Research Station Carmabi

Prof. Dr. Bruce Fouke

Professor Geology and Microbiology
University of Illinois, Dept. of Geology
138 Natural History Building
Phone: +1 217-244-5431
E-mail: fouke@uiuc.edu

Education
Ph.D. Geology, State University of New York at Stony Brook
M.Sc. Paleobiology, University of Chicago
M.Sc. Geology, University of Iowa
B.Sc. Geology, Bradley University

Research Interests
Some of my latest research interests include determination of how organic macromolecules produced by bacteria and corals affect the precipitation of carbonate biominerals during rapid environmental changes in temperature and oxygen concentration.

The natural laboratories for this work are travertine hot springs in Yellowstone and coral reef ecosystems of the Netherlands Antilles.
Results are providing fundamental new knowledge of the extent to which feedbacks between minerals, metazoans (coral) and thermophilic bacteria control the carbonate biomineralization process.

This in turn will permit us to establish more precise predictive models of how coral reef ecosystems will respond over the next 100 years to global warming, and improve our search for and interpretation of microbial life on the early earth and other planets.

Publications relevant to Curacao

• Piggot, A.M., Fouke, B.W., Sivaguru, M., Sanford, R., Gaskins, H.R., 2009. Change in zooxanthellae and mucocyte tissue density as an adaptive response to environmental stress by the coral Montastraea annularis, Marine Biology 156:2379-2389.
• Fouke, B.W., 2008. 87Sr/86Sr Depositional and diagenetic chronology from altered skeletal material. West Texas Geological Society, Vol. 47(5): 14-26.
• Klaus, J., Janse, I., Sandford, R., and Fouke, B.W., 2007. Coral microbial communities, zooxanthellae, and mucus along gradients of seawater depth and coastal pollution. Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 9(5):1291-1305.
• Klaus, J., Budd, A., and Fouke, B.W., 2007. Environmental controls on corallite morphology in the reef coral Montastrea annularis. Bulletin of Marine Science, Vol. 28:233-260.
• Frias-Lopez, J., Klaus, J.S., Fouke, B.W., 2006. Cytoxic activity of Black Band Disease (BBD) extracts against the symbiotic dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp., Proceedings of the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium, Okinawa, p. 785-788.
• Klaus, J.S., Frias-Lopez, J., Fouke, B.W., 2006. The effect of temperature on bacterial communities inhabiting healthy tissues of Diploria strigosa, Proceedings of the 10th International Coral Reef Symposium, Okinawa, p. 794-799.
• Klaus, J.S., Frias-Lopez, J., Bonheyo, G.T., Heikoop, J.M., and Fouke, B.W., 2005, Bacterial communities inhabiting the healthy tissues of two Caribbean reef corals: interspecific and spatial variation: Coral Reefs, Vol. 24, p. 129-137.
• Frias-Lopez, J., Klaus, J., Bonheyo, G.T., and Fouke, B.W., 2004, The bacterial community associated with black band disease in corals: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Vol. 70, p. 5055-5062.
• Frias-Lopez, J., Bonheyo, G.T., and Fouke, B.W., 2004, Identification of differential gene expression in bacteria associated with coral black band disease using RNA-arbitrarily primed PCR: Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Vol. 70, p. 3687-3694.
• Frias-Lopez, J., Bonheyo, G.T., Jin, Q., and Fouke, B.W., 2003, Cyanobacteria associated with coral black band disease in Caribbean and Indo-Pacific reefs: Applied and Environmental Microbiology, v. 69, p. 2409-2413.
• Frias-Lopez, J.,  Zerkle, A.L., Bonheyo, G.T., and Fouke, B.W.,  2002, Partitioning of bacterial communities between seawater and healthy, black band diseased, and dead coral surfaces. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 68, No. 5, p. 2214-2228.
• Fouke, B.W., Meyers, W.J., Hanson, G.N., and Beets, C.J., 1996, Chronostratigraphy and dolomitization of the Seroe Domi Formation, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. Facies, v. 35, p. 293-320.
• Fouke, B.W., 1994, Deposition, Diagenesis and Dolomitization of the Neogene Seroe Domi Coral Reef on Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles. Publications Foundation for Scientific Research in the Caribbean Region, Amsterdam, Vol. 135, 197 pp.
• Fouke, B.W., 1993. A geological perspective on Caribbean coral reefs. The Commonwealth, Journal of the Commonwealth Club of California, v. 21, p.302-303.
• Fouke, B.W. and Reeder, R.J., 1992, Surface structural controls on dolomite composition: Evidence from compositional sector zoning. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 56, p. 4015-4024.