“Coral reefs have profound significance for people’s lives”

Once a year, under a full moon, coral spawning takes place in Japan. “Corals are able to perceive the moonlight,” explains Annika Guse in the video. This moment is so important for the LMU biologist’s research that she and her team have traveled to Japan to be present on site. This allows her to take the insights she has obtained in the lab and test them in the field.

“Coral reefs have profound significance for people’s lives. They grow in areas where there’s actually not that much to eat. But there’s a lot of sunlight,” says Guse, Chair of Quantitative Organismic Networks at LMU. “To survive there, corals form a symbiosis with algae.” Annika Guse investigates the molecular mechanisms that underlie this cooperation.

For more on Annika Guse's research, see: Submarine symbiosis

Art and science: ¡vamos, simbiosis!