Next-generation solar cells made from organic materials could soon contribute to real-world renewable energy generation, suggests an outdoor stress test conducted under intense Saudi Arabian sunlight. The long-term study showed that certain organic light-capturing materials are surprisingly resilient to light-induced ‘photodegradation’ and revealed new ways to further optimize the cells’ longevity in realistic conditions^[1].

Lightweight, semi-transparent and flexible, organic solar cells (OSCs) could potentially be used in a range of situations where conventional silicon solar panels would be too heavy, rigid or opaque to be deployed. “Recently, OSCs’ solar power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) have improved rapidly, surpassing 20 percent in laboratory settings,” says Han Xu, a postdoc in the KAUST lab of Derya Baran, who led the research with then postdoc Jianhua Han. “However, there has been much less focus on improving long-term stability of OSCs, which remains a major bottleneck hindering commercial viability,” he says.

The performance of an OSC can decline precipitously when exposed to the heat, light and moisture of outdoor environments; this occurs via degradation pathways that are poorly understood. “To bridge this knowledge gap, we systematically investigated the degradation behavior of various OSCs under light, thermal stress, and outdoor conditions,” Xu says.

The researchers focused on a component of the OSC’s light-harvesting core called the polymer donor. These materials’ photodegradation pathways have rarely been studied, despite their crucial role in OSC light absorption, charge generation and transport.

The team made a series of OSCs incorporating different polymer donors and studied the impact of factors such as polymer molecular structure on OSC longevity.

The weak spot of the polymer donors’ key photodegradation, it turned out, was the side chains that branch from the polymers’ central molecular backbone. The team showed that light could knock a hydrogen atom from a side chain or break off a side chain entirely, initiating cascading damage. “This can result in by-products such as cleaved side chains, radicals, twisted polymer backbones, and cross-linked structures,” Xu says.

Some side chains, however, were far less susceptible to this form of light-driven damage than others, the team showed. “In our study, OSCs incorporating the polymer donor PCE10, which features robust side chains, achieved 91 percent of retained PCE even after seven months of outdoor stability testing,” Xu says.

“Also notable is that some OSCs can survive harsh environmental conditions over a long period of time,” Baran says. PCE10’s class-leading stability was a surprise, she adds, because previous results have shown that PCE10 is photo-unstable in air. For their outdoor testing, the team encapsulated their OSCs to exclude air and moisture from the device. Under these conditions, PCE10 proved to be remarkably resilient to degradation — despite experiencing intense sunlight and peak temperatures of over 65 degrees Celsius.

The study highlights that OSCs should be optimized not only for their initial power conversion efficiency, but also for how well that efficiency is maintained over time in outdoor environments, Baran says.

Based on their findings, the team’s next step will be to test a new set of OSCs, trialing them under various conditions that solar cells might be exposed to in different outdoor environments around the world.

By uniting different forms of the same semiconductor material, KAUST researchers have created a self-powered device that detects ultraviolet light^[1]. The key part of the device is known as a phase heterojunction (PHJ), an arrangement that could open up a host of new electronics applications.

The atoms within a crystalline semiconductor can be arranged in various patterns known as polymorphic phases. Each phase offers distinct properties, such as the light wavelength it absorbs. The new device uses two phases of gallium oxide (Ga₂O₃), a stable and relatively inexpensive material that absorbs deep in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum.

Electronic devices often contain adjacent layers of two semiconductor materials. But marrying two phases of the same semiconductor to create a PHJ offers several advantages over the traditional approach, explains team member Yi Lu.

For instance, PHJs can avoid absorbing unwanted wavelengths of light, and they tend to create a strong electric field at the interface between the phases, which could significantly enhance the performance of devices including solar cells, transistors and photodetectors. “Growing and integrating polymorphic phases of the same material is also more straightforward and economical than combining dissimilar materials, but it is difficult to maintain a high-quality interface” says Lu.

The researchers used a method called epitaxy to prepare their PHJ. This involves firing a laser at a target to generate a stream of atoms that subsequently assemble on a substrate.

First, they grew gallium oxide’s orthorhombic phase (κ-Ga₂O₃) on a sapphire substrate. They used high vacuum conditions, and included some tin in the target, which helped to generate the desired phase. On top of that, they formed a layer of the monoclinic phase (β-Ga₂O₃), using oxygen-rich conditions to ensure the correct crystal structure.

“The main contribution of this work is the first demonstration of a phase heterojunction with a clear, atomically-sharp, and well-defined interface,” says Xiaohang Li, who led the team.

