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Senior marine scientist with The Nature Conservancy, Australia
10:45 The bacterial microbiome of Tridacna maxima Susann Rossbach, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
11:00 Using the Aiptasia model system to test the coral probiotic hypothesis: trials on a bacterial-depleted system Rúben Costa, KAUST PI: Christian Voolstra
11:15 Insights into bacterial community changes following heat and salinity treatments in Aiptasia Janna Randle, KAUST PI: Christian Voolstra
11:30 Disentangling the complex microbiological network within vulnerable coral reef ecosystems Dr. Eva Aylagas Martinez, KAUST PI: Burt Jones
11:45 The Red Sea pelagic microbiome Dr. Tamara Huete-Stauffer, KAUST PI: Xose Anxelu Moran
Session Chair: John Gittings
The Coral Triangle is the global epicenter of marine biodiversity. These marine resources are a critical source of jobs and food security in this region. Despite this importance, the reefs of the Coral Triangle are in decline, threatening the stability of this ecosystem and the services it provides humanity. A major obstacle to achieving sustainability in the Coral Triangle is that the size and biological diversity in this region exceeds the science capacity needed to understand its dynamics and to educate the public on its importance. A key to developing this capacity is international partnerships that leverage expertise and resources from the international scientific community with the passion and knowledge of local scientists. Results from genetic and genomic tools highlight the importance of vicariance and ecological speciation in shaping the Coral Triangle biodiversity hotspot. Importantly, by conducting this work in the context of collaborative science capacity building, this work advances our understanding of the processes generating biodiversity in the Coral Triangle while generating data and human resources that will be essential for its protection.
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), USA
14:05 Latitudinal Gradients and Coral Reef Benthic Characteristics Affecting Cryptic Communities in the Red Sea Rodrigo Villalobos, KAUST PI: Michael Berumen
14:20 SymPortal: a novel analytical framework and platform for coral algal symbiont next-generation sequencing ITS2 profiling (one year on) Dr. Benjamin Hume, KAUST PI: Christian Voolstra
14:35 Simulating Coral Reef Connectivity at the Southern Red Sea Yixin Wang, KAUST PI: Ibrahim Hoteit
14:50 Profiling the genetic diversity and structure of Pocilloporid coral populations along the Red Sea using a population genomics approach Carol N Buitrago Lopez, KAUST PI: Christian Voolstra
Session Chair: Nojood Aalismail
15:20 Lysogeny in the natural microbial communities in the Red Sea Ruba Ashy, KAUST PI: Susana Agusti
15:35 Seasonal variation of viruses and heterotrophic nanoflagellates and their potential impact on heterotrophic bacterioplankton in a Red Sea shallow ecosystemnt next-generation sequencing ITS2 profiling (one year on) Eman Sabbagh, KAUST PI: Xose Anxelu Moran
15:50 Quantitative estimation of PAH absorption in phytoplankton cells Malak Abdallah, KAUST PI: Susana Agusti
16:05 Airborne Prokaryote and Virus abundance over the Red Sea Razan Yahya, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
16:20 Remotely-sensing phytoplankton size structure in the Red Sea John Gittings, KAUST PI: Ibrahim Hoteit
16:35 Responses to experimental warming of heterotrophic bacteria associated with a Red Sea Synechococcus strain Abbrar Labban, KAUST PI: Xose Anxelu Moran
