Prof. Michael Berumen has been appointed as Acting Director of the RSRC

Apr 01, 2018

Professor Michael Berumen has been appointed as Acting Director of the KAUST Red Sea Research Center effective April 1, 2018.
Dr. Berumen joined KAUST in 2009 and leads the Reef Ecology Lab in the Red Sea Research Center. He has authored more than 180 journal articles on research focusing on a range of coral reef taxa, and he has extensive field experience on coral reefs around the world. In addition to work throughout Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Red Sea, he is also a participant in active projects the Indian and Pacific Oceans, including Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, Australia, New Caledonia and others.

Prof. Duarte honored for outstanding accomplishments in marine biodiversity science

Mar 21, 2018

Carlos Duarte was named the first recipient of the Carlo Heip Award for outstanding accomplishments in marine biodiversity science. Duarte will receive the award at the Carlo Heip Award ceremony, which will take place on May 15 in Montreal, Canada.

Nils Rädecker wins best student presentation award at ECRS 2017

Feb 15, 2018

Nils Radecker, a Ph.D. student in the RSRC's Reef Genomics Lab, won a best student presentation award at the European Coral Reef Symposium (ECRS) 2017. Radecker's talk entitled "Understanding coral bleaching in the light of holobiont nutrient cycling" was focused on his work to decipher the underlying mechanisms of coral bleaching, or the breakdown of the symbiosis between corals and endosymbiotic algae due to ocean warming.

Coral lifestyles reflected in their genes

Feb 01, 2018

The first comparative genome study between two corals reveals significant evolutionary differences. These findings could help scientists understand the resilience of corals and how they might respond to climate change.
Reef-building corals diverged into two genetically distinct groups, called the robust clade and the complex clade, at least 240 million years ago. Until now, the only complex coral genome available has been for the complex coral Acropora digitifera. An international team, led by Christian Voolstra and Manuel Aranda from KAUST, sequenced the genome of the robust coral Stylophora pistillata and then compared it with the existing Acropora genome.

Ph.D. proposal defense - Xin Wang

Jan 25, 2018

TITLE: How corals got bones --Comparative genomics reveals the evolution of coral calcification
ADVISOR: Manuel Aranda
DATE: Jan 25, Thursday
TIME: 3 pm
LOCATION: Building 5, room 5209

Actual Living Scientists - WEP 2018

Jan 21, 2018

Meet some of the #ActualLivingScientists working on the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. They are the current class of marine science masters students at KAUST, and this is a bit about who they are as scientists and people.

Marine Natural Products project - RSRC research cruise starting January 16

Jan 11, 2018

The cruise will be from the 16th to the 24th on board of R/V Al Azizi (KAU vessel) heading to the Farasan banks, where the participants will visit reefs, mangroves, seagrass meadows and beaches along the coastline and offshore. We will be 9 participants mainly from the Red Sea Research Center plus one from the Water Desalination and Reuse Center and two visitor professors from Greece.

Trawl of Red Sea surface waters finds little plastic

Jan 07, 2018

KAUST Professor/Director of the Red Sea Research Center, Carlos Duarte, and his student Cecilia Martin were part of a team that measured the amount of plastic debris in the Red Sea during sea voyages in 2016-2017.
They found that the quantity of plastic in the Red Sea was quite low, which they attribute to there being no consistent inflow from a river and to plastics collecting in corals and mangroves.

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