When ultraviolet light hits this PHJ, it excites electrons into a higher energy band, leaving positively-charge ‘holes’ behind in a lower-energy band. Crucially, each of these energy bands differs slightly between the two phases, which creates an electric field at the interface between the layers. This helps to quickly and efficiently separate the electrons and holes, generating a current without having to apply an external voltage — meaning the device is self-powered.

“Researchers have previously tried to demonstrate this PHJ,” says Ph.D. student and team member Patsy A. Miranda Cortez.“However, they just formed randomly distributed mixed phases, which may not be suitable for semiconductor device mass production.”

The PHJ created a current roughly 1000 times greater than similar devices that contained only a single phase of gallium oxide, and it did so much more quickly. Consequently, it could produce a much stronger detection signal in response to very weak deep ultraviolet light.

The team now plans to combine other phases of gallium oxide, and apply their PHJs to areas such as advanced imaging, energy-efficient photonics, and power electronics.

Engineered photosynthetic algae could be used within sunlight-powered sustainable chemical biofactories using a new circular production process developed at KAUST^[1]. The scalable process uses bespoke functionalized microparticles — rather than flammable organic solvents — for the critical step of harvesting the valuable chemicals that the algae produce. The microparticles are robust, reusable, and can be tailored to capture a range of chemical products.

Algae, whose metabolism has been reprogrammed to biosynthesize target chemicals in high volume, could offer a green and sustainable way to make essential products. “Our lab has several metabolically engineered algal strains that produce chemicals called terpenoids. These have potential applications ranging from cosmetics ingredients to biofuels,” says Sebastian Overmans, a postdoc in the lab of Kyle Lauersen, who led the research.

Overmans explains that upscaling the process has been hampered by challenges with extracting the chemicals from the watery fluid that the algae are grown in. “Traditionally, the terpenoids are extracted using a layer of alkane solvent on top of the algal culture,” he says. As the algae circulate in the medium, the chemicals that they generate can dissolve into the solvent layer, where they can be collected.

Other challenges limit the scalability of this process. Firstly, the solvents can be toxic and flammable.

Secondly, as air and carbon dioxide are bubbled through the reactor to support algal growth, the solvent layer can mix into the culture layer. “This mixing causes foam formation and emulsions, which limit productivity and hamper extraction,” Lauersen says.

A cross-campus collaboration with Himanshu Mishra and his team at KAUST could finally have solved the problem. “They recommended that we chemically link the solvent onto the surface of low-cost silica particles to create particles that capture our target terpenoids like a solvent but are physically easier to work with,” Lauersen adds.

The new particles work harmoniously with the gas stream bubbled up through the reactor. “When we tested this method in commercial hanging-bag reactors, we confirmed that the uplift of the air-CO₂ gas mix is sufficient to keep the particles suspended,” Overmans explains. “Once we stop the bubbling, the microparticles settle quickly, which makes them easy to separate from the algal culture for product recovery.”

The valuable chemicals captured in the particles’ solvent coating can be collected by washing them with a small volume of ethanol. “The efficiency of the particles’ extraction varied depending on the compound that we were trying to extract from the algae — but even in cases where the microparticles extracted less well than traditional solvents, the advantages of our method far outweighed the slightly lower performance,” Overmans says.

The team is currently optimizing parameters such as the mixing rate and particle separation procedure, which could further improve efficiency.

“Also, one distinct advantage is that the microparticles can be tailored with coatings optimized for different compounds of interest,” Overmans concludes. “The next step is to show that the technology can be upscaled further before benchmarking its performance in real-world bioproduction.”

A simple new design for a passive wireless strain sensor offers unprecedented sensitivity while being thin enough to be embedded within structures without causing defects^[1]. With further development, the KAUST team expects that the chipless design could be adapted to make sensors that respond to other stimuli, such as the temperature or chemical environment.

The design combines several existing technologies into a very efficient package. “The advantage in terms of sensitivity comes from merging different physics for two different responses from two materials,” explains Hassan Mahmoud, a doctoral researcher in the team of Gilles Lubineau, who led the study.

The sensor is printed with inks that change their electrical resistance in response to strain. The ink is printed in such a way as to create a circuit with capacitive domains, enabling the sensor to be activated wirelessly by a specific frequency. The circuit is designed to make the activation frequency very sensitive to stimulation, so it reflects the amount of strain the sensor is under.

Manufacturing the new sensor should be quick and easy. “Our mechanism uses simple available materials and techniques, so it is suitable and scalable for use by industry,” says Mahmoud.

