Centre for Marine Studies, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia. t.ainsworth@uq.edu.au
Microbial communities play important roles in the functioning of coral reef communities. However, extensive autofluorescence of coral tissues and endosymbionts limits the application of standard fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques for the identification of the coral-associated bacterial communities. This study overcomes these limitations by combining FISH and spectral imaging.