Nils Rädecker

PhD Students

Current

Location:

Bldg 2/Lvl 2: 2246- WS13

Biography

I am intrigued by the complexity of responses that can arise by interactions of such simple partners like corals and their symbionts. Thereby, corals offer an opportunity to investigate the underlying mechanisms in biology.
I got my first chance to work with corals during my bachelor thesis at the Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT), Germany. During this time, I studied the effects of ocean acidification on coral holobiont functioning with a special focus on nitrogen fixation processes.
I decided to follow up on these studies during my master thesis, where I looked at the role of nitrogen cycling processes in the stress response of corals to nutrient enrichment. During this project I got the opportunity to visit KAUST for the first time and quickly decided to return for my PhD to this university.

Research Interests

The symbiosis of corals and Symbiodinium has evolved around the exchange of nutrients. In the OMICS-era, however, our simplified understanding of nutrient cycling processes in the coral holobiont is challenged. In particular, the omnipresence of nitrogen cycling procaryotes in coral holobionts raises questions regarding the nutritional regulation of the coral-alga symbiosis. In my Ph.D., I am thus trying to establish a new functional understanding of nutrient cycling processes in the coral holobiont. In this context, I am especially interested in the nutritional and metabolic interactions involved in coral bleaching.

Selected Publications

  • Rädecker, N., Pogoreutz, C., Voolstra, C.R., Wiedenmann, J., and Wild, C. (2015) Nitrogen cycling in corals: the key to understanding holobiont functioning? Trends Microbiol. 23: 490–497.
  • Pogoreutz, C., Rädecker, N., Cárdenas, A., Gärdes, A., Voolstra, C.R., and Wild, C. (2017) Sugar enrichment provides evidence for a role of nitrogen fixation in coral bleaching. Glob. Chang. Biol. 23: 3838–3848.
  • Rädecker, N., Pogoreutz, C., Wild, C., and Voolstra, C.R. (2017) Stimulated respiration and net photosynthesis in Cassiopeia sp. during glucose enrichment suggests in hospite CO2 limitation of algal endosymbionts. Front. Mar. Sci. 4: 267.
  • Rädecker, N., Raina, J.-B., Pernice, M., Perna, G., Guagliardo, P., Kilburn, M.R., et al. (2018) Using Aiptasia as a model to study metabolic interactions in cnidarian-Symbiodinium symbioses. Front. Physiol. 9: 214.

 

Education

  • ​M.Sc., International Studies in Aquatic and Tropical Evology, University of Bremen, Germany, 2013 - 2015
  • Erasmus Student Exchange, University of Southampton, UK, 2012 - 2013
  • B.Sc., Biology, University of Bremen, Germany 2010 - 2013​​

 

Scientific and Professional Membership

  • International Symbiosis Society
  • International Society for Reef Studies
  • Mideast Coral Reef Society

 

Awards

  • ​​​MARUM Research Award for Marine Science (2016)
  • ECRS 2017 Best Student Presentation Award

 

KAUST Affiliations

​BESE, RSRC

Research Interests Keywords

Marine microbiology Marine ecology Biological networks and interactions Spectroscopic and Microscopic imaging system