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SUMMARY:CLIMACT Seminar Series - Anders Meibom & Oliver Selmoni
DTSTART:20220411T120000
DTEND:20220411T131500
DTSTAMP:20260916T054954Z
UID:aeb083e38daaa7188b73ec95fbeb327d87c3b31ea36b393eeb13be7f
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:The CLIMACT seminar series “How to move forward and act on c
 limate change” is an interactive online event. It takes place twice a mo
 nth\, every second Monday during your lunch break\, with two new speakers.
  Each episode aims to strengthen the dialogue and collaboration between ke
 y UNIL and EPFL scientists\, swiss politicians\, entrepreneurs and various
  actors from the civil society\, through collective reflection. A wide ran
 ge of climate change-related topics will be discussed\, integrating perspe
 ctives from all sectors and academic disciplines in order to generate new 
 leads and initiatives towards systemic solutions. Participants are welcome
  to take part in the discussion in English or French.\n \n\nThe unique co
 rals of the Red Sea and the Transnational Red Sea Center\n\n\n\nPresented 
 by Anders Meibom I Professor at the Laboratory for Biological Geochemist
 ry\, EPFL and Professor ad personam at the Institute of Earth Sciences\, U
 niversity of Lausanne\n \n\n\n\nA recent scientific breakthrough shows th
 at Red Sea corals are unique in the world in their capability to resist gl
 obal warming beyond this century. Despite this resilience\, local sources 
 of pollution may easily destroy these reefs without an effective\, regiona
 l-scale protection strategy\, and we would lose the last refuge of corals 
 on Earth.\nIn March 2019\, the EPFL-based Transnational Red Sea Center was
  established during an event organized by the Swiss Foreign Ministry in th
 e presence of Foreign Minister Mr. Ignazio Cassis and EPFL President Marti
 n Vetterli. The Transnational Red Sea Center is a politically and cultural
 ly neutral scientific organization working to establish regional scale sci
 entific studies of the coral reef ecosystems in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aq
 aba and transform cutting-edge science into environmental protection throu
 gh regional collaboration across the broad cultural\, religious\, and poli
 tical spectrum of the Red Sea region.\n \n\nInnovating coral reef conserv
 ation with the power of environmental genomics\n\n\n\nPresented by Oliver 
 Selmoni I Postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Geographic Informa
 tion Systems (LASIG) I EPFL\n \n\n\n\nCoral reefs are the most biodiverse
  ecosystem in the oceans\, providing shelter to up to one-quarter of all m
 arine species. Over the past decades\, anomalous heat waves have caused a 
 dramatic decline of corals and now threaten the future of reefs worldwide.
  Despite the catastrophic perspectives\, hope remains: some corals\, persi
 sting at reefs exposed to natural thermal stresses\, have developed geneti
 c characteristics greatly enhancing their heat tolerance. These corals\, w
 hile rare\, will be the key for the future survival of the reef ecosystem.
 \nIn collaboration with French Institute of Research for Development\, we 
 developed a framework at the intersection of environmental and genomics an
 alyses to find such heat-adapted corals. Working alongside with coral reef
  stakeholders from developing countries\, our aim is now to transpose our 
 research findings in practical conservation actions. For instance\, marine
  protected areas could be established at reefs acting as source of heat ad
 apted corals\; and underwater coral gardens could be used to propagate hea
 t-adapted corals for future restoration of damaged reefs.\n\n\n
LOCATION:https://epfl.zoom.us/j/63821341998
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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