CORAL REEFS OF ARABIA: NEW INSIGHTS & OPPORTUNITIES ON OUR REGIONAL REEFS New York University Abu Dhabi Conference Center, Saadiyat Island Campus 15th-17th February 2015 SUNDAY 15TH FEBRUARY|DAY 1 9:00 – 9:15 Coffee & Registration 9:15 – 9:30 Opening & Welcoming Remarks - Dr John Burt, NYU Abu Dhabi 9:30 Keynote: What Arabian coral reefs can teach us about the past, the future, and the management of the world’s coral reefs Bernard Riegl, Nova Southeastern University, US 10:00 Coral reefs of the Western Indian Ocean: Regional patterns in thermal stress and vulnerability Mebrahtu Ateweberhan, University of Warwick Ateweberhan, M., McClanahan, T.R., Maina, J., Sheppard, C.R.C. 10:15 Assisted migration of heat tolerant corals – a way out of the coral reef crisis? Joerg Wiedenmann, Coral Reef Laboratory, University of Southampton Wiedenmann, J., D’Angelo, C., Hume, B.C., Smith, E.G., Stevens, J.R., Burt, J.A. 10:30 Adaptation of corals to extreme temperatures: An Arabian Gulf case study Emily Howells, NYU Abu Dhabi Howells, E., Abrego, D., Burt, J.A. 10:45 Differences in heat and salinity tolerances in Corals from the Arabian Gulf Eli Meyer, Oregon State University Kirk, N.L, Howells, E.J., Abrego, D., Burt, J.A., Meyer, E. 11:00 – 11:30 Break 11:30 Population structure of the coral Platygyra daedalea in the world’s warmest reefs Ed Smith, NYU Abu Dhabi Smith, E.G., Hazzouri, K., Meyer, E., Burt, J. 11:45 Gene expression underlying the heat stress tolerance of Porites lobata from the Persian/Arabian Gulf Cecelia D'Angelo, Coral Reef Laboratory, University of Southampton D’Angelo, C., Baumgarten, S., Voolstra, C.R., Burt, J.A., Wiedenmann, J. 12:00 The genome of the Red Sea coral Stylophora pistillata Manuel Aranda Lastra, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Li, Y., Liew, Y.J., Baumgarten, S., Simakov, O., Zoccola, D., Tambuttee, S., Allemand, D., Aranda, M., Voolstra, C.R. 12:15 Molecular diversity of reef-building coral symbionts around the Arabian Peninsula Christian Voolstra, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Arif, C., Roder, C.M., LaJeunesse, T., Dobretsov, S., Burt, J., Voolstra, C.R. 13:30 Extensive phenotypic plasticity of Red Sea coral suggests limited acclimatization potential to warming Yvonne Sawall, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel Sawall, Y., Al-Sofyani, A., Banguera-Hinestroza E., Voolstra, C. R. 13:45 Host-Symbiodinium groupings provide a window into phenotypic plasticity of scleractinian corals Maren Ziegler, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Ziegler, M., Roder, C., Büchel, C., Voolstra, C.R. 14:00 Are coral species in Iranian coastline tend to be symbiont with clade C Symbiodinium? Pargol Ghavam Mostafavi, Marine Biology Dept, Islamic Azad University Ghavam Mostafavi, P. 14:15 Phylogeny and genetic variation of Symbiodinium in two scleractinian corals Porites compressa Dana, 1846 and Cyphastrea microphthalma (Lamark, 1816) in the northern Persian Gulf Tooba Varaste, Shahid Beheshti University Varaste, T.; Shokri, M.R.; Rajabi, H. 14:30 Coral-Symbiodinium associations during early ontogeny in Arabian Gulf and Indian Ocean Corals. David Abrego, Zayed University Abu Dhabi Abrego, D., Howells, E.J., Burt, J.A. 14:45 – 15:45 POSTER PRESENTATIONS / BREAK & REFRESHMENTS 15:45 A new, thermotolerant symbiotic alga species prevalent in corals of the world’s hottest sea, the Persian/Arabian Gulf Ben Hume, Coral Reef Laboratory, University of Southampton Hume, B.C., D’Angelo C, Smith, E.G., Stevens, J.R., Burt, J.A., Wiedenmann, J 16:00 Salinity effects on a coral holobiont (Fungia granulosa) from the Red Sea Till Roethig, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Röthig, T., van der Merwe, R.,Ochsenkühn, M.A., Roik, A., Voolstra, C.R. 16:15 The role of nitrogen cycling in holobiont functioning of Red Sea corals Nils Rädecker, Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) Rädecker, N., Pogoreutz, C., Voolstra, C.R., Wild, C. 16:30 Coral holobiont response to organic nutrient enrichment in the Central Red Sea Claudia Pogoreutz, Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) Pogoreutz, C., Rädecker, N., Voolstra, C.R., Wild, W. 16:45 Viruses of the world's hottest sea corals Huda Mahmoud, Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT)