Ben Farmer

2023: The first mass coral bleaching event in the Veracruz Reef System National Park, southwestern Gulf of Mexico - Coral Reefs The 2023 Fourth Global Bleaching Event impacted coral reef ecosystems worldwide. At the Veracruz Reef System National Park (VRSNP), the mean monthly sea surface temperature in August reached 30.3 ºC,…

The first mass coral bleaching event in the Veracruz Reef System National Park, southwestern Gulf of Mexico link.springer.com/article/10.1... 🦑 🧪 🌍️

Mother and daughter discover contender for world's largest known coral colony Mother and daughter citizen scientists find what is believed to be the largest coral colony on the Great Barrier Reef an

Some wonderful news to kick off your weekend: locals in Far North Queensland have uncovered a coral colony the length of a football field on the GBR. It shows some coral reefs are surviving mass bleaching events.

We must never lose hope of what is still possible in the face of the climate crisis.

Citizen scientists discover a Great Barrier Reef coral giant ‘like a rolling meadow’ Volunteer group Citizens of the Reef made the find as part of the Great Reef Census

Citizen scientists discover a Great Barrier Reef coral giant ‘like a rolling meadow’

Volunteer group Citizens of the Reef made the find as part of the Great Reef Census

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Citizen scientists have discovered what they believe is one of...

Preprint alert: We adopt a cheap & rapid WGS protocol for vertebrate sized genomes, and use it to sequence nearly 1K whitefish genomes to low/med coverage for lake-wide pop genomics of adults + larvae for species assignment, habitat use, decline & selection: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

#PopGen

Save Florida's Reef from Reckless Dredging The US Army Corps of Engineers is pushing forward a massive dredging project at Port Everglades. Under current plans, this intensive construction project could smother the vibrant coral reef sharing i...

Save Florida's Remaining Coral from Destructive Dredging! We cannot let history repeat itself. Sign the petition today and email members of Congress. stopthedredge.com/act/port-eve...

"Plumage and Passage" by artist Ernesto Maranje, which prominently showcases the great blue heron and the roseate spoonbill. The mural ironically celebrates South Florida biodiversity.

Giant dredging equipment is positioned in the Intracoastal Waterway near the port.

Underwater camera footage captures the dredge damage to the reef.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning the largest permitted coral reef destruction in U.S. history. Port Everglades expansion would wipe out millions of corals, including the few remaining staghorn corals in Florida. #WetTribe #TidetotheOcean

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology (PRFB)

guess who's back, back again. NSF PRFB!

if you want to address interesting problems in global change biology and the ever thorny problem of what limits species' elevational ranges, and are interested in a postdoc, please do reach out.

www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

Hot take: folks are too focused on the AI emphasis of the PRFB & missing the most concerning part of the solicitation.

The heavy emphasis on bio-AI integration for “technological advances” is a concerning degradation of NSFs mission to fund basic biological research.

Fossil isotope evidence for trophic simplification on modern Caribbean reefs - Nature Using nitrogen isotopes from ancient and modern fish otoliths and corals, the study shows Caribbean reef food webs are now 60–70% shorter and functionally less diverse, indicating human-driven trophic simplification and increased risk of collapse.

The food chains on modern Caribbean coral reefs may have shortened by up to 70% compared with those on their prehistoric counterparts, according to research in Nature. The findings suggest that modern reefs could be increasingly vulnerable to external stressors and ecosystem collapse. 🌍 🧪

Day 8 @lgbthm.bsky.social Ruth Gates was a marine biologist & an advocate for coral reef conservation. Known for her groundbreaking research on heat-resistant corals. A member of the LGBT+ community, she married her Robin in 2018, just months before her death. @unisonlgbtplus.bsky.social #lgbthm

A plea from an editor:

postdocs & grad students who want to review manuscripts, please (!) have an online presence with your current email. I try to solicit reviews from ECRs, but we all move a lot, and it's hard to know if we'll be able to reach you at the email address on your last paper 🧪🌍

The marine conservation group @hifmb.de is looking for a postdoc and a Phd student to study coral genomics and conservation genetics. Join us to develop solutions for coral conservation and dive into the world of early branching metazoans: Deadlines coming up fast. jobs.awi.de/Vacancies/21...

When Dr. Dawson joined us in July 2025, he didn’t frame coral reefs only as ecosystems in crisis. He spoke of them as living social systems—shaped by history, access, stewardship, and who gets to belong in science at all.
#CoralReefs #MarineScience

I don't think people appreciate the extent to which coral reefs are screwed. Even if ocean acidification doesn't get them, increasing ocean temperatures will. How screwed they are is up to us.

GBE | Genome Skimming Illuminates Hidden Species Diversity and Symbiodiniaceae Associations in East Pacific Pocillopora Corals

@michaeltconnelly.bsky.social et al. sequenced 342 Pocillopora coral samples from the Eastern Tropical Pacific, revealing four distinct species; algal symbiont community profiling identified dominant symbionts that varied according to host species.

