Images of healthy (left) and SCTLD-diseased (right) Montastrea cavernosa corals in waters near the Dominican Republic. Images by divers at the Marine Innovation Center, Punta Cana. Photo credit: Debashish Bhattacharya

A mysterious disease has been quietly destroying coral reefs across the Caribbean for over a decade. Stony coral tissue loss disease, or SCTLD, causes coral tissue to simply fall away, killing entire colonies — and no one has been able to pinpoint exactly what causes it. Now, new research is offering some of the clearest clues yet.

Debashish Bhattacharya, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology and affiliate of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute, supervised the work that was led by graduate student Shrinivas Nandi in his lab and published in ISME Communications. The research examined the microscopic communities — bacteria, viruses, and other microbes — living inside diseased and healthy corals collected from reefs in the Dominican Republic.

The authors found that when corals get SCTLD, the rich and diverse community of microbes that normally lives inside a healthy coral essentially collapses. In its place, harmful bacteria move in and take over. The study also found strong evidence that viruses may be setting this collapse in motion — disrupting the healthy microbiome and opening the door for dangerous bacteria to thrive. This phenomenon is referred to as dysbiosis.

Five specific viruses were found in significantly higher amounts in diseased corals. Strikingly, the same viruses turned up in SCTLD-affected corals from Florida — over 1,000 miles away — suggesting these viruses are consistently linked to the disease across the Caribbean.

Perhaps the most surprising finding was the discovery of two coral colonies that appeared healthy for at least nine months after sampling, yet contained the same viruses found in sick corals. These “asymptomatic” corals had a different bacterial community than diseased ones, hinting that the right mix of microbes or a resistant coral genotype might protect some colonies from getting sick — even when the virus is present.

“Finding corals that appear resistant to this disease is genuinely exciting. It opens the door to the possibility of identifying beneficial microbial communities (natural probiotics) or resistant genotypes that could be used for coral conservation. Given how rapidly SCTLD is spreading across the Caribbean, there is also a need for SCTLD diagnostic tools to screen wild and nursery populations for signs of the disease (virus DNA), an area we are actively working on with our partners in the region,” said Bhattacharya.

As climate change warms and stresses the ocean, coral diseases like SCTLD are expected to become more severe and widespread. These findings offer a potential path forward: by identifying the molecular “fingerprints” of disease — and resistance — scientists may be able to develop early warning tools to flag at-risk reefs and guide targeted conservation efforts before it’s too late.

You can read the full study here.

This article was written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence, was reviewed and edited by Oliver Stringham, and was reviewed and editted by Debashish Bhattacharya, senior author of the study.

 

New research has shown a way to easily differentiate healthy guts from unhealthy guts headed toward disease.

Scientists have identified a new way to distinguish healthy guts from diseased ones and track how some illnesses progress by measuring how gut bacteria interact with one another.

According to a study published in Science, a Rutgers-led team of scientists found that healthy and diseased digestive systems behave like two distinct ecological states, driven not by individual microbes but by how entire bacterial communities compete and cooperate.

“Instead of asking which bacteria are there, we started asking how they are related to other bacteria,” said Juan Bonachela, an assistant professor with the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and a senior author of the study. “That change in perspective allowed us to see health and disease as two fundamentally different states of the gut microbiome.”

To measure how bacterial communities shift between health and disease, the team developed a new metric called the Ecological Network Balance Index, or ENBI, which captures whether microbial communities are dominated by competitive or cooperative interactions.

Applied to stool samples, ENBI consistently separated healthy individuals from patients across multiple diseases. In colorectal cancer, the index rose as the disease progressed.

“This new measure captures this shift using stool samples and can distinguish healthy people from diseased people,” said Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, the Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and an author of the study. 

Rod-shaped bacteria and spherical cocci, shown here in contrasting colors, represent different microbes that share the gut’s complex ecosystem. Scientists have found that shifts in how these microbes compete and cooperate can signal the difference between health and disease. Graphic: Xuesong Zhang/Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine

Dominguez-Bello said the findings show how disease emerges when microbial communities reorganize themselves.

“This work shows that gut health is not just about which bacteria are present, but how they interact with one another,” she said. “In diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, C. difficile infection, irritable bowel syndrome and colorectal cancer, bacteria form more cooperative, tightly connected groups that can dominate and disrupt normal function.”