16:50 Heterotrophic bacteria growth rates in the warm Red Sea: A spatial and seasonal assessment Luis Silva, KAUST PI: Xose Anxelu Moran
Session Chair: Luis Ribeiro da Silva
Composition and seasonal variability of dinoflagellates in the central Red Sea, Saudi Arabia Dr. Danang Prabowo, KAUST
Suitability of inter-tidal benthic foraminifera as proxy indicators of sea level in Al-Kharrar Lagoon, Saudi Arabia Talha Al-Dubai, KAU
Photocatalytic Degradation of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in The Presence of Nanosized Semiconductors Nojoud Al-Harbi, KAU
Rapid ecosystem service assessment for coastal habitats in the eastern Red Sea Aislinn Dunne, KAUST
First insight of the mucus carbohydrate composition of scleractinian corals from the central Red Sea Ghaida Hadaidi, KAUST
Transcriptomic analysis of Symbiodinium micoradriaticum in hospite under acidification stress reveals differential expression of photosynthesis related genes Marcela Herrera Sarrias, KAUST
Biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons by halophilic bacterial consortium enriched from Abhour, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia Ramzi Amran, KAU
Metagenomes reveal worldwide occurrence of macroalgae in the ocean Alejandra Ortega, KAUST
Monitoring shoreline change detection using remote sensing and GIS in Jeddah coast Satria Antoni Syamsuddin, KAU
A modified zinc oxide nanoparticles immobilized polyurethane foam sorbent packed column coupled ion chromatography for trace determination of phosphate ions in water Norah Alzahrani, KAU
Absorption of heavy metal by Microalgae in Red Sea, Saudi Arabia Aisha Alamri, KAU
Thermal dependence of seagrass ecosystem metabolism in the Red Sea Celina Burkholz, KAUST
Hydra as a model for studying the evolutionary origin of chemical neurotransmission Hanan Mahmood, KAUST
Seasonal variability of phytoplankton abundance and composition in the Red Sea Ashwag Asseri, KAUST
Monitoring the infrastructure impacts along the Red Sea Coast: A Case Study in Jazan Coast, Saudi Arabia Aaid Al-Zubieri, KAU
Chemical study of the lipids content of sea cucumber Holothuria atra from the Saudi Red Sea coast and their antifouling activity Fekri Shaher, KAUST
Evidence of Gulf of Aden surface water in the Northern Red Sea Lina Eyouni, KAUST
What your eyes miss in coral reefs: introducing the cryptobiome Dr. John Pearman, KAUST
Characterization of Red Sea cyanobacteria populations on a time series Dr. Alexandra Coello-Camba, KAUST
Abundant DNA Methylation in the demosponge Amphimedon queenslandica is involved in genomic evolution and transcriptional regulation Juan Antonio Ruiz-Santiesteban, KAUST
Effects of contaminants and concurrent stressors on copepods Dr. Alexandra Steckbauer, KAUST
The Red Sea project aims to create a unique luxury tourist destination for global experience seekers. The natural beauty, bio diversity and remote nature of the project, located on an archipelago with 80 islands, sited alongside 200km of unspoiled coastline, presents development opportunities and challenges. How can we protect again rising sea levels, have no dependence on fossil fuel, eliminate waste land infill, optimise our carbon footprint, handle concentrated brine discharge from potable water generation, prevent damage to coral, and achieve a net positive environmental impact? What will make global travellers come to Saudi Arabia and local travellers stay in their backyard?
