Tropical and subtropical coral reefs will increasingly experience bleaching and substantial declines in productivity, calcification and survival within the next two decades under low and intermediate greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

Ocean noise is increasing in prevalence and scale from human sources such as cargo shipping, seismic blasting, active sonar, pile driving and fishing vessels. The extent to which it is changing the character of the ocean soundscape and impacting marine life and their habitats is a largely understudied and unaddressed area. A multi-institutional meta-study published in Science, in February 2021, "The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean", documents the adverse effects of this sonic footprint, and presents a path toward solutions in a context of ocean health and sustainable ocean economies.

Prof. Duarte's paper entitled "The soundscape of the Anthropocene ocean" was included in the 5 most popular scientific papers of February 2021 in the Nature Index journals.

Extreme E has expanded its Scientific Committee with the appointment of KAUST Distinguished Professor of Marine Science Carlos Duarte, one of the world's leading minds on marine ecosystems. His appointment comes in advance of Extreme E's opening race in Saudi Arabia as the series strengthens its commitment to raise awareness for the climate issues facing the locations in which it races.

When most of the world went into lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19, ecologists realized that these tragic circumstances presented a unique opportunity to study how the presence, or absence, of humans affects biodiversity. The freedom to travel and transport goods by land, air or sea has underpinned social and economic progress yet has been costly to the natural world, destroying habitats and contributing to climate change. In April 2020, an estimated 4.4 billion people experienced a full or partial national lockdown, compelled to severely limit their movements. And the natural world expanded its reach.

Humans have altered the ocean soundscape by drowning out natural noises relied upon by many marine animals, from shrimp to sharks. Sound travels fast and far in water, and sea creatures use sound to communicate, navigate, hunt, hide and mate. Since the industrial revolution, humans have introduced their own underwater cacophony from shipping vessels, seismic surveys searching for oil and gas, sonar mapping of the ocean floor, coastal construction and wind farms. Global warming could further alter the ocean soundscape as the melting Arctic opens up more shipping routes and wind and rainfall patterns change.

“Conserving the world's oceans and coastal ecosystems is a no-regrets strategy posing huge benefits for people and planet,” explains Carlos Duarte, KAUST’s leading marine ecologist. For three decades, Duarte has led research into “blue carbon” ecosystems that can help both mitigation and adaptation to climate change and that include coasts, sandy beaches, mangroves, kelp forests, salt marshes and seagrasses.

High levels of dissolved calcium carbonate present in their bedrock indicate that Red Sea mangroves are capable of removing more carbon than previously thought, KAUST researchers have found. The study's findings highlight the need to consider calcium carbonate dissolution in mangroves growing on carbonate platforms as an important carbon storage mechanism.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Carlos M. Duarte as a KAUST Distinguished Professor effective December 1, 2020.

A paper detailing the marine spatial planning simulation that informed master planning of The Red Sea Project, the world's most ambitious tourism development, was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science.

Following a call by President Tony Chan for KAUST PIs to contribute through their research capabilities to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic, efforts coordinated by Donal Bradley, KAUST vice president for research, and Pierre Magistretti, KAUST dean of the Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering division, mobilized a group of faculty to form the Rapid Research Response Team (R3T).

“There is no silver bullet for solving climate change—there’s no single solution that is going to meet the targets laid out by the Paris Agreement. So we need to stack a number of solutions. And each of them will have a contribution toward the goal,” says Professor Carlos Duarte.

An international study recently published in the journal Nature that was led by KAUST Professors of Marine Science Carlos Duarte and Susana Agustí lays out the roadmap of actions required for the planet's marine life to recover to full abundance by 2050.

The project brings together the world's leading marine scientists working across four continents, in 10 countries and from 16 universities, including KAUST, Aarhus University, MIT, Colorado State University, Boston University, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Sorbonne Université, James Cook University, The University of Queensland, Dalhousie University and the University of York.

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.

On February 4, the University announced that Carlos M. Duarte, KAUST professor of marine science and the Tarek Ahmed Juffali research chair in Red Sea ecology, received a Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Ecology and Conservation Biology from BBVA Foundation in Spain.

Giant clams take up a large fraction of marine microplastics, which could help explain the mystery of the plastic that is "missing" from the Red Sea. Researchers at the Red Sea Research Center have shown previously that the Red Sea has relatively low amounts of floating plastic debris in its surface waters, yet the reason for this has remained elusive.

Prof. Carlos M. Duarte has been awarded the 2019 Premi Ramon Margalef d’Ecologia. The jury of this award, the most important given by the Generalitat of Catalonia together with the Premi Internacional Catalunya, has decided that the prize goes to this oceanographer, born in Portugal but of Spanish nationality, for his discoveries and scientific advances.

An international team of over 150 scientists from 26 countries have collated movement data from nearly 2,000 sharks tracked with satellite transmitter tags. The groundbreaking study, published in the journal Nature reports, revealed that even the remotest parts of the ocean appear to offer highly migratory sharks little refuge from industrialised fishing fleets. The researchers, part of the marine megafauna movement, brought together by Carlos Duarte, Professor of Marine Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) mapped shark positions and revealed 'hotspots' of space use in unprecedented detail.

Mangrove forests on the coasts of Saudi Arabia act as litter traps, accumulating plastic debris from the marine environment, according to new research from KAUST. The study offers an explanation for the fate of missing marine plastic litter and highlights the threat it poses to coastal ecosystems.

CONVENOR: Prof. Carlos Duarte
CO-CONVENOR: Mr. Francis Juanes
DATE: January 30, 2019
TIME: 3 pm – 5 pm
LOCATION: Auditorium (level 0) between Buildings 2 & 3