Martin Blaser, an author of the study and director of Rutgers Health’s Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, said the findings help explain why so many gut-related diseases have been difficult to predict and treat.

“This gives us a new way to think about what goes wrong in the microbiome,” Blaser said. “Instead of focusing on individual microbes, it shows that disease emerges when the entire system shifts. That opens the door to earlier detection and more targeted interventions.”

The team started their research by building computer models that simulate how gut bacteria compete for nutrients and exchange metabolic byproducts.

“At first we were just testing whether the model could reproduce basic features of real microbiomes,” said Roberto Corral Lopez, the study’s lead author, who conducted the research as a Fulbright doctoral scholar at Rutgers and now is a postdoctoral associate at the Universidad de Granada and the Instituto Carlos I de Física Teórica y Computacional in Spain. “But very early on, we saw that it naturally produced two distinct patterns, one that looked like health and one that looked like disease.”

That prompted the researchers to compare their simulations with stool DNA data from patients.

“When we checked the data, we saw the same pattern,” Corral Lopez said. “That’s when we realized we were capturing something fundamental about how these communities reorganize in disease.”

The gut microbiome consistently settled into one of two configurations: a diverse, competitive state associated with health, and a second state dominated by small, tightly connected groups of cooperating bacteria linked to disease.

Bonachela said the insights and the tool could eventually help doctors identify problems earlier.

“In theory, it should be possible to measure it from just stool samples, which is a very non-invasive way to monitor gut health,” he said.

The findings also may help explain why gut therapies such as probiotics and fecal microbiota transplants sometimes succeed and sometimes fail.

“Treatments are typically based on the idea that you need particular bacteria to be there,” Bonachela said. “But if that is not the issue, if the issue is the relationships, then it does not matter that you give the bacteria.”

With fecal transplants, he said, the benefit may come not from introducing individual species, but from restoring entire microbial communities.

“The interesting aspect is not that you introduce the species,” Bonachela said. “It is that you introduce a whole community, and therefore you are keeping the interactions that allow that community to be healthy. It is not that bacteria need to be there. They need to be there with the right partners.”

Corral Lopez said the work eventually could make microbiome-based therapies more predictable.

“Right now, donor selection is largely based on availability and basic health screening,” said Corral Lopez, referring to the process preceding fecal transplants. “What this opens up is the possibility of matching microbial communities based on how their interaction networks fit together, rather than just which species are present. That could help us design treatments that are tailored to each patient’s microbiome instead of relying on trial and error.”

Bonachela said the team hopes their work will eventually lead to earlier detection and more personalized care.

“We are trying to understand how these systems work so we can make a real difference in people’s lives,” he said.

Michael Manhart of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School contributed to the study. Other contributors include Simon Levin of Princeton University and Miguel Munoz of the Universidad de Granada.

This article originally appeared in Rutgers Today.

 

Max Haggblom, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, speaking on the history of beer at the Flounder Brewing Co.

On October 7, 2025, SEBS alumni gathered in the loft at Flounder Brewing Co., a brewery in Hillsborough, NJ, for an event called “Brewology: The Science Behind the Suds.” The brewery, a converted 18th century barn, is owned by Cook College alumnus, Jeremy Lees CC’99, Landscape Architecture.

Guests who participated in the event were treated to a light dinner of sandwiches and chips and received tickets for two free drinks to be used for any of the beers on the brewery menu.

Max Haggblom, chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, gave an enlightening and interactive talk about the history of beer and the process of fermentation from a scientific perspective. Lees also shared the background on his entry into the brewing business before giving guests a tour of the facilities and explaining the brewery process.

In addition to the unique ‘Brewology’ program, alumni really enjoyed connecting with each other over a few pilseners, ales, IPA’s and the like.

Lee was very happy to host the event at Flounder and to interact with fellow Rutgers alumni.

“Everyone who attended learned all about the brewing process from Prof. Haggblom, and to be able to show attendees the brewery where all of that happens is always a treat for us. Paired with delicious beer, it was a wonderful evening talking about brewing.”

