Adrienne Correa

Roles

Founder and Co-Director of Berkeley Center for Ocean Futures

Faculty Director, UC Gump South Pacific Research Station

Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council Member, Education Seat (2024-present)

Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council Member, Research Seat (2015-2022)

Education

• Titus, K.R., Castellon, R., Washington, C., Cooper, J., Bloomberg, J., Coy, S.R., Farmer, B., Grupstra, C.G.B., Karrick, C., Meiling, S., Quetel, J., Rossin, A., Veglia, A.J., Watkins, J., Evans, K., Apprill, A., Holstein, D.M., Mydlarz, L.A., Brandt, M.E., Correa, A.M.S. (2026) Caribbean Fish Feces are an Environmental Pool of Viable Symbiodiniaceae. Frontiers in Microbiologyhttps://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1715855.

• Carpenter, G.E., Farmer, B.H., Craft, H.E., Apprill, A., Brandt, M.E., Correa, A.M.S., Mydlarz, L.D., Holstein, D.M. (2026) Mesoscale Circulation and Coral Community Disturbance at Isolated Reefs. Global Change Biology Communicationshttps://doi.org/10.1002/gcb4.70005.

• Rossin, A., Beavers, K.M., Karrick, C.E., Bloomberg, J., Meiling, S., Carpenter, G.E., Farmer, B.H., Green, B., Van Buren, E., Veglia, A., Apprill, A., Brandt, M., Correa, A.M.S., Enochs, I.C., Midway, S.R., Muller, E.M., Mydlarz, L., Smith, T.B., Studivan, M.S., Holstein, D.M. (2026) Runaway coral-algal dysbiosis may be responsible for rapid coral tissue loss. Scientific Reportshttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35666-4.

• Peterson, A., Patton, S., Schmeltzer, E.R., Grupstra, C.G.B., Howe-Kerr, L.I., Klinges, G., Maher, R.L., Messyasz, A., Seabrook, S., Thurber, A.R., Correa, A.M.S., Vega Thurber, R.L. (2025) Apicomplexan and non-metazoan microeukaryotes in the thermosensitive reef-building coral Acropora hyacinthus shift in abundance throughout an extreme coral bleaching event. Frontiers in Marine Sciencehttps://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1626071.

• Grottoli, A.G., Hulver, A.M., Vega Thurber, R.L., Toonen, R., Schmeltzer, E.R., Kuffner, I.B., Barrott, K., Baums, I., Castillo, K., Chapron, L., Coffroth M.A., Combosh, D., Correa, A.M.S., Crandall, E., Donahue, M., Donovan, M., Eirin-Lopez, J., Felis, T., Ferrier-Pages, C., Hagedorn, M., Harrison, H., Hedouin, L., Heron, S., Huang, D., Humanes, A., Kenkel, C., Kline, D., Krueger, T.,  Madin, J., Manzello, D., Matz, M., McManus, L., Medina, M., Muller, E., Padilla-Gamino, J., Putnam, H., Sewall, Y., Shlesinger, T., Sweet, M., Voolstra, C., Weis, V., Wild, C., Wu, C. (2025) Perspective on the Future Direction of Coral Bleaching Research and the Coral Bleaching Research Coordination Network. Bioscience.

• Vega Thurber, R.L., Silva, D., Speare, L., Croquer, A., Veglia, A.J., Alvarez-Filip, L., Zaneveld, J.R., Muller, E.M., Correa, A.M.S. (2024) Coral disease: Direct and indirect agents, mechanisms of disease, and innovations for increasing resistance and resilience. Annual Review of Marine Science 17: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-011123-102337 .

• Veglia, A. J.,  Rivera-Vicéns, R. E.,  Grupstra, C. G. B.,  Howe-Kerr, L. I., &  Correa, A. M. S. (2024).  vAMPirus: A versatile amplicon processing and analysis program for studying viruses. Molecular Ecology Resources,  00, e13978. https://doi.org/10.1111/1755-0998.13978.

