, e3000533
Leray M, Alldredge AL, Yang JY, Meyer CP, Holbrook SJ, Schmitt RJ, Knowlton N, Brooks AJ. 2019. Dietary partitioning promotes the coexistence of planktivorous species on coral reefs. Molecular ecology 28, 2694-2710
Leray M, Ho S-L, Lin J, Machida R. 2018. MIDORI server: a webserver for taxonomic assignment of unknown metazoan mitochondrial-encoded sequences using a curated database. Bioinformatics bty454
Leray M, Knowlton N. 2016. Censusing marine eukaryotic diversity in the twenty-first century. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 371,20150331
Leray M, Meyer CP, Mills SC. 2015. Metabarcoding dietary analysis of coral dwelling predatory fish demonstrates the minor contribution of coral mutualists to their highly partitioned, generalist diet. PeerJ 3,e1047
Leray M, Knowlton N. 2015. DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of standardized samples reveal patterns of marine benthic diversity. Proceediengs of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 112,2076-2081
Leray M, Yang JY, Meyer CP, Mills SC, Agudelo N*, Ranwez V, Boehm JT, Machida RJ. 2013. A new versatile primer set targeting a short fragment of the mitochondrial COI region for metabarcoding metazoan diversity, application for characterizing coral reef fish gut contents. Frontiers in Zoology 10,34
Cozying up to the mangrove
Tropical coral species may have found an alternative habitat where they can thrive in the face of climate change.
Text by Leila Nilipour
Ecosystem Ecology Geography and Biogeography Conservation Biology Biodiversity Global Change Evolutionary Ecology Connections in nature: Plants, Animals, Microbes and Environments Bocas del Toro
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How can humans
and jaguars coexist?
From tracking the movements of large felines across the continent to helping rural communities reap the benefits of protecting biodiversity, director of Yaguará Panamá Foundation Ricardo Moreno turned his childhood dream into a mission.
Text by Vanessa Crooks
Animal Behavior Biodiversity Zoology Conservation Biology Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet
brownRicardo
Moreno
First “Virtual Gigante”
is a success
After being taught annually for three decades, the Smithsonian Introductory Field Life Sciences Course was suspended due to the pandemic, but it made a digital comeback in 2021.
Text by Leila Nilipour
Translation by Sonia Tejada
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Sabrina AmadorHome
Science
Accidental tree wound reveals novel symbiotic behavior
A group of high school students describe how Azteca alfari ants respond to damage to their host plant
Text by Leila Nilipour
Animal Behavior Evolutionary Ecology Ecology Entomology Connections in nature: Plants, Animals, Microbes and Environments
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William WcisloFortuitous
discovery