 

2025 Governor’s STEM Scholars visited the Ludwig Global Village Learning Center on the Douglass campus. Photo credit: John O’Boyle

Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS) recently welcomed students from the prestigious Governor’s STEM Scholars program for an immersive day of scientific exploration and sustainability-focused learning. The program was hosted at the Ludwig Global Village Living Learning Center and featured a full day of activities focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Karla Esquilín-Lebrón, teaching instructor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology and research advisor for the Governor’s STEM Scholars program, engages the students in STEM learning. Photo credit: John O’Boyle

The Governor’s STEM Scholars program is designed to engage the next generation of STEM leaders, high school and college students, in the state’s innovation economy. Since its launch in 2013, it has supported more than 1,000 students from all 21 New Jersey counties. The program provides these scholars with connections, mentors and relationships within the state’s research community to help set them on an academic and career path to become New Jersey’s future STEM professionals and secures our state’s talent pipeline.”

Karla Esquilín-Lebrón, teaching instructor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, is the research advisor for the program. She provides scientific and technical leadership to the program, while guiding scholars as they design and carry out their team research projects. She mentors students by offering subject-matter expertise and helps to ensure projects are both rigorous and impactful.

Esquilín-Lebrón and program director Alise Roderer, worked with the SEBS Office of Research, and the Associate Dean of Research Impact, Janice McDonnell, to provide the scholars with four dynamic tours led by Rutgers experts, each supporting the students in learning about Rutgers research.

AJ Both, extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Sciences, discussed agrivoltaics with the STEM scholars. Photo credit: John O’Boyle

A.J. Both, extension specialist in the Department of Environmental Sciences and a leading horticultural engineer, guided students through the Rutgers Agrivoltaics Program installation, showcasing the innovative research that integrates solar energy production with sustainable agriculture. Both’s work focuses on designing energy-efficient greenhouses and hydroponic systems that conserve natural resources while enhancing food production. Scholars traveled by bus to the farm and engaged in discussions about the future of farming and land stewardship.

The scholars also visited the Rutgers Center for Ocean Observing Leadership (RUCOOL) in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences. The tour was led by Michael Crowley, RUCOOL technical manager, who highlighted the lab’s underwater robots or gliders used to study ocean dynamics, storm impacts and climate change. The scholars learned how Rutgers researchers are helping protect marine ecosystems and coastal communities.

RUCOOL Technical Manager, Michael Crowley, shows the scholars the ocean gliders. Photo credit: John O’Boyle

The Waksman Museum, located in Martin Hall on the Cook campus, was also a stop on the tour. SEBS student Angel Robinson showcased the antibiotic research history at Rutgers and the impact of the NJ State Microbe Streptomyces griseus while sharing her current research as a G.H. Cook scholar in the laboratory of Distinguished Professor Max Häggblom in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology.

Sue Shapses, professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, led a tour of Foran Hall and the Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health (IFNH). Her research focuses on nutrition, metabolism, and bone health. Shapses shared insights into how diet and science intersect to combat obesity and promote healthy aging. Reflecting on the visit, she remarked that “my students had a few “I can’t believe” and “I didn’t know” statements about the topic of nutrition and the research!  I hope we made a difference and to see them at Rutgers in the near future.” 

The visit offered the scholars a glimpse into Rutgers’ commitment to sustainability, innovation, and global impact—planting seeds for future scientists and changemakers.

 

Abbey Isaac graduated with an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry in May 2025 and is now enrolled in the 4+1 Microbial Biology graduate program at Rutgers.

Transferring to Rutgers University from a New Jersey community college is a common and successful pathway for many students, aided by statewide articulation agreements that are designed to streamline the process. Abbey Isaac SEBS’25 has made that transition and feels she has a lot to offer other students contemplating that transfer journey.

Right out of Howell High School, Abbey always planned to first get an associate’s degree, then matriculate to a four-year institution to complete a bachelor’s degree. She was awarded a scholarship under NJ STARS—a state scholarship program that provides high-achieving high school graduates with a scholarship to cover tuition costs at any of the NJ’s 19 community colleges.

True to her goals, she earned an associate’s degree in biology and transferred from Brookdale Community College in May 2023 to Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in fall 2023. Abbey graduated with an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry in May 2025 and is now enrolled in the 4+1 Microbial Biology graduate program.

Abbey brings a lot of energy to organizing and communicating information to help students transfer to Rutgers from community colleges across New Jersey.

She’s been purposeful in her efforts to help, often returning to Brookdale Community College, knowing that advice and assistance from someone who knows firsthand what it’s like to transfer from a New Jersey community college to Rutgers would benefit her peers.

