Email: s.vollmer@neu.edu

Phone: 781.581.7370, x312
Fax: 781.581.6076

Location: Marine Science Center

Mail: NU/Marine Science Center
430 Nahant Road
Nahant, MA 01908

Lab website:
http://www.northeastern.edu/marinegenomicslab/

Research Description

Research in my lab combines modern genetic techniques with field-based research to address questions about the evolution and ecology of marine organisms. Our research focuses primarily on tropical reef corals - specifically, 1) the role that interspecific hybridization and gene flow plays in the evolution of coral species, and 2) how gene flow and selection interact to shape the genetic structure of coral populations. Our main study group - the Caribbean Acropora corals [common name, Staghorn and Elkhorn coral] - have been decimated by White Band Disease (WBD) and are now listed as threatened on the US Endangered Species Act. Much of the current focus of our lab is aimed at identifying the genetic bases of disease resistance in staghorn corals and understanding the ecological drivers of White Band Disease in staghorn coral populations.

Other research in the lab includes work on the molecular evolution of temperate marine snails in collaboration with Dr. Geoff Trussell at NEU and Dr. John Grahame at the University of Leeds.

Selected Publications

Vollmer, S.V., Kline, D.K. 2008. Natural Disease Resistance in Threatened Staghorn Corals. PloS ONE (In Press – November 14, 2008)

Combosch, D.J., Guzman, H.M., Schuhmacher, H., Vollmer, S.V. 2008. Interspecific Hybridization and Restricted Trans-Pacific Gene Flow in the Tropical Eastern Pacific Pocillopora. Molecular Ecology 17: 1304-1312.

Nunes, F., Fukami, H., Vollmer, S.V., Norris, R.D., Knowlton, N. 2008. Re-evaluation of the Systematics of the Endemic Corals of Brazil by Molecular Data. Coral Reefs 27:423-432.   

Vollmer, S.V.,Palumbi, S.R. 2007. Restricted Gene Flow in the Caribbean Staghorn Coral Acropora cervicornis: Implications for the Recovery of Endangered Reefs. J Heredity 98: 40-50.

Willis, B.L., van Oppen, M.J.H, Miller, D.J., Vollmer, S. V., Ayre, D.J. 2006. The Role of Hybridization in the Evolution of Reef Corals. Annual Review of Ecology,Evolution, and Systematics 37: 489-517

Vollmer, S.V., Palumbi, S.R. 2004. Testing the Utility of ITS Sequences in Coral Phylogenetics. Molecular Ecology 13: 2763-2772.

Vollmer, S.V., Palumbi S.R. 2002. Hybridization and the Evolution of Reef Coral Diversity. Science 296: 2023-2025.

Vollmer, SV, Palumbi, S.R. 2002. Unisexual Clones: Lizards and Corals. Science 298: 2130-2131.

Vollmer, S.V., Edmunds, P.J. 2000. Allometric Scaling in Small Colonies of the Scleractinian Coral Siderastrea siderea (Ellis and Solander). Biological Bulletin 199: 21-28.

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