• Howe-Kerr, L.I., Knochel, A.M., Meyer, M., Sims, J.A., Karrick, C.E., Grupstra, C.G.B., Veglia, A.J., Thurber, A.R., Vega Thurber, R.L. and Correa, A.M.S. (2024). Filamentous virus-like particles are present in coral dinoflagellates across genera and ocean basins. The ISME Journal 17: 2389-2402.

• Coy, S. R., Utama, B., Spurlin, J. W., Kim, J. G., Deshmukh, H., Lwigale, P., Nagasaki, K. and Correa, A.M.S. (2023). Visualization of RNA virus infection in a marine protist with a universal biomarker. Scientific Reports 13: 5813.

• Veglia, A.J., Bistolas, K.S.I., Hume, B., Voolstra, C., The Tara Consortium, Correa, A.M.S., Vega Thurber, R.L. (2023) Endogenous viral elements reveal ancient associations between non-retroviral RNA virus and symbiotic dinoflagellate genomes. Communications Biology 6: 566.

• Grupstra, C.G.B., Howe-Kerr, L.I., van der Meulen, J.A., Veglia, A.J., Coy, S.R., Correa, A.M.S. (2023) Consumer feces impact coral health in guild-specific ways. Frontiers in Marine Science 10.

• Davies, S.W.#, Gamache, M.H., Howe-Kerr, L.I., Kriefall, N.G., Baker, A.C., Banaszak. A., Bay, L., Bellantuono, A.J., Chan, C.X., Claar, D.C., Coffroth, M.A., Cunning, R., del Campo, J., Frommlet. J.C., Fuess, L.E., Goulet, T.L., Hoadley, K.D., Hume, B.C.C., Kemp, D.W., Kitchen, S.A., LaJeunesse, T.C., McIlroy, S., McMinds, R., Nitschke, M.R., Oakley, C.A., Peixoto, R.S., Prada, C., Putnam, H.M., Quigley, K., Reich, H.G., Reimer, J.D., Rosales, S., Saad, O.S., Santos, S., Stephens, T.G., Strader, M.E., Suggett, D.J., Swain, T.D., Tran, C., Traylor-Knowles, N., Voolstra, C.R., Weis, V., Wright, R., Yamashita, H., Correa, A.M.S.# and Parkinson, J.E.# (2023) Building Consensus Around the Assessment and Interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae Diversity. PeerJ 11: e15023. # = corresponding authors.

• Howe-Kerr, L.I., Grupstra, C.G.B., Rabbitt, K.M., Conetta, D., Coy, S.R., Klinges, J.G., Maher, R.L., McConnell, K.M., Meiling, S.S., Messyasz, A., Schmeltzer, E.R., Seabrook, S., Sims, J.A., Veglia, A.J., Thurber, A.R., Vega Thurber, R.L., Correa, A.M.S. (2023) Viruses of a key coral symbiont exhibit temperature-driven productivity across a reefscape. ISME Communications 3: 27.

• Grupstra, C. G. B., Lemoine, N.P., Cook, C. and Correa, A.M.S. (2022) Thank you for biting: Dispersal of beneficial microbiota through “antagonistic” interactions. Trends in Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2022.03.006 

• Strader, M.E.†, Howe-Kerr, L.I.†, Sims, J.A., Speare, K., Shore, A.N., Burkepile, D.E., Correa, A.M.S. (2022) Nitrate enrichment has lineage specific effects on Pocillopora adults, but no carry over effects in larvae. † These authors contributed equally. Coral Reefs https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-022-02236-9.

• Veglia, A.J., Beavers, K., Van Buren, E.W., Meiling, S.S., Muller, E.M., Smith, T.B., Holstein, D.M., Apprill, A., Brandt, M.E., Mydlarz, L.D. and Correa, A.M.S. (2022) Alphaflexivirus genomes in stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD)-affected, disease-exposed and unexposed coral colonies in the U.S. Virgin Islands." Microbiology Resource Announcements 11:e01199-21. https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.01199-21.