L-R: Sharron Crane, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, and Abbey Isaac in front of Lipman Hall on the George H. Cook campus.

“I’ve gone back to my community college plenty of times to talk about my experiences transferring and completing my studies at Rutgers. I feel like having someone who’s done it provides relief to students, and allows them to begin to plan the steps of transferring for themselves.”

Her efforts have extended to collaborating with Sharron Crane, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, to launch a program to assist transfer students in their transition to academic and college life at Rutgers–New Brunswick.

Aptly named “Transferring to SEBS?” Here’s what you need to know,” the program is designed to foster a network of support by providing incoming transfer students with information about transferring to SEBS, the NJ Statewide Transfer Agreement, and NJTRANSFER.org through a straight-to-the-point Zoom webinar. 

Held once a semester, community college students also get a chance to hear testimonials from current SEBS transfer students who share their transfer experience, including the ups and downs. Students are encouraged to drop questions in the chat and there’s an open Q&A immediately after the presentation.

“Many of our students transfer from community college and/or are first generation college students,” says Crane, whose interaction with students allows her to see firsthand some of the common challenges they face. “Navigating a large school like Rutgers can be intimidating and challenging. Students often have trouble choosing their courses when they first get here as well because they’re not always sure what the graduation requirements are.”

Gary Panetta is an assistant dean for transfer students in the SEBS Office of Academic Programs. “New transfers often cite time management as a challenge. There are so many clubs, organizations, classes, research opportunities, etc. for our students to explore that their time becomes a precious commodity. Balancing commuting, class, and extracurriculars takes a few weeks to figure out,” he says.

“In addition, Rutgers is an academically rigorous school, and students are quickly introduced to the expectations in a research institution’s classroom setting. Further, many students expect Rutgers to be like their last school and assume they can study or work the same way they used to in their previous institution. Things are different here and successful students often learn to approach class content, exams and projects in more methodical ways. Learning centers, tutoring and office hours are key to success!”

Once a transfer student herself, Abbey understands these challenges, explaining that “a majority of community college students upon matriculation don’t finish their bachelor’s degree in the expected timeframe of two years.”

“With “Transferring to SEBS?”, the idea is to help streamline the transferring process by spreading needed information to community college students so while they’re at their community college, they can ensure they are taking the proper courses to transfer,” she adds.

Panetta highlights a SEBS course called Academic Mentoring, which supports new students’ transition to college by engaging them in learning about the processes by which individuals learn in college and, ultimately, achieve academic success in a small class setting. “I teach a separate section of that course for new transfers only in which we connect transfer peers, facilitate adjustment to the Rutgers community, recognize school resources and academically integrate students into our broad network of distinguished faculty conducting top-tier research,” says Panetta.

For anyone exploring Rutgers SEBS specifically, Panetta suggests that “prospective transfers should research our majors, minors, courses and outcomes, then look to contact our transfer team or even undergrad program directors to ensure SEBS is good fit. We are happy to chat with prospective students and explain the transfer process. In addition, I highly recommend the RU New? Podcast where our office of Orientation and Transition Programs interview current students/staff regarding common Rutgers questions.”

Abbey Isaac in the laboratory at Edgebrook Animal Hospital. A part time vet, Abbey’s favorite spot at the animal hospital is the microscope.

Abbey was motivated to assist her community college peers because of her own challenges. She recalls the help she received as she herself adjusted to Rutgers and SEBS, leading to her collaboration with Crane to help other transfer students.

“Faculty and staff members do not get enough credit for their influence in providing a safe and welcoming space for students, especially faculty/staff at SEBS. One instructor in particular, Dr. Sharron Crane, truly had an important impact in my undergraduate experience at Rutgers,” says Abbey.

“During an advising meeting with Dr. Crane, I shared my experiences with some of my credits not transferring properly, as well as other problems with credits faced by my transfer student friends. This sparked a whole conversation where Sharron agreed—she validated my concerns by acknowledging the problem and empowered me to work with her to help fix it. This is the conversation that built “Transferring to SEBS.” 

Crane is truly inspired by Abbey’s passion for transfer outreach. “She spearheaded the mission to develop the “Transferring to SEBS?” information session initiative. This semester is our third information session, and Abbey has been instrumental, not only in deciding what information to share during the session, but also in fielding questions and sharing her story about what it’s really like to transfer to Rutgers.” 