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evaf235

#genome #evolution

Last postdoc pub finally out!! This one was a doozy, but really enjoyable to work on. Involved some creative problem solving in regards to analysis of transcriptomic data from complex experimental designs.

In the end I learned A LOT from this team and think the final product is pretty cool.

🚨New Pub Alert🚨 We present a system-level molecular framework of natural diel regulation in the stony coral P. strigosa, integrating host & symbiodiniaceae transcriptomics with microbiome dynamics over 6hr intervals. Amazing to publish this PhD work @miamirosenstiel.bsky.social 👉 shorturl.at/TzYEr

Coast-to-coast coral assessment reveals Thailand’s reefs losing complexity Marine scientists compiling the most holistic “snapshot” of Thailand’s coral reefs to date have uncovered evidence of a long-suspected reality: Thailand’s coral reefs are losing structural complexity....

Marine scientists have mapped Thailand’s coral reefs in rare detail, creating a vital baseline before the 2024 global bleaching hit.

The surveys show reefs losing complexity, with branching corals fading—data that could guide future restoration and resilience efforts.

Screenshot of Prism - I asked it to create a methods, participants, results, and discussion seconds. It did so within 54 seconds...

OpenAI just released Prism, a LaTeX editor with embedded ChatGPT for free.
Writing a paper has never been easier.
Clogging the scientific publishing pipeline has never been easier.
It took me 54 seconds to write up an experiment I did not actually conduct.

prism.openai.com

A schematic image showing Recent changes in reef zonation of western Atlantic coral reefs, brought about by lack of recruitment of elkhorn, staghorn, and massive boulder corals. Without these key reef builders, the reefs have already measurably eroded. Image credit: Rashpal Dhilon. Adapted from ref. 6, which is licensed under CC BY 4.0. The panel on the left labeled Late Pleistocene to ~1978 shows a vibrant ecosystem, the middle panel (the 1980s) is depleted but still many corals remain (though some key species are lost). The panel on the right (2020s) is like a moonscape with a few hardy species left.

Very effective illustration of what has happened to Florida's coral reefs in response to anthropogenic climate and environment change. The loss of this important ecosystem is all but complete - attempts to rescue it discussed here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 🪸🧪🌊

A new outbreak?? Same signs?

🚨 Job Alert! TT Assistant Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks! Looking for a candidate with a focus on coastal ecology. Come be my colleague! Please share.

careers.alaska.edu/jobs/assista...

Coral Reef Survival: Depth, Marine Protected Areas, and Seascape Structure Are Key - Project Seahorse Living corals are more likely to survive and thrive when found in deeper water, within Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), or in compact reef patches, according to a new study by UBC researchers published ...

🌊 New paper alert 🌊 Findings reveal coral reefs 🪸 are under pressure, but they do better in marine protected areas, deeper waters, & compact reef patches.
🔗👉Learn more: projectseahorse.org/coral-reef-s...

@ubcoceans.bsky.social @amandavincent.bsky.social

So excited that this work is finally out in the world! An example of working with practitioners to develop a mathematical model that can provide insight into the usefulness of management methods for coral reef health in the region.

Climate change postdoctoral fellowship (JRF, 3Y) opportunity at Oxford! 🌍 Brilliant opportunity for anybody with <2 years postdoc experience by October 2026. Would be great to get coral people - there's a strong cluster of coral reef/climate change people here. 🪸
www.queens.ox.ac.uk/vacancies/ju...

Climate extremes trigger rare coral disease and mass mortality on the Great Barrier Reef University of Sydney marine biologists have identified a devastating combination of coral bleaching and a rare necrotic wasting disease that wiped out large, long-lived corals on the Great Barrier Ree...

Climate extremes trigger rare coral disease and mass mortality on the Great Barrier Reef phys.org/news/2025-12...

Connections between coral reefs boost their health Coral reefs may seem like paradise, but they are being degraded by a range of global and local factors, including climate change, poor water quality, and overfishing.

Connections between coral reefs enhance ecosystem stability, and coordinated efforts to reduce both fishing pressure and pollution offer the most effective protection for reef health. doi.org/hbd48q

Caribbean reefs have lost 48% of hard coral since 1980, study finds ‘Destructive’ marine heatwaves driving loss of microalgae that feed coral, says Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network

Caribbean reefs have lost 48% of hard coral since 1980, study finds
‘Destructive’ marine heatwaves driving loss of microalgae that feed coral, says Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Troglocambarus maclanei is a blind cave crayfish found only underground in north-central Florida, considered critically endangered

Right now I'm doing this big writing project on rare species in Florida and thinking about how much they might suffer because of this AI grift, especially the poor freshwater crustaceans, already loved by almost no one, now trapped under Orlando during a water crisis. I hope they get to live.