• Grupstra, C.G.B., Howe-Kerr, L.I., Veglia, A.J., Bryant, R., Coy, S.R., Blackwelder, P., Correa, A.M.S. (2022) Thermal stress triggers productive viral infection of a key coral reef symbiont. The ISME Journal. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-022-01194-y.

• Figueroa, R.I., Howe-Kerr, L.I., Correa, A.M.S. (2021) Direct evidence of sex and a hypothesis about meiosis in Symbiodiniaceae. Scientific Reports 11:18838. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-98148-9.

• Shore, A.N., Sims, J.A., Grimes, M., Howe-Kerr, L.I., Grupstra, C.G.B., Doyle, S.M. Stadler, L., Sylvan, J.B., Shamberger, K.E.F., Davies, S.W., Santiago-Vazquez, L.Z., Correa, A.M.S. (2021) Offshore transport of floodwaters following extreme storms impacts sponge health and associated microbial communities. Frontiers in Marine Science DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.608036 with associated Corrigendum: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.693430.

• Grupstra, C.G.B., Rabbitt, K.M., Howe-Kerr, L.I., Correa, A.M.S. (2021) Fish predation on corals promotes the dispersal of coral symbionts. Animal Microbiome 3:25 https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-021-00086-4.

• Correa, A.M.S., Howard-Varona, C., Coy, S.R., Buchan, A., Sullivan, M.B., Weitz, J.S. (2021) Revisiting the rules of life for viruses of microorganisms. Nature Reviews Microbiology https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-021-00530-x.

• Howe-Kerr, L.I., Bachelot, B., Wright, R.M., Kenkel, C.D., Bay, L.K., Correa, A.M.S. (2020). Symbiont community diversity is more variable in corals that respond poorly to stress. Global Change Biology 26:2220-2234. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14999 *Press release*.

• Vega Thurber, R.L., Payet, J.P., Thurber, A.R., Correa, A.M.S. (2017) Virus-host interactions and their roles in coral reef health and disease. Nature Reviews Microbiology 15:205-216.

• Correa, A.M.S., Ainsworth, T.D., Rosales, S., Thurber, A., Butler, C.R., Vega Thurber, R.L. (2016) Cryptic outbreak in corals driven by an in situ bleaching event: atypical herpes-like viruses and a new Megavirus infecting Symbiodinium. Frontiers in Microbiology 7:127.

• Correa, A.M.S., Welsh, R.M., Vega Thurber, R.L. (2013) Metagenomic evidence of unique nucleocytoplasmic dsDNA and +ssRNA viruses associated with the dinoflagellate endosymbionts of corals. The ISME Journal 7:13-27.

• Silverstein, R.N., Correa, A.M.S., and Baker, A.C. (2012) Specificity is rarely absolute in coral–algal symbiosis: implications for coral response to climate change. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 279:2609-2618.

• Correa, A.M.S., McDonald, M.D., and Baker, A.C. (2009) Development of clade-specific Symbiodiniumprimers for quantitative PCR (qPCR) and their application to detecting clade D symbionts in Caribbean corals. Marine Biology 156:2403-2412.

• Baker, A.C., Romanski (Correa), A.M. (2007) Multiple symbiotic partnerships are common in scleractinian corals, but not in octocorals: Comment on Goulet (2006). Marine Ecology Progress Series 335:237-242.

Selected Honors and Awards

• Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Volunteer of the Year, 2023

• Wiess School of Natural Sciences Rising Star Award, Rice University, 2023

•  George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching, Rice University, 2022

• NSF Career Award, 2022

• Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentor Award, Rice University, 2021

• National Academy of Sciences Fellow of the Kavli Frontiers in Science, 2019

• National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program Early Career Fellow, 2018