The design might have to be adjusted depending on the use case, but Mahmoud does not expect that to be challenging. “The R&D is done, so it is just about customizing it to be suitable to the application, like using a substrate that’s right for wearables or that can withstand the high temperatures in structural manufacturing,” he explains.

Mahmoud, a mechanical engineer, explains that the sensor was developed in response to engineers’ needs. “We have lots of challenges when it comes to inspecting or monitoring structures during operations, especially with composite materials, which are very sensitive to having sensors embedded,” he says. But the new sensor is thin enough that it could even be used in composites.

He sees a wide range of potential applications for the new sensor. “It can be used in industrial applications, such as aerospace structures, oil and gas rigs, and many other structures that need real-time monitoring, like bridges. The technology can also be used for wearables, for example, to monitor the movement of muscles in sports or to track relevant health indicators,” he says.

Lubineau outlines how further work will open even more applications. “With additional research, we can tune the architecture that we invented to design sensors for other types of stimuli, like the chemical environment. We can build a full portfolio of sensors using the same physical principles,” he explains.

Marine and coastal plant-based ecosystems, including mangroves, seagrass meadows and macroalgae (seaweeds), play a significant role in capturing and storing atmospheric carbon. Understanding these blue carbon resources is increasingly important in tackling climate change, so KAUST researchers are finding out more about the understudied realm of the Red Sea’s macroalgae species^[1].

“Not many people will think of seaweed as a versatile tool. But alongside sequestering carbon, certain macroalgae species hold potential for bioremediation, helping restore polluted coastal areas and improve overall ecosystem health,” says Chunzhi Cai, former Ph.D. student at KAUST. “Some species are excellent at filtering out metal contaminants, for example, while others can help prevent eutrophication and algal blooms.”

For Saudi Arabia, where oil refineries and industrial activity contribute significantly to emissions, understanding the health and the role of macroalgae is particularly relevant. Alongside its carbon-sequestration capabilities, macroalgae are often used as ingredients in food, pharmaceutical and beauty products. Hence, a comprehensive analysis of nutrients and pollutants is critical to safeguard human health. 

Cai collaborated with colleagues, under the supervision of KAUST faculty Susana Agusti and Carlos M. Duarte, to conduct a comprehensive analysis of 161 macroalgae samples collected from 45 sites along the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast. They determined the concentrations of 22 chemical elements, including nutrients and heavy metals, in the 19 different species of macroalgae sampled.

Their results revealed high levels of potassium, sodium and sulphur in many species, which can be attributed to the Red Sea’s unique high salinity, low rainfall rates and high evaporation levels.

There were significant differences in nutrient and trace metal levels depending on the location and habitats the macroalgae came from. For example, sediments can trap pollutants such as metals, resulting in macroalgae harvested from coastal seagrass meadows exhibiting higher metal accumulation compared to those from coral reefs, where sediment is limited or absent. Macroalgae in the southern Red Sea showed higher levels of total organic carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and cadmium compared to those in northern locations.

“This trend is influenced by nutrient inflows from the Indian Ocean and the unique semi-enclosed nature of the Red Sea,” says Cai. “Crucially, we also showed that as macroalgae absorb more heavy metals, their ability to store carbon is potentially reduced.”

The macroalgae Amphiroa fragilissima, Padina sp. and Udotea flabellum had the highest trace metal contents of all samples taken. A. fragilissima shows considerable potential as a bio-remediator, given its ability to absorb large amounts of metals like chromium.

The team also identified the Red Sea’s Halymenia species as particularly nutritious, providing a vital food source for marine creatures. Halymenia may also be suitable for human consumption. Another macroalgae species with high potassium content may be useful for agricultural fertilizers.

However, the researchers also uncovered worrying contamination trends in certain locations. Samples collected near several Saudi coastal towns exhibited chromium and nickel levels that exceeded toxicity thresholds.

“Given that the Red Sea is a shared environment, regional collaboration is crucial to safeguard marine ecosystems,” concludes Agusti. “All Red Sea nations need to establish coordinated pollution management strategies. Regional initiatives could include joint monitoring programs, data sharing and the development of common regulations for protecting and utilizing these valuable ecosystems.”

A biogas purification system that is compact, efficient and cost effective could help to turn organic waste into valuable streams of methane and carbon dioxide at small scales.

Biogas is a renewable energy source, produced using microbes that break down sewage sludge, agricultural residues or food waste. Biogas is roughly 50% to 70% methane — which can replace natural gas used for cooking, heating, or generating electricity — while the remainder is mostly carbon dioxide.

