Kevin B. Strychar

Background

Kevin B. Strychar was raised in northern Alberta, Canada, in a family whose background included farming and ranching. Before beginning his university studies, he worked as a commercial diver, including operations in zero visibility and at depths approaching 200 metres. His early experience in demanding aquatic environments contributed to his long-term interest in water resources and aquatic biology. He later pursued marine biology and research careers in Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Education

Strychar studied biology at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John, Canada, earning a Bachelor of Science in 1995 and a Master of Science in marine biology in 1997. He completed a Doctor of Philosophy at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, Australia, in 2002. His doctoral work examined the physiology, genetics, and biochemistry of coral bleaching and the effects of climate change on coral-reef organisms. During his doctoral period he also developed research connections that led to postdoctoral work in the United States and Canada.

Career

Strychar's professional career has combined marine biology, molecular ecology, environmental physiology, and higher education. In the early 2000s he worked as a research scientist and postdoctoral researcher associated with the University of Connecticut, where he studied the effects of climate and pollution on microalgae in Long Island Sound. He also held a concurrent postdoctoral appointment at Dalhousie University and the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax, supported by a Sir Isaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship, investigating the genomics of deep-water corals. From 2005 to 2012 he was a professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where his research focused on climate-related stress in coral reefs and other marine organisms. He joined Grand Valley State University's Annis Water Resources Institute in 2012 and became a full professor of climate-change studies of aquatic and marine ecosystems in 2017. He has also served as an adjunct professor of zoology at Michigan State University. At Grand Valley State University, his research has expanded from shallow- and deep-water corals, sponges, dinoflagellates, and marine microbes to include the effects of climate change, invasive species, pathogens, and water-quality stress in the Great Lakes. His methods include flow cytometry, immunochemistry, cell biology, molecular biology, and other omics-based approaches.

Achievements

• Listed as a noteworthy biology professor by Marquis Who's Who.

Works

• book chapter

  • Ecological and evolutionary considerations regarding corals in a rapidly changing environment

    (Co-authored chapter in The Cnidaria, Past, Present, and F...)

    2016
  • Temperate Marine and Brackish Ecosystems

    (Co-authored chapter in Climate Change and Non-infectious ...)

    2019
  • Genetic circumscription of deep-water coral species in Canada using 18S rRNA

    (Co-authored chapter in Cold-water Corals and Ecosystems.)

    2005

• Conference proceeding

  • Adaptation/Exaptation in the host coral Favites complanata (Ehrenberg, 1834; Scleractinia, Faviidae) to increased sea surface temperatures

    (Co-authored peer-reviewed conference proceeding presented...)

    2008

  • Investigating coral hyperspectral properties across coral species and coral state using hyperspectral imaging

    (Co-authored conference proceeding on hyperspectral imagin...)

    2013

• Educational article

  • Teach Ecology: College student awareness and perception of genetically modified foods

    (Co-authored educational article concerning college studen...)

    2010

• journal article

  • Decreased photosynthetic efficiency in response to site-translocation and elevated temperature is mitigated with LPS exposure in Porites astreoides symbionts

    (Co-authored study of photosynthetic efficiency, transloca...)

    2022
  • Coral bleaching susceptibility is decreased following short-term (1-3 year) prior temperature exposure and evolutionary history

    (Co-authored research article examining prior thermal expo...)

    2011
  • The Development of Rapid Assessment Methods for Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Toxins Using Imaging Flow Cytometry (IFCM)

    (Co-authored research describing imaging-flow-cytometry me...)

    2025
  • Cellular responses of Astrangia poculata (Ellis and Solander, 1786) and its symbiont to experimental heat stress

    (Co-authored study of cellular responses in Astrangia pocu...)

    2025
  • Genetically divergent Symbiodinium sp. display distinct responses to pathogenic Vibrio and thermal stress

    (Co-authored research article on genetic divergence, patho...)

    2014

  • Biotic stress contributes to seawater temperature induced stress in a site-specific manner for Porites asteroides

    (Co-authored study of the interaction between biotic stres...)

    2018
  • Bleaching as a pathogenic response in scleractinian corals, evidenced by high concentrations of apoptotic and necrotic zooxanthellae

    (Co-authored research article examining cellular evidence ...)

    2004
  • Site-specific variation in gene expression from Symbiodinium spp. associated with offshore and inshore Porites astreoides in the lower Florida Keys is lost with bleaching and disease stress

    (Co-authored study of gene-expression variation in coral s...)

    2017
  • Surveying the circular rep encoding single stranded (CRESS) DNA viral consortium found in invasive quagga mussels (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) and sediments of the central Lake Michigan benthos

    (Co-authored study of viruses associated with invasive qua...)

    2020

  • Variation in immune-related gene expression provides evidence of local adaptation in Porites astreoides (Lamarck, 1816) between inshore and offshore metapopulations inhabiting the lower Florida reef tract, USA

    (Co-authored research on immune-related gene expression an...)

    2021
  • Corals and their potential applications to integrative medicine

    (Co-authored review of possible biomedical applications of...)

    2014
  • Decline of Diporeia in Lake Michigan: Was disease associated with invasive species the primary factor?

    (Co-authored study of disease, invasive species, and the d...)

