RCEI affiliate Fiorella Prada, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences was recently awarded a U.S.–Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF) grant for a collaborative project with Tali Mass at the University of Haifa.
According to Prada, the project will investigate how corals maintain strong, functional skeletons under long-term ocean warming and acidification. Using naturally resilient Mediterranean coral populations living across thermal gradients and at volcanic CO2 vents, the scientists will integrate molecular and metabolic approaches with advanced skeletal imaging and mechanical testing to uncover the mechanisms that allow corals to persist in a changing ocean.
For Prada, who has been working at those hydrothermal vent sites for years now, this award is another big step forward for her ongoing marine and climate change research.
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