As to what advice Abbey would offer to students transferring from community colleges to Rutgers-New Brunswick?

“Remember that you were good enough to get into Rutgers—so you’re more than good enough to get through the rough parts! And reiterating a million times that we often are our own worst critics.” 

From personal experience, Abbey adds that “I also really recommend talking to your professors—they’re people too, and are more than often ecstatic to help students understand the topics they talk about. Establishing yourself as a student to your professor helps benefit you in the long run, especially when asking for letters of recommendations or professional/academic/research advice.” 

And “most importantly—have fun! It goes by so quickly, so don’t be afraid to live in the moment. You can’t enjoy college if you spend every second studying! You need balance.”

 

Snow-covered field in Lapland, Finland. Image by Alex Stemmer, licensed via Adobe Stock (Education License).

In a recent study published in ISME Communications, researchers discovered five brand-new species of cold-loving bacteria in the Arctic tundra of northern Finland. Lee Kerkhof, professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, and Max Häggblom, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology—both affiliates of the Rutgers Climate and Energy Institute—are co-authors on the study done in collaboration with Minna Männistö, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland. Anil Kumar, postdoctoral associate with Häggblom and Kerkhof led the genome analysis of the novel species. You can read the full study here.

The team focused on bacteria from the genus Mucilaginibacter, known for breaking down complex plant materials. These microbes live in the tundra’s frozen soils, where they endure extreme cold, seasonal freeze–thaw cycles, and limited nutrients. The five newly identified species are well adapted to survive and thrive in these harsh conditions.

Why does this matter for climate change? Arctic soils store massive amounts of carbon locked in frozen plant matter. As the Arctic warms, microbes like these become more active, breaking down organic material and releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Understanding which microbes are present and what they can do helps scientists better predict how much carbon could be released in a warming world.

The study revealed that these new species have genes for breaking down tough plant compounds, handling cold stress, and even producing natural antimicrobial chemicals. They can also take in nitrogen in multiple forms, a valuable skill in nutrient-poor tundra soils. These traits make them important players in the Arctic’s carbon and nutrient cycles.

“By identifying these new bacteria, we can better understand the hidden processes controlling carbon release in the Arctic. This knowledge can guide climate models and help policymakers plan for the impacts of a warming climate,” said Häggblom.

Beyond climate science, the work adds to our understanding of microbial diversity and adaptation. Insights from these bacteria might one day inspire new biotechnologies, from waste treatment to natural product development.

This article was written with assistance from Artificial Intelligence, was reviewed and edited by Oliver Stringham, and was reviewed and edited by Max Häggblom, co-author on the study.

 

Now, a Rutgers University-led study suggests that breast milk is more than just nourishment. Breast milk also is a biological clock, sending time-sensitive signals to help guide a baby’s development. With breast milk, timing might be an important consideration, especially when feeding expressed breast milk.

Researchers from Rutgers and the University of Puerto Rico have discovered that breast milk changes in composition depending on the time of day it’s produced. Their findings, published in Frontiers in Nutrition, show that crucial hormones such as melatonin and cortisol, which are substances known for regulating sleep and stress, fluctuate in breast milk over a 24-hour period.

“Breast milk is a dynamic food,” said Melissa Woortman, a recent doctoral degree graduate from the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the study’s lead author. “We found that the concentrations of bioactive components vary depending on the time of day, which means the timing of feeding expressed milk could be important.”

The team collected 236 breast milk samples from 38 lactating mothers at four time points: 6 a.m., noon, 6 p.m., and midnight. They measured levels of melatonin, cortisol, oxytocin, and immune proteins, in addition to analyzing the breast milk microbiota. Melatonin peaked at midnight, helping signal sleep, while cortisol was highest in the early morning, supporting alertness and metabolism.

These hormonal rhythms were less pronounced in mothers with a higher body mass index, and the immune proteins were most abundant in milk for infants less than a month old. This suggests the bodies of lactating mothers adapt breast milk to meet the changing needs of growing babies, scientists said.

“Circadian rhythms in infants are still developing,” said Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, the Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the senior author of the study. “Breast milk may help guide that development, especially in the early months.”

The researchers also found that the types of bacteria in breast milk shifted throughout the day, with skin-associated microbes more common at night and environmental bacteria more prevalent during the day. These microbial changes could influence how a baby’s digestive system develops and how their immune system is trained.