    2014

  • Tubastraea micranthus: comments on the population genetics of a new invasive coral in the Western Atlantic and a possible secondary invasion

    (Co-authored research on the population genetics and invas...)

    2017

  • Distribution of the Gorgonian coral genus Leptogorgia at two jetties in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico

    (Co-authored research on the distribution of Leptogorgia i...)

    2011

  • Effects of climate change / global warming on coral reefs: Exaptation in corals, evolution in zooxanthellae, and biogeographic shifts

    (Co-authored review of climate-change effects on coral ree...)

    2009
  • Responses to high seawater temperatures in zooxanthellae Octocorals

    (Co-authored study of octocoral and zooxanthellae response...)

    2013

  • Loss of symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium; zooxanthellae) from bleached soft corals Sarcophyton, Sinularia, and Xenia

    (Co-authored study published in the Journal of Experimenta...)

    2005

  • Apoptotic and necrotic stages of cell death activity: Bleaching of soft and scleractinian corals

    (Co-authored research article on cellular processes associ...)

    2004

  • Stress resistance and adaptation of the aquatic invasive species Tubastrea coccinea (Lesson, 1829) to climate change and ocean acidification

    (Co-authored study of stress resistance and adaptation in ...)

    2021
  • Examining the Effect of Heat Stress on Montastraea cavernosa (Linnaeus 1767) from a Mesophotic Coral Ecosystem (MCE)

    (Co-authored research article on heat stress in corals fro...)

    2020

  • Indications of symbiotic state influencing melanin-synthesis immune response in the facultative coral, Astrangia poculata

    (Co-authored research on symbiotic state and immune respon...)

    2022

  • Loss of Symbiodinium from bleached scleractinian corals: Acropora hyacinthus, Favites complanata and Porites solida

    (Co-authored study of the loss of symbiotic dinoflagellate...)

    2004
  • Exaptation in corals to high seawater temperatures: Low concentrations of apoptotic and necrotic cells in host coral tissue under bleaching conditions

    (Co-authored study of coral cellular responses to elevated...)

    2009

  • Effects of heat stress on phytopigments of zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium spp.) symbiotic with the corals Acropora hyacinthus, Porites solida, and Favites complanata

    (Co-authored study of heat stress and photosynthetic pigme...)

    2012

  • A coral bleaching model

    (Co-authored mathematical and biological modeling study of...)

    2014
  • Effects of salinity and sedimentation on the Gorgonian coral Leptogorgia virgulata (Lamarck 1815)

    (Co-authored study of environmental stress effects on a go...)

    2011

  • Phylogenetic diversity of the cold water Octocoral Paragorgia arborea (Linnaeus, 1758) off the east coast of Canada

    (Co-authored study of the phylogenetic diversity of a cold...)

    2011
  • Ulcerated yellow spot syndrome: implications of aquaculture-related pathogens associated with soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi tissue lesions

    (Co-authored research on pathogens and tissue lesions in s...)

    2012
  • The role of sea-whip coral (Leptogorgia sp.) as habitat of temperate near-shore fish of Gulf of Mexico jetties

    (Co-authored study of sea-whip coral as habitat for near-s...)

    2021

  • Effects of heat and salinity stress on the sponge Cliona celata

    (Co-authored study of heat and salinity stress in a marine...)

    2010
  • Impacts of suspended peat particles on feeding and absorption rates in cultured eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica, Gmelin)

    (Co-authored research article with B. A. MacDonald.)

    1999

• technical paper

  • Canada's deep-water corals

    (Co-authored online technical paper for the United Nations...)

    2003

Membership

Strychar has served on the editorial board of Scientific Reports and has participated in professional scientific review and research-outreach activities. At Grand Valley State University he has served in the University Academic Senate and on its Executive Committee. He has also served on the Muskegon County Conservation District Board of Directors.

• Editorial board member.

  Scientific Reports , United Kingdom

  2016 - present

• Member of the University Academic Senate and its Executive Committee.

  Grand Valley State University Academic Senate , United States

• Board member.

  Muskegon County Conservation District Board of Directors , United States

Personality

Strychar describes a strong personal interest in water resources and environmental relationships, shaped in part by his early experience as a commercial diver and his later scientific work in marine and freshwater habitats.

Interests

• Commercial diving, aquatic environments, water resources, family activities, and science education and outreach.

Connections

Strychar is the son of Dennis and Darlene Strychar. He is married to Leslie Strychar and has children.

Father:

Dennis

Father of Kevin Strychar.

Mother:

Darlene

Mother of Kevin Strychar.

Spouse:

Leslie Strychar

Spouse of Kevin Strychar.

References

• Grand Valley State University, Strychar Lab Institutional profile documenting Strychar's position as a tenured full professor, his research on climate change in marine and freshwater habitats, his educational background, postdoctoral work, commercial-diving experience, and professional address.
  2026
• Grand Valley State University, Strychar Lab Publications Institutional bibliography documenting Strychar's scholarly publications from 1999 through 2025 on coral biology, climate change, aquatic invasive species, pathogens, marine ecology, and Great Lakes research.
  2026
• Nature, Coral reef ecology and restoration: Guest Editors Professional biography identifying Strychar as a tenured full professor at Grand Valley State University and describing his research on climate change, corals, aquatic diseases, and Great Lakes ecosystems.
  2024