A method called pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is used to separate these gases, by passing high-pressure biogas over a porous adsorbent material in a separation column. The adsorbent selectively traps carbon dioxide from the mixture, leaving relatively pure methane. Once this methane has been piped away, the pressure is lowered so that the adsorbent releases its carbon dioxide in a stream of ‘tail gas’. Several separation columns can be connected together to improve the purity of each gas stream over multiple adsorption cycles.

However, tail gas often contains traces of methane, which has up to 30 times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide. This mixture is typically released into the atmosphere, where it contributes to climate change.

Carlos Grande at KAUST, along with his Ph.D. student, Saravanakumar Ganesan, and research scientist, Rafael Canevesi, aimed to design a PSA system that could economically upgrade biogas into purer product streams, even when operating at small scales^[1]. This would not only avoid methane emissions in the tail gas, but also deliver carbon dioxide that is sufficiently pure for industrial use, so that it is not merely vented.

“If small units could be made affordable, they could be implemented in farms or small communities, extending the capabilities of producing biomethane as a renewable fuel,” says Grande. “Our studies in this field are targeted to make a profitable case for farm-scale implementation of biogas upgrading while also being environmentally responsible.”

The team simulated different PSA configurations that used a commercially-available carbon molecular sieve as the adsorbent, and found that a dual-stage PSA was the most successful¹. In the first stage, four columns produce a high-purity stream of carbon dioxide. Methane-rich gas from this stage is then piped into the second stage, which uses two columns to maximize the methane’s purity. Tail gas from the second stage is recycled back into the first stage, giving any stray methane another opportunity to be extracted.

Then the researchers refined their design, by using industrial balloons to manage the flow of gases through the system. This enabled a simpler PSA configuration with only two columns that achieved more than 97 percent methane purity, and carbon dioxide purity over 99.5 percent — enough to satisfy the most stringent legislation in this area, Grande says. This system also had a lower energy demand than previous designs, and would be cheaper to set up^[2].

“The next stage is to reduce the cost by 30 percent in small units,” says Grande. “We can also tailor the PSA units to different biogas sources, adapting the technology to treat different streams available in Saudi Arabia.”

Many plants have developed adaptations to environmental extremes such as drought and high salinity. Plant resilience can enhance the vast community of associated microorganisms, collectively known as the plant microbiome. Among these beneficial bacteria, members of the Pseudomonas genus are known for their plant-growth-promoting properties.

Two strains of the Pseudomonas species, known as E102 and E141, have been the subject of a study to examine how these bacteria interact with plants to promote growth under stress by a team of researchers led by KAUST’s Ramona Marasco, Ikram Blilou and Daniele Daffonchio^[1]. The effects of these strains, which were isolated from date palm roots, have been shown to promote drought tolerance and resistance to salinity in date palms and other plants.

Using Arabidopsis as a host plant, the researchers found the presence of the bacteria caused increased root hair elongation and lateral root formation. Under normal conditions, these changes did not result in an increase in root and shoot biomass. However, during mild and severe salt stress, the bacteria were able to promote and protect plant growth. Shoot and root biomass increased significantly after exposure to increasing concentrations of bacterial cells. The stress-dependent effect of these plant-growth-promoting bacteria was also confirmed in lettuce plants grown under severe salt stress.

“This effect significantly increases with the concentration of bacteria used to treat the plant,” says Marasco.

“The changes we observed suggest that the bacteria are improving plant resistance under abiotic stress by increasing the effective root surface available for water and nutrient uptake. These changes give plants an adaptive advantage under stress conditions such as salinity,” she says.

The auxin effect

Many aspects of plant growth and development, including root hair elongation and lateral root development, are triggered and regulated by plant hormones known as auxins, the best known of which is indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). IAA plays a critical role in plant growth and development, regulating key processes such as cell elongation, division and differentiation — essential for controlling and modulating root development and architecture.

Many Pseudomonas strains have an ability to produce phytohormone-like molecules, such as IAA. Although their beneficial effects have often been linked to their IAA production, it remained unclear how the bacteria influence auxin signaling and transport and how these changes further contribute to plant growth.

This study showed that the effectiveness of the bacteria in changing root architecture depends on a functional auxin signaling pathway.

“While Arabidopsis mutants defective in the auxin signaling pathway are unable to develop root hairs when exposed to our bacteria, in wild-type plants, the IAA produced by the bacteria can interfere with the plant’s own IAA production,” Blilou explains.

