معرفی
Bette Willis is a Professor at the School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, and a Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. Her research focuses on coral biology, ecology, and resilience in the context of climate change and anthropogenic impacts. She has supervised over 100 postgraduate students and published extensively on coral symbiosis, disease dynamics, and restoration strategies.
Willis’s work explores inter-kingdom symbiotic partnerships in corals, drivers of coral disease outbreaks, and coral acclimatization to environmental stressors. She collaborates internationally on coral health networks and has pioneered studies on microbial aggregates (CAMAs) and transgenerational symbiont inheritance.
Her articles investigate coral disease mechanisms, restoration effectiveness, and genetic markers for stress tolerance. Willis advocates for protecting coral ecosystems through conservation strategies that integrate ecological and socioeconomic factors. She has been involved in creating coral spawning databases and evaluating the impact of restoration efforts on fish communities.
Notable contributions include linking microbial trade-offs to coral evolution and demonstrating how environmental stressors exacerbate disease susceptibility. Her research bridges basic science with practical conservation, emphasizing coral resilience in a changing climate.
