People

Dr Hannah Epstein

Lecturer
School of Life Sciences
Dr Hannah Epstein

Research and professional activities

Research interests

Coral Reef Ecology

Open to supervise

Microbial Ecology

Open to supervise

Tropical Marine Biology

Open to supervise

Coral Reef Climate Resilience

Open to supervise

Teaching and supervision

Current teaching responsibilities

  • Marine Ecology (BS112)

  • Transferable Skills in Life Sciences (BS143)

  • Coral Reef Biology (BS255)

  • Tropical Marine Field Research Skills (BS256)

  • Marine Resources (BS705)

  • Coral Reef Biodiversity and Management Field Trip (BS710)

Publications

Publications (2)

Maire, J., Tsang Min Ching, SJ., Damjanovic, K., Epstein, HE., Judd, LM., Blackall, LL. and van Oppen, MJH., (2023). A novel, tissue-associated and vertically transmitted bacterial symbiont in the coralPocillopora acuta

Epstein, HE., Brown, T., Akinrinade, AO., McMinds, R., Pollock, FJ., Sonett, D., Smith, S., Bourne, DG., Carpenter, CS., Knight, R., Willis, BL., Medina, M., Lamb, JB., Thurber, RV. and Zaneveld, JR., (2023). Evidence for microbially-mediated tradeoffs between growth and defense throughout coral evolution

Journal articles (17)

Vompe, AD., Epstein, HE., Speare, KE., Schmeltzer, ER., Adam, TC., Burkepile, DE., Sharpton, TJ. and Vega Thurber, R., (2024). Microbiome ecological memory and responses to repeated marine heatwaves clarify variation in coral bleaching and mortality. Global Change Biology. 30 (1), e17088-

Maire, J., Tsang Min Ching, SJ., Damjanovic, K., Epstein, HE., Judd, LM., Blackall, LL. and van Oppen, MJH., (2024). Tissue-associated and vertically transmitted bacterial symbiont in the coral Pocillopora acuta. The ISME Journal. 18 (1), wrad027-

Silva, DP., Epstein, HE. and Vega Thurber, RL., (2023). Best practices for generating and analyzing 16S rRNA amplicon data to track coral microbiome dynamics. Frontiers in Microbiology. 13, 1007877-

David, MM., Tataru, C., Pope, Q., Baker, LJ., English, MK., Epstein, HE., Hammer, A., Kent, M., Sieler, MJ., Mueller, RS., Sharpton, TJ., Tomas, F., Vega Thurber, R. and Fern, XZ., (2022). Revealing General Patterns of Microbiomes That Transcend Systems: Potential and Challenges of Deep Transfer Learning. mSystems. 7 (1), e0105821-

Epstein, HE., Hernandez-Agreda, A., Starko, S., Baum, JK. and Vega Thurber, R., (2021). Inconsistent patterns of microbial diversity and composition between highly similar sequencing protocols: a case study with reef-building corals. Frontiers in Microbiology. 12, 740932-

Bessell-Browne, P., Epstein, HE., Hall, N., Buerger, P. and Berry, K., (2021). Severe Heat Stress Resulted in High Coral Mortality on Maldivian Reefs following the 2015–2016 El Niño Event. Oceans. 2 (1), 233-245

Claar, DC., Starko, S., Tietjen, KL., Epstein, HE., Cunning, R., Cobb, KM., Baker, AC., Gates, RD. and Baum, JK., (2020). Dynamic symbioses reveal pathways to coral survival through prolonged heatwaves. Nature Communications. 11 (1), 6097-

Epstein, HE., Torda, G. and van Oppen, MJH., (2019). Relative stability of the Pocillopora acuta microbiome throughout a thermal stress event. Coral Reefs. 38 (2), 373-386

Epstein, HE., Smith, HA., Cantin, NE., Mocellin, VJL., Torda, G. and van Oppen, MJH., (2019). Temporal Variation in the Microbiome of Acropora Coral Species Does Not Reflect Seasonality. Frontiers in Microbiology. 10, 1775-

Epstein, HE., Hallas, JM., Johnson, RF., Lopez, A. and Gosliner, TM., (2019). Reading between the lines: revealing cryptic species diversity and colour patterns in Hypselodoris nudibranchs (Mollusca: Heterobranchia: Chromodorididae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 186 (1), 116-189

Epstein, HE., Torda, G., Munday, PL. and van Oppen, MJH., (2019). Parental and early life stage environments drive establishment of bacterial and dinoflagellate communities in a common coral. The ISME Journal. 13 (6), 1635-1638

Berry, KLE., Epstein, HE., Lewis, PJ., Hall, NM. and Negri, AP., (2019). Microplastic Contamination Has Limited Effects on Coral Fertilisation and Larvae. Diversity. 11 (12), 228-228

Epstein, HE. and Kingsford, MJ., (2019). Are soft coral habitats unfavourable? A closer look at the association between reef fishes and their habitat. Environmental Biology of Fishes. 102 (3), 479-497

Epstein, HE., Smith, HA., Torda, G. and van Oppen, MJH., (2019). Microbiome engineering: enhancing climate resilience in corals. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 17 (2), 100-108

van Oppen, MJH., Gates, RD., Blackall, LL., Cantin, N., Chakravarti, LJ., Chan, WY., Cormick, C., Crean, A., Damjanovic, K., Epstein, H., Harrison, PL., Jones, TA., Miller, M., Pears, RJ., Peplow, LM., Raftos, DA., Schaffelke, B., Stewart, K., Torda, G., Wachenfeld, D., Weeks, AR. and Putnam, HM., (2017). Shifting paradigms in restoration of the world's coral reefs. Global Change Biology. 23 (9), 3437-3448

Smith, H., Epstein, H. and Torda, G., (2017). The molecular basis of differential morphology and bleaching thresholds in two morphs of the coral Pocillopora acuta. Scientific Reports. 7 (1), 10066-

Epstein, HE., Templeman, MA. and Kingsford, MJ., (2016). Fine-scale detection of pollutants by a benthic marine jellyfish. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 107 (1), 340-346

Book chapters (1)

Maher, RL., Epstein, HE. and Vega Thurber, R., (2022). Dynamics of Bacterial Communities on Coral Reefs: Implications for Conservation. In: Coral Reefs of the World. Springer International Publishing. 97- 116. 9783031070549

Contact

hannah.epstein@essex.ac.uk

Location:

Colchester Campus

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