“This interference enhances the activation of the plant-auxin responsive promoter (DR5), leading to alterations in the root system architecture that we observed. These effects are further facilitated by changes in IAA transport, which promote a more rapid redistribution and circulation of the hormone,” she says.

The findings provide a model illustrating how Pseudomonas bacteria can influence root development to promote growth and enhance the adaptation of plants under salinity stress.

“The modifications depend on the plant’s auxin machinery and confer an adaptive advantage to the plant, exclusively under stress conditions, such as mild and severe salinity,” says Daffonchio.

“The results help explain the responses of plants treated with plant-growth-promoting bacteria. In future, these microorganisms could be important in mitigating the negative effects of climate change in agriculture,” he observes.

Advanced carbon fiber materials could be used in applications from wind turbine blades to biomedical implants following the development of a low-cost carbon fiber feedstock.

The carbon fibers were spun from synergistic blends of the low-value heavy oils left over from crude oil refining by members of KAUST’s Clean Energy Research Platform^[1]. The work could not only facilitate broader carbon fiber uptake but also create sustainable new uses for residual oils as the world transitions to alternative energy systems.

“Crude oil is a resource with immense potential beyond fuels,” says Edwin Guevara Romero, a researcher in the labs of Mani Sarathy, who led the work. “Using oil residues as feedstocks for carbon materials is an innovative, high-value application of oil-derived resources, paving the way for economic diversification,” he says.

Carbon fiber is in increasing demand across many industries due to its exceptional properties, including high mechanical strength and durability, low weight, thermal stability, and electrical conductivity. One limiting factor is its high cost, which can largely be attributed to the expensive carbon precursor, polyacrylonitrile (PAN), used to make it.

PAN’s high cost has prompted a search for alternative feedstocks. “Oil residues could offer a cost-effective and abundant alternative,” Guevara says. For their research, the team targeted the heaviest, most complex – and traditionally, hardest to process – components of residual oil, called asphaltenes and resins.

Previously, asphaltenes have been trialed as carbon fiber feedstocks. However, efforts to spin these materials into fibers were limited by their tendency to break, and the carbon fiber yield from the final carbonization heat treatment step was relatively low.

“Previous studies of oil residues have suggested that resins stabilize asphaltene molecules, highlighting their strong molecular affinity,” Guevara says. “This led us to hypothesize that blending asphaltenes with resins could create a synergistic feedstock for carbon fiber production.”

The team showed that the blend offered several advantages over asphaltenes alone as carbon fiber feedstocks. It had better flow characteristics and could be spun at a lower temperature, reducing energy consumption. The team also observed fewer strand breakages during spinning and attained a higher yield after the carbonization step. “This improves the viability of the process by maximizing the conversion of the precursor material into the final carbon fiber product,” Guevara says.

The resulting carbon fibers were also of high quality. “The properties of our fibers are comparable to those of ‘isotropic carbon fibers’, which are commonly used in applications requiring moderate-to-high mechanical performance,” Guevara says.

“Traditionally, oil residues have been used in very low-value applications such as road surfacing. By extracting the heaviest asphaltenes and resins for high-value carbon fiber manufacturing, the remaining residual oils can also be more easily processed to produce cleaner fuels or valuable small molecules, further improving the economics of the process,” Sarathy adds.

The researchers are now fine-tuning the residual oil blend to maximize the chemical interaction between the components to improve the fibers’ physical attributes further. They are also collaborating with Saudi Aramco to scale up the process. “Our primary objective is to generate high-performance carbon fibers and then scale towards an industrial process,” Sarathy says. “This will give Saudi Arabia a unique, economically competitive product that can be marketed globally.”

Imagine editing a manuscript, only to find random paragraphs from other books slipping into the text. That is the risk revealed in a new study of the celebrated genome-editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9: various unintended snippets of DNA sometimes get inserted in the edited region where they do not belong.

KAUST scientists uncovered this side effect in a detailed analysis of human embryonic stem cells edited with different types of donor DNA, whereby helper sequences provide a template for fixing the genome during the CRISPR process. They found that the genome editing platform, while efficient in cutting DNA, can sometimes leave behind large fragments of genetic material that were not part of the plan^[1].

These stray pieces of DNA included repetitive sequences, regulatory elements and chunks from other parts of the genome. Though relatively rare — occurring in less than 1% of all edited cells — these large insertions could have significant consequences, especially in medical applications where accuracy is critical.

“This unexpected finding highlights the complexity of Cas9-editing outcomes,” says KAUST bioscientist Mo Li, who led the study.

