Red Sea coral reefs: A Pleistocene-Recent comparison

A modern reef in Mobayeed, Sudan

The project team with collaboration partner Abbas Mansour during field work in Marsa Alam, Egypt

A fossil reef in the region of Sharm el Bahari, Egypt

A crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster) on an offshore reef in Mayteb, Sudan

Prof. Martin Zuschin, Dr. Andreas Kroh and our Egyptian cooperation partners during our second field trip to Egypt

A close-up of a living Galaxea fascicularis

A fossil reef in Sharm El Luli, Egypt

A living Tridacna in the modern reef

Angelina Ivkic and Andreas Kroh working in the fossil reef

A Millepora (fire coral) in the modern reef

The project team during field work in Marsa Alam, Egypt

A modern reef in Shaab Rumi, Sudan

Prof. Martin Zuschin in front of a fossil reef in Egypt

Dr. Andreas Kroh with one of the Egyptian fossil reefs

WHY?

We study latitudinal community changes between fossil coral reefs from the last interglacial (MIS5e; approx. 125,000 years ago) and modern coral reefs in the Red Sea. This will yield important insights into ecosystem stability and biogeographic shifts, and will be a major step forward in understanding the responses of coral reefs to global warming.

WHERE?

HOW?

Line intercept transects of a total length of 100 meters in fossil and modern reefs
Comparison of corals and associated molluscan fauna
Additional photoquadrats in coral reefs
Sediment cores in modern reefs to reconstruct historical ecology
Species distribution modelling

Fossil Porites colony from late Pleistocene (MIS5e) reef at Marsa Alam

Modern Porites colony from the northern Red Sea