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Dr. Sara Williams

Staff Scientist

Coral Health & Disease Research Program

Today's Research for Tomorrow's Oceans
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Contact:

swilliams@mote.org

(941) 388-4441, ext353

Biography:

Dr. Williams first worked at Mote back in 2012 as a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates intern, but officially joined the Mote team as a Postdoctoral Researcher in October 2020. She completed her Ph.D. at Northeastern University in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology in September 2020. For her dissertation research, Dr. Williams used network science and modeling combined with fieldwork and physiological experiments to attack problems facing coral reefs from multiple angles. She studies the connections among polyps in a coral colony, the associations of coral species and their symbiotic algae and bacteria, and the spread of coral diseases – all under the lens of global climate change. At Mote, Dr. Williams uses innovative modeling and statistical analyses to study coral health and disease dynamics while advancing our understanding of coral reef resilience.

Education:

Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology; Northeastern University, 2020.

B.S. in Physics (Honors) with a minor in Biology; College of William and Mary, January 2014.

Featured Publications

Abrams, L. A., Fogarty, N. D., Koch, H. R., Leto, C., O'Neil, K. L., Martin, K., Pratt, T. A., Rich, L.-P., Tanguay, S. F., Van Horn, M., Villoch Diaz Maurino, M., Whitehead, R. F., Williams, S. D., Figueiredo, J. (2026). Species-specific light spectrum optimization for coral grow-out. Aquaculture, 625, 744328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2026.744328
Williams, S. D., Studivan, M. S., Sirotzke, S., Andrade Rodriguez, N., Craig, Z., Hamlyn, S. B., Holstein, D. M., Isma, L. M., MacKnight, N. J., Mandara, J. A., Rosales, S. M., Rossin, A. M., Traylor-Knowles, N., Walter, C., Young, B. D., Muller, E. M. (2026). Restoration stocks of a Caribbean coral species contain low levels of inherent stony coral tissue loss disease resistance. Scientific Reports, 16, 25819. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-56396-7
Williams, S. D., MacKnight, N. J., Beavers, K. M., Brandt, M., Mydlarz, L. D., Muller, E. M. (2026). From Immunity to Community : A predictive trait space model for white plague disease on Caribbean reefs. Ecosphere, 17(5), e70634. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.70634
Manzello, D., Cunning, R., Karp, R., Baker, A., Bartels, E., Bonhag, R., Borreil, A., Bourque, A., Brown, K., Brucker, A., Corbett, B., D'Alessandro, M., Dahlgren, C., Dilworth, J., Geiger, E., Gilliam, D., Gomez, M., Hanson, G., Harrell, C., Hesley, D., Huebner, L., Kenkel, C., Koch, H., Kuehl, J., Kuffner, I., Ladd, M., Lee, S., Lesneski, K., Lewan, A., Lirman, D., Liu, H., Matsuda, S., Montoya-Maya, P., Moore, J., Muller, E., Nedimyer, K., Parkinson, J. E., Ruzicka, R., Spadaro, J., Spady, B., Stein, J., Unsworth, J., Waler, C., Wen, A., Williams, D., Williams, S., Williamson, O. (2025). Heat-driven functional extinction of Caribbean Acropora corals from Florida’s Coral Reef. Science, 390(6771), 361-366. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adx7825
Toth, L., Johnson, S., Lyons, E., Spadaro, J., Stathakopoulos, A., Bloomer, S., Mallon, J., Jenkins, C., Williams, S., Combs, I., Craig, Z., & Muller, E. (2025). Coral restoration can drive rapid increases in reef accretion potential. Scientific Reports, 15, 28353. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-04818-3
Alexi S. Pearson-Lund, Sara D. Williams, Katherine R. Eaton, Abigail S. Clark, Nathanial Hanna Holloway, Kristen A. Ewen, Erinn M. Muller (2025). Evaluating the effect of amoxicillin treatment on the microbiome of Orbicella faveolata with Caribbean yellow band disease. Applied and environmental microbiology, e02407-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/aem.02407-24
Benjamin Young, Olivia Williamson, Nicholas Kron, Natalia Andrade Rodriguez, Lys Isma, Nicholas MacKnight, Erinn Muller, Stephanie Rosales, Stephanie Sirotzke, Nikki Traylor-Knowles, Sara Williams, Michael Studivan (2024). Annotated genome and transcriptome of the endangered Caribbean mountainous star coral (Orbicella faveolata) using PacBio long-read sequencing. BMC Genomics, 25(226), 226. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-024-10092-w
Mark Patterson, Susan Patterson, Ethan Edson, Sara Williams, Jessica Torossian, Amanda Dwyer (2023). Cosplay as a Novel Method for Outreach in Ocean Science. Current: The Journal of Marine Education, 38(1), 16-27. https://doi.org/10.5334.cjme.80
Anshuman Swain, Sara D. William, Louisa J. Di Felice, Elizabeth A. Hobson (2022). Interactions and information: exploring task allocation in ant colonies using network analysis. Animal Behaviour, 189.0, 69-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.04.015
Williams SD, Klinges JG, Zinman S, Clark AS, Bartels E, Villoch Diaz Maurino M, Muller EM (2022). Geographically driven differences in microbiomes of Acropora cervicornis originating from different regions of Florida’s Coral Reef. PeerJ, 10.0, e13574. http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13574
Dobbelaere T, Holstein DM, Muller EM, Gramer LJ, McEachron L, Williams SD and Hanert E (2022). Connecting the Dots: Transmission of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease From the Marquesas to the Dry Tortugas. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9.0, 778938. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.778938
Clark, A. S., Williams, S. D., Maxwell, K., Rosales, S. M., Huebner, L. K., Landsberg, J. H., Hunt, J. H., Muller, E. M. (2021). Characterization of the Microbiome of Corals with Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease along Florida’s Coral Reef. Microorganisms, 9(11.0), 2181. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9112181
Williams SD, Walter CS and Muller EM (2021). Fine Scale Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Outbreak Within the Lower Florida Keys. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8, 631776. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.631776

Additional Publications

Williams SD, Klinges JG, Zinman S, Clark AS, Bartels E, Villoch Diaz Maurino M, and Muller EM. (2022). Geographically driven differences in microbiomes of Acropora cervicornis originating from different regions of Florida’s Coral Reef. PeerJ.

Anshuman Swain, Sara D. Williams, Louisa J. Di Felice, and Elizabeth A. Hobson. (2022). Interactions and information: exploring task allocation in ant colonies using network analysis. Animal Behaviour.

Dobbelaere, T., Holstein, D.M., Muller, E.M., Gramer, L.J., McEachron, L., Williams, S.D., and Hanert, E. (2022). Connecting the dots: Transmission of stony coral tissue loss disease from the Marquesas to the Dry Tortugas. Frontiers in Marine Science.

Clark, A.S., Williams, S.D., Maxwell, K., Rosales, S.M., Huebner, L.K., Landsberg, J.H., Hunt, J.H., and Muller, E.M. (2021). Characterization of the Microbiome of Corals with Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease along Florida's Coral Reef. Microorganisms.

Williams, S.D., Walter, C.S., and Muller, E.M. (2021). Fine scale temporal and spatial dynamics of the stony coral tissue loss disease outbreak within the lower Florida Keys. Frontiers in Marine Science.

Williams, S.D. and Patterson M.R. (2020). Resistance and robustness of the global coral-symbiont network. Ecology.

Williams, S.D. and Patterson M.R. (in Prep). Time scales of mixing in an imperforate scleractinian coelenteron. BioRxiv.

2015-2020: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
2017: Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute Short Term Fellowship
2012: National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates internship at Mote Marine Laboratory