Given these findings, the researchers suggest a simple practice. “Labeling expressed milk as ‘morning,’ ‘afternoon,’ or ‘evening’ and feeding it correspondingly could help align expressing and feeding times and preserve the natural hormonal and microbial composition of the milk, as well as circadian signals,” Dominguez-Bello said.

In modern societies where mothers may not be able to breastfeed around the clock, Woortman added, “aligning feeding times with the time of milk expression is a simple, practical step that maximizes the benefits of breast milk when feeding expressed milk.”

Other Rutgers researchers who contributed to the study included: Haipeng Sun and Jincheng Wang, postdoctoral associates in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; Krystin Englehardt, formerly a Neonatal-Perinatal Medical Fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Lawrence Kleinman of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research and the Department of Pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

This article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

 

Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, the Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. Photo: Jeff Heckman.

A letter published today by co-author Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, the Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology in the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, in Nature Microbiology highlights how human activities are rapidly transforming global microbial ecosystems, with major consequences for health, agriculture, and the environment. 

Dominguez-Bellow and the other authors argue that microbial diversity, often overlooked in conservation, underpins essential processes from soil fertility to human immunity.

They call for urgent, coordinated global action to safeguard microbial heritage, integrating microbiome science into biodiversity frameworks, policy, and sustainable development. By framing microbes as both vulnerable and indispensable, the paper positions microbial stewardship as critical to planetary health in the Anthropocene.

They write that, “despite its importance, microbial life is largely absent from global conservation frameworks. Launched in July 2025, the Microbial Conservation Specialist Group (MCSG) was established as a Species Survival Commission (SSC) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The IUCN is the world’s leading authority in environmental science and policy, renowned for shaping conservation priorities across governments, non-governmental organizations and international treaties. The MCSG convenes a coalition of microbiologists, ecologists, traditional knowledge experts and conservation leaders to develop and advocate for conservation tools, strategies and policies that explicitly integrate microbiology into global biodiversity governance. Despite the importance of microorganisms for ecosystem function, their role has been seen as too abstract or complex to integrate into policy. Elevating microbial perspectives within global conservation has required overcoming a deep-rooted tendency to overlook the invisible.”

 

Orangutans living in the wild adapt to different foods, depending on availability, maintaining an overall healthy balance. Photo credit: Ilya Raskin.

Humans could learn a thing or two from orangutans when it comes to maintaining a balanced, protein-filled diet.

Great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia, orangutans are marvels of adaptation to the vagaries of food supply in the wild, according to an international team of researchers led by a Rutgers University-New Brunswick scientist. The critically endangered primates outshine modern humans in avoiding obesity through their balanced choices of food and exercise, the scientists found. 

The researchers reported their findings, based on 15 years of firsthand observations of wild orangutans in the jungles of Borneo, in Science Advances.

“These findings show how wild Bornean orangutans adapt to changes in their environment by adjusting their nutrient intake, behavior and energy use,” said Erin Vogel, the Henry Rutgers Term Chair Professor in the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, who led the study. “The work highlights the importance of understanding natural dietary patterns and their impact on health, both for orangutans and humans.”

Orangutans and humans have similar physiological and metabolic processes, dietary needs and behavioral adaptations, according to Erin Vogel, a Rutgers anthropologist who has studied the great apes for more than a decade in the rainforests of Borneo. Photo credit: Ilya Raskin.

Orangutans are one of the closest living relatives to humans, sharing a common ancestor, Vogel said. This evolutionary relationship means that orangutans and humans have similar physiological and metabolic processes, dietary needs and behavioral adaptations. Studying orangutans can provide insights into the evolutionary adaptations that might also be relevant to humans, she said.

Humans also exhibit metabolic flexibility, Vogel said, but modern diets high in processed foods can disrupt this balance, leading to metabolic disorders such as diabetes.

While orangutans reduce physical activity during low fruit periods to conserve energy, Vogel said, humans, especially those with sedentary lifestyles, may not adjust their energy expenditure to match their caloric intake, leading to weight gain and associated health issues.

“Understanding these adaptations can help us learn more about how humans can manage their diets and health,” Vogel said. “It also highlights the importance of conserving orangutan habitats to ensure their survival.”

The research was conducted at the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station in the Mawas Conservation Area in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, on the island of Borneo. The conservation area, a peat swamp forest, protects about 764,000 acres, an area roughly the size of Rhode Island. Peat forests are richly biodiverse, ancient ecosystems with landscapes dominated by waterlogged trees that grow on layers of dead leaves and plant material.

