Astrangia poculata microbiome shifts in dormancy
Astrangia poculata corals were collected from Woods Hole Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's Iselin dock, 41.52N 70.67W) and Rhode Island (Fort Wetherill State Park, Jamestown, RI, 41.48N 71.36W) and brought to Roger Williams University where experiments began in May 2021. Corals were exposed to ambient or cold temperatures (to induce dormancy) in laboratory experiments to examine the microbiomes over two months. DNA was extracted from whole corals polyps as well as seawater medium during the incubation, and the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced.