The types of bacteria present in and around mangrove fiddler crab burrows in three different geographic locations were compared by KAUST researchers. They found that the crabs' burrowing activity changed the sediment in a way that attracted different types of bacteria across the three locations: however, the bacteria performed similar functions, such as aerobic respiration, and ecological services, such as turnover of organic matter.

Single-minded determination married with innate curiosity led KAUST postdoctoral fellow Daffne López-Sandoval to where she is today.

López-Sandoval's journey to becoming a marine scientist in the University's Red Sea Research Center began at a young age after she watched a documentary by Jacques Cousteau, the famed French filmmaker, oceanographer, researcher and undersea explorer. Cousteau's documentary focused on nuclear tests performed by the French government at the Mururoa atoll, and it instilled in López-Sandoval a passion for marine life and research.

On June 22th Roberto Arrigoni, a research scientist in the Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) has been awarded with the international prize “Benazzi Lentati” in Zoology by the Lincean Academy. The Lincean Academy is the oldest scientific academy in the World, being founded in 1603. The international prize was dedicated to international young researchers (below 35 years old) in the field of organismic evolutionary zoology.The scientific committee of Lincean Academy evaluated the candidates on the base of their CVs and selected me as unique winner. The amount of money of this prize is 10000 euro.

"Sugar enrichment provides evidence for a role of nitrogen fixation in coral bleaching" published in Global Change Biology is now featured on KAUST Discovery

A sustained dialogue must be established between molecular ecologists, policymakers and other stakeholders for DNA-based approaches to be adopted in marine monitoring and assessment, according to KAUST scientists and colleagues.

Marine pollutants are taken up by corals directly from seawater as well as through accumulation in their food, shows research from KAUST that uses a state-of-the-art spectroscopy technique known as cavity ring-down spectroscopy. This is the first time the approach has been used to measure pollutant accumulation.

A massive survey of hundreds of coral reefs along the coasts of nearly 60 nations found that overfishing has significantly diminished the numbers of sharks that live within these tropical habitats. Scientists did not see any sharks on nearly 20 percent of the reefs they examined, and saw only half as many sharks as they predicted in 35 nations.

Special cells in giant clams shift the wavelength of light to protect them from UV radiation and increase the photosynthetic activity of their symbionts, shows research from KAUST-originally intended as a photonics investigation.

The communities of tiny picoplankton in oceans reveal a great deal about the health of marine ecosystems and food webs. KAUST researchers have examined how numbers of these organisms vary across the year in both coastal and offshore locations in the Red Sea, while investigating the predators and viruses that control them.

There’s more to marine habitats than meets the eye. Meet the KAUST-based professor working to enhance “blue carbon” sinks—which could make a huge contribution to Paris climate goals. The epiphany came whilst diving deep in the azure waters off the island of Mallorca. It was 1993, and marine ecologist Carlos Duarte was studying a seagrass called posidonia oceanica, which forms vast underwater meadows in the Mediterranean.

Tiny sea skaters, as insect ocean pioneers, may hold the secret to developing improved water repellant materials. A KAUST study also provides insights into the insect’s physical features, including the hairs and waxy coating that cover its body, and its movement to evade the sea’s dangers.

Scientists at KAUST have discovered a new brine pool in their quest to understand and conserve the Red Sea more effectively.

Brine pools are lakes of extremely salty water that sit on the sea floor at depths approaching 3,000 meters.

"The impossible can come true with willpower and determination." This sentence sums up KAUST marine science Ph.D. student Afrah Alothman's educational journey from Saudi Arabia to Canada and the U.S. and then finally to the University.

Alothman began her university studies in Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, where she obtained her bachelor's degree with distinction in biology from King Faisal University. However, her ambition did not stop there⁠—she decided to pursue a master's degree in biology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and was supported through the late King Abdullah's Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Program for External Scholarship.

Dr. Rusty Brainard, the chief environmental officer at The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC), has been appointed courtesy professor of marine science at the KAUST Red Sea Research Center in the University's Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering division.

Recent increases in global water temperatures are causing a progressively detrimental effect on marine life and ecosystems in our oceans. Human activities generating excess greenhouse gas emissions have resulted in an increase in the average sea surface temperature of approximately 0.13 C per decade over the past 100 years, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

A range of information is collated through a simple framework that will help marine scientists to design more accurate experiments that will better help them understand the projected impact of global warming on marine life.

KAUST's Marine Science program will be hosting a three-week summer course from July 12th to 30th, 2020. The course will highlight a range of topics relevant to the Red Sea Research Center's work, including genomics, microbiology, ecology, environmental science, biological oceanography, and geoscience.

On February 10, KAUST announced new research demonstrating that corals pass patterns of DNA to their offspring. The groundbreaking research marks the first time that this process has been observed in animals within the field of biology.