WHOI scientist joins global Tara Coral expedition to unlock secrets of climate-resilient reefs

A two-year mission across the Coral Triangle will probe how viruses and reef ecosystems could help some corals withstand rising ocean temperatures.

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Woods Hole, Mass. (March 2, 2026) — As coral reefs around the world face unprecedented bleaching and decline, an international team of scientists, including those from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), is setting out to investigate why certain coral ecosystems have remained relatively stable despite rising ocean temperatures.

James Wainaina, a biologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, studies the ecology and evolution of marine viruses. (Photo: Rachel Mann, ©Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

The Tara Ocean Foundation has launched Tara Coral, a two-year expedition (2026–2028) to study climate-resilient reefs across the Coral Triangle in the western Pacific. Covering more than 30,000 nautical miles, the scientific schooner Tara will travel through six countries, conduct 26 port stopovers, and complete intensive sampling at 10 reef sites where coral cover has remained relatively stable despite warming seas.

James Wainaina, a viral ecologist in WHOI’s Biology Department, will participate in efforts to characterize the viral communities living within these reef ecosystems. His work will examine viruses associated with corals themselves, the surrounding seawater, and reef sediments, an often-overlooked but critical component of reef health.

“Corals are not just animals — they are complex ecosystems,” said Wainaina. “They live in close partnership with algae, bacteria, fungi,  viruses, and other eukaryotes. We want to understand which viruses are present, how these viral communities shift within corals, surrounding seawater, and sediments, and whether virus-mediated functional processes contribute to corals' resilience to heat stress. This expedition aims to provide a process-based understanding of factors underlying coral resilience across the Coral Triangle.”

Corals are “holobionts,” meaning the animal host and its associated microorganisms operate as an integrated biological unit. While previous global expeditions documented reef biodiversity, Tara Coral aims to move beyond cataloging diversity to identifying the biological processes that enable some reefs to tolerate thermal stress. The team, composed of sixty-seven scientists from more than 40 institutions, will integrate environmental DNA sampling, photogrammetry, microbiome analysis, paleoclimate coring, and onboard heat-stress experiments.

Stopovers on the expedition will include water sampling, microplastic collection, sediment collection, and targeted sampling of coral colonies. (Courtesy: Tara Ocean Foundation)

“The Tara Coral expedition is unique due to its combination of scientific scope, methodological standardisation, geographical focus, and integration between disciplines and partners,” said Christian Voolstra, a researcher from Konstanz University and one of the project’s scientific directors.” Now is the time to act to understand, preserve, and strengthen the resilience of coral reefs.”

Tara Coral builds on the earlier Tara Pacific expedition (2016–2018) and continues the foundation’s more than 20 years of ocean exploration. Since acquiring the schooner in 2003, the Tara Ocean Foundation has traveled nearly 590,000 kilometers (366,609 miles), led 13 expeditions, collected 140,000 samples, and contributed to thousands of scientific publications aimed at informing global ocean policy.

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About Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is a private, non-profit organization on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate an understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. Top scientists, engineers, and students collaborate on more than 800 concurrent projects worldwide—both above and below the waves—pushing the boundaries of knowledge and possibility.

About Tara Ocean Foundation

The Tara Ocean Foundation is France's first recognized public interest foundation dedicated to the ocean. For more than 20 years, it has been striving to bring about a revolution to preserve life, convinced that the ocean is essential to the balance of our planet. Exploring the ocean and sharing scientific discoveries to raise collective awareness is at the heart of the foundation's mission. It conducts scientific expeditions, in partnership with leading international research laboratories, to study marine biodiversity and understand the impacts of climate change and pollution. It raises awareness among citizens, from the younger generations to political decision-makers. Thanks to its status as a Special Observer at the UN, the foundation actively participates in international ocean governance. Exploring, sharing, and protecting this living ocean is more vital than ever. Together, let's defend life.