Chair: Gabriela Perna
Chief Development Officer, The Red Sea Development Company, Saudi Arabia
9:10 Sand temperature projections for turtle nesting sites in the Red Sea: Implications for hatchling sex ratios Lyndsey Tanabe, KAUST PI: Michael Berumen
9:25 Adhesion to coral reef surfaces, a sink for microplastics? Cecilia Martin, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
9:40 Multistressor interaction of oil and nutrients on Red Sea recruitment Ann Marie Hulver, KAUST PI: Michael Berumen
9:55 Variable yet predominantly additive effects of concurrent hypoxia and elevated pCO2 on marine biota Dr. Alexandra Steckbauer, KAUST PI: Burton Jones
10:10 To feed or not to feed? Coral reef fish responses to artificial feeding and stakeholder perceptions in the Aitutaki Lagoon, Cook Islands Natalie Prinz, KAUST PI: Michael Berumen
Session Chair: Lina Eyouni
10:45 Heterotrophic bacterioplankton in a coastal Red Sea lagoon: Exploring the potential antimicrobial effect of seagrass meadows Dr. Hana Sonbol, KAUST PI: Xose Anxelu Moran
11:00 Microbial diversity and metabolisms in a brine-seawater interface of the Red Sea Dr. Gregoire Michoud, KAUST PI: Daniele Daffonchio
11:15 Novel genomes along brine-seawater interface Alan Barozzi, KAUST PI: Daniele Daffonchio
11:30 Functional metagenomics explain airborne lifestyle of the global dust belt microbiome Nojood Aalismail, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
11:45 The microbial response to nutrient enrichment in mangrove soils Timothy Thomson, KAUST PI: Burt Jones
Session Chair: Alan Barozzi
Autonomous sensing promises solutions to two problems vexing sustainability science in the ocean: 1) The environment often changes more quickly than we have the ability to observe these changes. 2) Emerging threats to coastal systems like coral reefs need new sensors and new methods to quickly analyze the raw data for decision support (machine learning). Many data sets collected on coral reefs suffer from under-sampling in space or time. Undersampling results in signals that are said to be ‘aliased’. Aliased data incorrectly present a high frequency fluctuation as a lower frequency fluctuation. Autonomous mobile robots can act as fast-moving taxicabs for sensors and overcome this aliasing problem. My lab has developed autonomous marine robots and diver-held measurement systems to gain rapid situational awareness for water quality and distribution of biota. I will present case studies in autonomous sensing from four continents: benthic environments in Panama, Florida, Bonaire and Iceland, and the rapidly warming western Antarctica peninsula.
Chair: Ann Marie Hulver
14:05 Spatio-temporal pattern in transparency to UV radiation across the Red Sea Sebastian Overmans, KAUST PI: Susana Agusti
14:20 Characteristic Length Scale from Glider Data Michael Campbell, KAUST PI: Burt Jones
14:35 13C and 14C measurements of primary productivity (PP) in oligotrophic waters Dr. Daffne C. López-Sandoval, KAUST PI: Susana Agusti
14:50 One-year survey of the carbonate system in a reef, mangrove and seagrass meadow of the central Red Sea Dr. Vincent Saderne, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
15:05 Treatment of seafood industrial wastewater coupled with electricity production using microbial fuel cells (MFC) Afnan AlMutairi, KAU PI: Mamdoh Jamal
Session Chair: Susann Rossbach
16:05 Effects of flow and hypoxia on developing squid Doryteuthis pealeii egg capsules
Lucy Fitzgerald, KAUST PI: Michael Berumen
16:10 Natural radiole damage and regeneration of the feather duster worms, Schizobranchia insignis and Eudistylia vancouveri Shannon Brown, KAUST PI: Michael Berumen
16:15 Toxicity test of copper and zinc trace metals to the wedge clam Atactodea glabrata Reham Jouda, KAU PI: Mohmmad Baakdah
16:20 Shifts in reef-associated fish communities with habitat degradation in the East Central Red Sea George Short, KAUST PI: Burton Jones
16:25 Microplastic in Red Sea fishes – an assessment along the Saudi Arabian coast Fadiyah Baalkhuyur, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
16:30 Marine Heatwaves expose coral reef zones susceptible to bleaching Lily Genevier, KAUST PI: Ibrahim Hoteit
16:35 Use of Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy to quantify 13C-labelled phenantrene accumulation in phytoplankton and transfer to corals
Ananya Ashok, KAUST PI: Susana Agusti
16:40 Metabolic thermal performance of primary producers on coral reefs in the Red Sea Dr. Andrea Anton, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
16:45 First insight into viral diversity across a range of coral species from the central Red Sea
Jin Ye, KAUST PI: Christian Voolstra
16:50 Extraction technique and sediment type affect eDNA-based assessments of marine coastal habitats Dr. Nathan Geraldi, KAUST PI: Carlos Duarte
Session Chair: Dr. Anny Cardenas