Title: Tomas - "Light gradients, biodiversity patterns and the coral reef crisis: how do they link?"

Kelly - "Photoacclimation and the success of symbiotic corals in building reefs"

Abstract: Tomas - "I will present some results from two chapters of my PhD research project, translated into two recently submitted manuscripts. By means of a mechanistic model, I will explore the ecological implications of the photosynthetic energy dependence in symbiotic corals, analyzing the influence of the changes in the fractional contribution of the photosynthetically fixed energy by the symbiotic algae to their hosts on coral species richness variation across depths. I will also describe the physiological and ecological consequences of the water optical properties degradation (i.e., increase in turbidity), a common phenomenon in coastal waters globally, on reef corals from a coastal reef in Colombia."