Understanding the dietary strategies of orangutans can inform better nutritional practices for humans, said Vogel, who also is director of the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies at Rutgers.

“In essence, the research on orangutans underscores the importance of dietary balance and metabolic flexibility, which are crucial for maintaining health in both orangutans and humans,” Vogel said. “It suggests that modern dietary habits, characterized by high consumption of processed foods rich in sugars and fats, can lead to metabolic imbalances and health issues.”

In earlier studies, Vogel and an international team of colleagues established the patterns by which orangutans fed. Orangutans prefer to eat fruit because it is rich in carbohydrates, but when fruit is scarce, they switch to eating more leaves, bark and other foods that can provide more protein but fewer sugary carbohydrates. In times of high fruit availability, orangutans still consume protein but get most of their energy from carbohydrates and fats in the fruit.

“We wanted to find out how their bodies handle these changes,” Vogel said. “We tested how the availability of fruit affects their diet and how their bodies adapt to avoid energy imbalance. We looked at how they switch between different types of fuel – like fats and proteins – when preferred food availability changes.”

To conduct the study, Vogel, research colleagues, students and a staff that mostly included field technicians indigenous to the island of Borneo collected data for more than a decade on what the orangutans ate daily and analyzed their urine to see how their bodies responded to any nutritional changes. This required staying in close proximity to the ape in the equatorial, humid jungle from dawn until night.

The scientists made a number of key findings:

• Orangutans avoid obesity as part of a response to the significant fluctuations – in both magnitude and duration – in fruit availability in their natural habitat. Unlike humans in Western culture, who have constant access to high-calorie foods, orangutans experience periods of both abundance and scarcity. The periods of scarcity and resulting low caloric intake, similar to humans’ intermittent fasting, may help maintain their health by reducing oxidative stress.
• During periods of fruit scarcity, orangutans exhibit metabolic flexibility, switching to using stored body fat and muscle protein for energy. This allows them to survive when food is scarce.
• During periods of fruit scarcity, orangutans exhibit behavioral adaptability, relying on reduced physical activity as well as stored energy and muscles to conserve energy. They rest more, go to sleep earlier, travel less and spend less time with other orangutans. This flexibility enables them to use body fat and protein for fuel when needed. They rebuild fat reserves and muscle when fruit availability is high.
• The orangutan diet also prioritizes a consistent level of protein, which contrasts with a modern Western diet, which often can be rich in low-cost, energy-dense, protein-poor foods. Those choices contribute to obesity and metabolic diseases in humans.

Orangutans prefer to eat fruit because it is rich in carbohydrates, but when fruit is scarce, they switch to eating more leaves, bark and other foods that can provide more protein but fewer sugary carbohydrates, Rutgers research shows. Photo credit: Justin Philbois.

This research builds on a report published earlier this year in The American Journal of Biological Anthropology, led by doctoral student Will Aguado, as the first author. This study found that orangutans at Tuanan get most of their protein from the leaves and seeds of just one out of nearly 200 species in the diet – a vine called Bowringia callicarpa. The protein in this plant fuels orangutans through seasons of fruit scarcity and likely allows orangutans at Tuanan to persist and for their population to grow.”

Other scientists on the study from Rutgers included Malcolm Watford, a professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; and former Rutgers doctoral student Rebecca Brittain, Tatang Mitra-Setia and Sri Suci Utami from Universitas Nasional in Indonesia, graduate students William Aguado, Astri Zulfa and Alysse Moldawer, all with the Department of Anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences. Former graduate student Timothy Bransford, who also contributed to the study, is now at Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Researchers from the following institutions also contributed to the study: The Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the University of Konstanz in Germany; Yale University; Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland; the University of Cincinnati; the University of Colorado; Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla.; Universitas Nasional in Jakarta, Indonesia; National Research and Innovation Agency in Cibinong-Bogor, Indonesia; University of Zurich in Switzerland; Hunter College of the City University of New York; and the University of Sydney in Australia.

This article first appeared in Rutgers Today.

 

Rutgers doctoral candidates Erin Chille in the Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolution, at right, and Shrinivas Nandi in the Microbial Biology Graduate Program were among two of the authors on the review in the journal BioEssays. Photo credit: Debashish Bhattacharya.

