Meet Stengl-Wyer Fellow: Kristina Black

Tell us where you came from before UT, and what you studied then?

In my first chapter, I explored environmental drivers of adaptation in two coral species across the Florida Keys. I found that some unexpected variables- including winter temperature- were strongly associated with genetic divergence and I mapped environments with high selective pressure across the reef tract. My second chapter investigated genes underlying environmental adaptation in the Great Barrier Reef. Specifically, I identified a gene for thermal regulation that is under selection in corals and is upregulated in colder latitudes. Consequently, restoration efforts should observe higher fitness when outplanting corals containing this gene to colder reefs. In my third chapter (which I am pursuing as a Stengl-Wyer Fellow), I aim to integrate adaptive genotypes into coral restoration on a degraded reef in St. Croix, USVI. Through controlled breeding, I expect parents with strong adaptations to confer higher fitness to their offspring that are outplanted to a restoration site. In summary, my dissertation aims to 1) identify important environmental gradients for corals, 2) identify genes that improve fitness in different environments, and 3) implement “genetic rescue” by introducing adaptive genotypes into a degraded environment.

Being based in Austin, I have access to a genetics lab at UT and resources such as the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) for processing genetic sequences. My adviser, Dr. Matz, applies population genomics to coral research, but he uses more advanced techniques than I’ve applied before. By joining his lab, I get to learn newer methods in genomics while studying coral reefs. It might seem odd that we study coral while living in Austin, but I’ve also been lucky to travel for fieldwork to incredible places including the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

After graduating, I want to pursue a genetic research career applied to conservation by working as a biologist in government or non-profit agencies. Scientifically managing a protected area like a marine sanctuary is the ultimate dream- to commit to a natural place that I can continuously learn inside-and-out, and in return I can protect and restore unique wildlife. I am most fulfilled by a career that nurtures my personal relationship with the natural environment, connects science with culture, and supports the same experience for the next generation through mentorship and community involvement. I'm most interested in studying genetic adaptation to climate change, and I think the skills I built here at UT in spatial genomics and environmental associations provide a solid toolkit to study these processes in any ecosystem.