Unlike large deletions, which typically result in the loss of gene functions, large insertions can lead to more complex and unpredictable genetic disruptions, including the activation of cellular pathways linked to cancer and other diseases. “While we cannot directly link these insertions to cancer risk yet, the presence of such sequences raises significant safety concerns for clinical applications,” Li says.

Li and his colleagues discovered that the type of donor DNA used plays a significant role in these outcomes. Linear donor DNA, for example, was more prone to causing unintended donor insertions compared to circular templates. The DNA repair process itself, which relies on the cell’s natural machinery, may also introduce these fragments when it mistakenly incorporates surrounding DNA into the repair site.

There is a simple fix. By chemically tweaking the donor DNA template with phosphorylation — a process that adds phosphate groups to the two ends of DNA — the researchers found that the likelihood of unintended large insertions dropped two-fold without compromising the efficiency of the intended edits.

“Phosphorylation of donor DNA is simple, does not alter experimental design or workflow, and reduces the risk of unintended structural variants without affecting gene-editing efficiency,” explains Chongwei Bi, a postdoc researcher in Li’s research group and the first author of the new study. “However, further validation is required in other settings to confirm the clinical impact and scalability of this approach.”

Without sounding alarms, the study authors emphasize the importance of refining CRISPR technology to make it even safer and more reliable — and of using ultra-sensitive DNA sequencing techniques like those developed in Li’s lab to systematically evaluate gene-editing products for rare unintended events.

“Additionally, designing editing strategies that minimize double-strand breaks or using alternative gene-editing tools without DNA breaks could further reduce these risks,” Li says. As gene editing moves into mainstream use, he points out, understanding and managing these subtleties will be crucial.

“During a research trip to Palmyra Atoll, we made a surprising discovery: a whole network of rhodolith beds^[1],” says Lena Li, a recent graduate of KAUST. “No one knew rhodolith beds even existed in the tropical central Pacific.”

Despite years of research, there are still many mysteries to uncover in and around the world’s coral reefs. Rhodolith beds are one example. Scientists have limited understanding of these calcareous nodules made by coralline red algae, which accumulate in shallow seas close to coral reefs. 

Rhodoliths are not fixed to the seabed like corals; rather they accumulate over time into ‘beds’ made up of separate nodules, some of which are living, and others dead. These distinctive, pink-colored aggregations provide a unique, highly diverse habitat for multiple creatures in shallow seas. Rhodolith beds may serve as an indicator of wider reef resilience, because they provide a foundation for reef regeneration following periods of stress. However, scientists know little about how rhodoliths respond to stressors such as warming oceans.

Following their exciting discovery, the team improvised to gather as much data as they could on location.

“Palmyra Atoll is located within the largest marine protected area on Earth,” says Li, who was supervised by faculty member, Maggie Johnson. “It is as close to pristine and untouched as we can get, with no permanent human population and no local stressors. This allows us to get an idea of a baseline, healthy rhodolith ecosystem structure and function, without human activities clouding our view.”

The area where they found the rhodolith beds was quite inaccessible and had not yet been explored thoroughly. The team had to maneuver a small boat through tiny cuts between islands and could only reach the beds when the tides were just right.

“We hadn’t come prepared to study rhodoliths, so we used the equipment we had – namely myself, a pair of fins, a snorkel and a handheld GPS unit on a float,” says Johnson. “I swam around the edges of all the beds and further out to survey their full extent, and took a GPS point every two fin kicks. Exhausting, but worth it!”

The team mapped 15 different rhodolith beds, collectively covering 1.5 hectares. Together with the surrounding coral reefs, the whole ecosystem stretched to around 15 hectares. The beds revealed a distinctive ecosystem from the neighboring coral reef, providing food and shelter for large marine mammals, alongside numerous fish, mollusks, echinoderms and sponges.

The team also found an abundance of cryptic invertebrates there, compared with the surrounding coral rubble.

“Rhodoliths provide many of their ecosystem services because of their structural complexity, which is dependent on both their species and local environmental conditions,” explains Li. “Integrating molecular, morpho-anatomical and environmental data allowed us to understand some of the factors driving their complexity.”

“We also discovered two new rhodolith species,” says Li

The team are now further sequencing their samples in collaboration with researchers in Italy. They have also been working closer to home, examining rhodoliths and encrusting coralline algae in the central Red Sea for the first time.

“Rhodoliths are particularly sensitive to both local and global human impacts, so it is vital that we understand them and establish effective conservation policies to protect them,” concludes Johnson.