Since coming to USF in 1983, she has conducted most of her research in the Florida Keys. While most people dive around coral reefs for the beauty and pleasure in it, Muller and her team of graduate students are like environmental doctors, checking on patients, running tests and making diagnoses. And while they discover ailments like voracious boring sponges, they have found that these are just symptoms of much larger problems like pollution and global warming. Unwanted nutrients Much of Muller's research into coral reef habitats involves foraminifera, single-cell protozoans that respond to changes in the environment the same way coral do. Healthy coral and foraminifera live in low-nutrient environments, something they are able to do because they have symbiotic relationships with algae, which live inside them and give them their color.
Algae use the sun's energy, carbon dioxide and water to produce sugars to use for energy.
With enough sunlight, they produce enough sugar to share with their foraminifer or coral host. In return, the hosts produce waste, which algae use to grow. It is a relationship that allows algae and foraminifera or coral together to have 10 to 1000 times more energy than they would have alone. Nutrients alone aren't bad. They help some plants and animals grow.