E

The ocean accounts for about 50% of global net primary production. This production is significant for carbon cycling and ecosystem functioning and is related directly or indirectly to a variety of climatic and ecological phenomena. The responses to natural and anthropogenic environmental stressors that influence marine production and diversity can cause perturbations to marine ecosystems that alter trophic dependencies and interactions among organisms at a range of space and timescales. Quantification of the principal mechanisms driving spatiotemporal variability of marine ecosystems remains to be done, especially in terms of evaluating uncertainty in ecological responses. As a result, evaluating vulnerability of marine ecosystems to environmental change requires systematic and holistic approaches that integrate physics to ecology and are based on both empirical observations and quantitative modelling. In addition, expectations to communicate these scientific outcomes to public society is increasingly common and encouraged. 

This session aims to provide a venue for not only discussing recent advances in understanding marine biogeochemical cycles, ecosystems and their interactions, but also networking with a variety of people to seed new ideas in marine ecological research. Observational, modelling and conceptual studies are encouraged, particularly those including technological development and operational applications that consider linkages among biogeochemical and ecosystem processes, biodiversity, and the effects of multiple stressors from molecular to planetary scales.