Primary current collaborators:
Dr. Yina Liu, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Dr. Cole Easson, Middle Tennessee State University
Dr. Christopher Freeman, Smithsonian Marine Station, Fort Pierce, FL
Dr. Robert Thacker, SUNY Stony Brook, NY
Dr. Elizabeth Kujawinski, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA
Dr. Amy Apprill, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA
Dr. Craig Nelson, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
Publications
Strope TA, Easson CF, Fiore CL. Diverse Microbial Symbiotic Interactions with the Freshwater Sponge, Radiospongilla crateriforms, Pre and Post Gemmulation. In Review
Freeman CJ, Parry A, Easson CG, Fiore CL, Houk L, Thacker RW. Photosymbionts contribute to niche partitioning in coral reef sponges. In Review
Keleher JG, Easson CG, Freeman CJ, Thacker RW, Fiore CL. Species-specific differences in in situ fluorescent DOM processing by dominant emergent sponges in the Florida Keys, U.S.A. In Review
Keleher JG, Strope TA, Estrada NE, Griggs AM, Easson CG, Fiore C. 2025. Freshwater sponges in the Southeastern U.S. harbor unique microbiomes that are influenced by host and environmental factors. PeerJ, 13:e18807. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18807
Reigel AM, Easson CG, Apprill A, Freeman CJ, Bartley MM, Fiore CL. 2024. Sponge-derived matter is assimilated by coral holobionts. Communications Biology, 7, 146. DOI: https://doi-org.proxy006.nclive.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05836-z
Freeman, C, Easson, C.G., Fiore, C.L., Thacker, R.W. 2021. “Sponge-microbe interactions on coral reefs: multiple evolutionary solutions to a complex environment”. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8:705053. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2021.705053
Fiore, C.L., Alexander, H., Kido Soule, M.C., and E.B. Kujawinski. 2021. “A phosphate starvation response gene (psr1-like) is present in Micromonas pusilla and other marine algae and coordinates the metabolic response to phosphate deficiency”. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 86:29-46. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ame0195
Fiore, C.L., Jarett, J.K., Steinert, G., and M.P. Lesser. 2020. “Trait-based comparison of coral and sponge microbiomes”. Scientific Reports, 10: 2340 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59320-9
Lesser, M.P., Jarett, J.K., Fiore, C.L., Thompson, M.M., Pankey, M.S., Macartney, K.J. 2020. “A new ‘business as usual’ climate scenario and the stress response of the Caribbean coral Montastraea cavernosa“. Frontiers in Marine Science, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2020.00728
Fiore, C.L., Freeman, C.J., and E.B. Kujawinski. 2017. “Sponge exhalent seawater contains a unique chemical profile of dissolved organic matter” PeerJ, 5e:2870. doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2870
Kujawinski, E.B., Longnecker, K., Dyhrman, S.T., Alexander, H., Fiore, C.L., and W.M. Johnson. 2017. “Phosphorus availability modulates intracellular nucleotides in marine eukaryotic phytoplankton” Limnology & Oceanography Letters, 2:119-129. doi:10.1001/1o12.10043
Lesser, M.P., Fiore, C.L., and M. Slattery. 2016. “Interactive effects of ocean acidification and thermal stress on the Caribbean sponge, Xestospongia muta“ Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 475:11-18. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2015.11.004
Morrow, K.M, Fiore, C.L., and Lesser, M.P. 2016. Environmental drivers of microbial community shifts in the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta, over a shallow to mesophotic depth gradient. Environmental Microbiology, 18:2025-38. doi:10.1111/1462-2920.13226
Fiore, C.L., Longnecker, K., Kido Soule, M.C., and E.B. Kujawinski. 2015. ” Release of Ecologically Relevant Metabolites by the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus CCMP 1631″ Environmental Microbiology, 17:3949-3963 doi:10.1111/1462-2920.12899
Fiore, C.L., Labrie, M., and M.P. Lesser. 2015. “Transcriptional activity of the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta holobiont: molecular evidence for metabolic interchange” Frontiers in Microbiology, 6:364. doi:10.3389/micb.2015.00364
Fiore, C.L., Jarett, J.K., and M.P. Lesser. 2013. “Molecular Evidence for Different Symbiotic Prokaryotic Communities in Geographically Distant Populations of the Caribbean sponge, Xestospongia muta” MicrobiologyOpen. doi:10.1002/mbo3.135
Fiore, C.L., Baker, D.M., and M.P. Lesser. 2013. “Nitrogen biogeochemistry in the Caribbean Sponge, Xestospongia muta: A Source or Sink of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen?” PLoS ONE, 8:e72961. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0072961
Jarett, J., Fiore, C., Mazel, C., and M. Lesser. 2013. “Fluorescent epibiotic microbial community on the carapace of a Bahamian ostracod” Archives of Microbiology, doi: 10.1007/s00203-013-0911-9
Fiore, C.L., Jarett, J.K., Olson, N.D., and M.P. Lesser. 2010. “Nitrogen fixation and nitrogen transformations in marine symbioses” Trends in Microbiology, 18(10): 455-463. doi:10.1016/j.tim.2010.07.00
Fiore, C.L., and Jutte, P.C. 2010. “Characterization of macrofaunal assemblages associated with sponges and tunicates collected off the Southeastern United States” Invertebrate Biology. 129(2): 105-120. 2010. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7410.2010.00184.x
Fiore, C., Tull, J.L., Ducey, P.K., and Zehner, S. 2004. “Tracking and predation on earthworms by the invasive terrestrial planarian Bipalium adventitium (Tricladid, Platyhelminthes)” Behavioral Processes. 67: 327-334. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2004.06.001
The Fiore Lab 