Dr Christine Schönberg - CV - Australian Institute of Marine Science

Role

Benthic Biologist working on sponges, with main foci on ecology, effects of environmental changes and biodiversity

Background

My Masters was on seasonality in spicule formation of Baltic Sea sponges with implications for taxonomy. Since 1995 my research is on sponge bioerosion, with a focus on the Great Barrier Reef as well as the Mediterrranean and Japan before I came to Western Australia. My PhD field work was conducted at AIMS, with postdoctoral appointments at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen Germany and at the Centre for Marine Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane. Since 2008, I am based at AIMS Perth dividing my time between bioeroding and free-living sponges.

Education

2000: PhD Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany. Thesis 'Bioeroding sponges of the Australian Great Barrier Reef'.

Current Research Activities

Sponge bioerosion in changing environments (global climate change, ocean acidification, water quality)
Sponge biodiversity (bioeroding sponges and sponges in Western Australia)
Ecophysiology of Western Australian sponge gardens
Impacts of sediments generated by industrial dredging on filter-feeding communities in Western Australia

Expert Committees and Boards

Taxonomic editor for bioeroding sponges on the World Porifera Database
Taxonomic editor for bioeroding sponges on the World Register of Marine Species

Publications

Wisshak M, Schönberg CHL, Form A, Freiwald A (2012)Ocean acidification accelerates reef bioerosion. PLoS ONE 7: e45124

Schönberg CHL, Fromont J (2012) Sponge gardens of Ningaloo Reef (Carnarvon Shelf, Western Australia) are biodiversity hotspots. Hydrobiologia 687: 143-161

Hill M, Allenby A, Ramsby B, Schönberg CHL, Hill A (2011) Symbiodinium diversity among host clionaid sponges from Caribbean and Pacific reefs: evidence of heteroplasmy and putative host-specific symbiont lineages. Mol Phylogen Evol 59: 81-88

Xavier JR, Rachello-Dolmen PG, Parra-Velandia FJ, Schönberg CHL, Breeuwer JAJ, van Soest RWM (2010) Molecular evidence of cryptic speciation in the "cosmopolitan" excavating sponge Cliona celata (Porifera, Clionaidae). Mol Phylogen Evol 56: 13-20

Schönberg CHL, Ortiz J-C (2009) Is sponge bioerosion increasing? Proc 11th Int Coral Reef Symp Fort Lauderdale, USA: 520-523

Schönberg CHL, Suwa R, Hidaka M (2008) Sponge and coral zooxanthellae in heat and light: preliminary results of photochemical efficiency monitored with pulse amplitude modulated fluorometry. Mar Ecol 29: 247-258

Schönberg CHL (2008) A history of sponge erosion: from past myths and hypotheses to recent approaches. pp 165-202. In: Wisshak M, Tapanila L (eds) Current developments in bioerosion. Springer Verlag Berlin

Schönberg CHL, Suwa R (2007) Why bioeroding sponges may be better hosts for symbiotic dinoflagellates than many corals. pp 569-580. In: Custódio MR et al (eds) Porifera Research. Biodiversity, innovation and sustainability. Mus Nacional Rio de Janeiro

Schönberg CHL, Loh WKW (2005) Molecular identity of the unique symbiotic dinoflagellates found in the bioeroding demosponge Cliona orientalis Thiele, 1900. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 299: 157-166

Schönberg CHL, de Beer D, Lawton A (2005) Photosynthesis in two zooxanthellate clionaid sponges of the Mediterranean. J Phycol 41: 774-779

Schönberg CHL (2002) Substrate effects on the bioeroding demosponge Cliona orientalis. 1. Bioerosion rates. PSZNI Mar Ecol 23: 313-326

Schönberg CHL (2002) Pione lampa, a bioeroding sponge in a worm reef. Hydrobiologia 482: 49-68

Schönberg CHL, Wilkinson CR (2001) Induced colonization of Great Barrier Reef corals by a clionid bioeroding sponge. Coral Reefs 20: 69-76