Susanne Bähr

Ph.D. Students

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests

Even though coral reef ecosystems are teeming with symbiotic relationships, coral-associated fauna remains a relatively understudied topic. Over the course of her master's degree, Susanne centered her attention on symbiotic crustaceans and their obligate relationships with stony corals by researching the morphology and reproduction of a cryptic coral-dwelling gall crab species associated with corals of the family Pcolloporidae. 

During a scientific dive, she observed red fluorescence in gall crabs for the first time. This sparked her interest in this, especially for marine invertebrates, a poorly understood phenomenon. As a Ph.D. in the Habitat and Benthic Biodiversity Lab, Susanne wants to explore fluorescence in symbiotic crustaceans by choosing research questions that address fundamental and applied aspects of this fascinating new research alley.

Selected Publications

  • Red fluorescence in symbiotic coral-dwelling gall crabs
    S. Bähr, S.E.T. van der Meij
    Galaxea, Journal of Coral Reef Studies, 21(1), 27-28. (2019)

Education

  • M.S.c., Marine Biology, University of Groningen, Groningen, 2020
  • B.S.c., Biology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), 2018

Professional Profile

  • ​2020-Present: Ph.D. student, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
  • 2019-2020 M.S.c. Research Intern (Marine Animal Ecology) at Wageningen University and REEFolution Foundation Kenya in cooperation with Kenyatta University, Kenya.
  • 2014: Intern at Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire

Awards

  • 1st place in the underwater photography contest of the EVOLMAR conference 2020. 
  • 2nd place in the underwater photography competition of the GERMAN diving magazine TAUCHEN.

KAUST Affiliations

  • Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
  • Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division (BESE)

Research Interests Keywords

Corals Coral symbiosis Crustaceans Fluorescence Biodiversity