In a recent review in the journal BioEssays, Rutgers researchers described the next steps needed to produce affordable, field-portable diagnostic tests to deliver coral health monitoring tools to local communities.

The latest collaborative effort brought together coral restoration practitioners, which included the Coral Restoration Foundation, academic researchers at Rutgers, small business owner, CapitalCorals Research & Restoration, and a foundation program manager at Revive & Restore to address the urgent need for practical coral health diagnostics.

Small “nubbins” or fingertip-sized pieces of Acropora cf. formosa (Antler Coral) are sampled using bone clippers to validate the range and sensitivity needed for monitoring the status of that population. Coral colonies are able to quickly regenerate from the small amount of damage caused. Photo credit: Michelle Paddack (OPOR).

Coral reefs face global declines due to disease, warming oceans and local pressures like pollution, eutrophication and overfishing of herbivorous fishes. In response, there has been a growing effort to develop point-of-care technologies to monitor coral health so that restoration practitioners and local communities can rapidly evaluate coral health status and make informed decisions regarding natural resource management prior to reef loss.

“Reef-building corals are the foundation for tropical coral reef ecosystems, providing home and habitat for important food fishes, which are central to the diet of many island nation communities,” said lead study author Erin Chille, a doctoral candidate in the Bhattacharya lab in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences. “They also protect communities from storm surge by acting as natural wave barriers. Ultimately, the well-being of these communities is directly tied to the health of corals,” added Chille.

Coral populations face challenges similar to humans, including stress, disease and reproduction. “We decided to make these challenges the focus of our review, outlining what next steps and resources would be needed to get tools into the hands of communities who need them,” noted Chille.

The review identifies protein biomarker discovery as the critical next step for tool development. Protein biomarkers are “low-hanging fruit” for integration into existing human medical diagnostic platforms – enabling their use for monitoring coral health.

“Lateral flow tests saved the day for public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, enabling rapid population-level health monitoring so that public health officials could make informed decisions to keep their contingents alive and healthy. What if these technologies could also be used to monitor coral health?” asked Chille.

“They could revolutionize how we manage coral reefs, providing rapid, real-time information on disease, reproduction and stress,” she said.

The authors emphasize that to develop effective lateral flow tests, research needs to focus on developing a library of validated proteomic biomarkers. Much of the research has thus far focused on developing transcriptomic (mRNA) markers due to rapid advancements in sequencing technology compared to proteomics. However, the review highlights the limited correlation between mRNA and protein levels, underscoring the necessity of proteomic validation.

“Existing transcriptomic research remains valuable, but integration into lateral flow assays will require rigorous validation with proteomic data,” noted Chille.

Rutgers researchers developed an effective workflow for preserving DNA, RNA, proteins and metabolites without the use of cold-chain storage. This was one of the major barriers preventing sampling in remote island areas. Photo credit: Timothy Stephens.

Rutgers researchers are leading this effort with a prototype lateral flow test.

“This prototype is meant to act as a proof-of-concept. We targeted biomarkers that correlate strongly with coral bleaching. Therefore, the test is a direct measure of the bleaching response, which is one of the leading causes of coral death. In the future, we hope to develop markers that are predictive of bleaching so that intervention measures steps can be taken to reduce coral mortality,” said Chille.

Developing these biomarkers is complicated by incredible genetic and taxonomic diversity underlying the coral lineage.

“Humans are a single species, but there are over 1000 known species of reef-building coral. It is difficult enough to find biomarkers that behave similarly across just the human population,” she noted.

In their review, the researchers argue that to account for this diversity, biomarker discovery should focus on developing both a universal set of core metabolic or protein markers that are applicable across many coral species, as well as targeted biomarker panels specific to populations with shared biology and risk factors, such as Acropora cervicornis (staghorn coral) and Acropora palmata (elkhorn coral) in the Caribbean. 

The researchers estimate that field-portable tools for coral monitoring could become publicly available in the next five to 10 years. However, this rate of progress is contingent on collaboration between funding agencies, restoration practitioners, businesses, local communities, and researchers.

“Conservation-focused federal funding in the United States is becoming increasingly scarce,” said Chille. “Research groups may increasingly rely on private funding sources unless federal priorities shift. We hope that the current and upcoming administrations will recognize and support the importance of protecting our marine ecosystems for future generations.”