This is a past event
A 3-day workshop on Climate Change, Resource exploitation and the diversity and functioning of Arctic benthic ecosystems with scientists from Canada, Norway and United Kingdom will take place at Oceanlab from 31 August 2016 to 2 September 2016 to discuss the consequences of rapid climate change on Arctic marine ecosystems.
All are welcome to come along to the free Seminar on 31 August 2016 (open to everyone).
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Climate change is clearly and fundamentally altering marine ecosystems and the most striking impacts can be seen in the Arctic Ocean; air and water temperatures have risen two times faster than for the rest of the world.
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The most noticeable sign of disruption is the drastic loss of sea ice and many experts fear the Arctic might experience of sea-ice-free summers before mid-century.
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In terms of ecosystem functioning, these rapid changes would affect the patterns of primary production, i.e. the resource availability for pelagic and benthic communities, and in consequence rates and pathways of organic matter processing.
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Benthic ecosystems at the ocean floor, that depend on food sinking down from the water column, could be strongly affected by these changes.
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Moreover, the ice retreat will open new navigation routes (e.g. Northwest Passage) and increase the opportunities to access to natural resources (e.g. extraction of oil and natural gas), which will exacerbate human pressures on this sensitive environment.
The first day of this workshop will be dedicated to a series of seminars on Arctic Biodiversity and Ecosystem functioning and Anthropogenic impacts and Ocean observation.
The second and third day will be devoted to working groups to synthesize results, gaps and future research needs for an assessment of the Arctic benthic ecosystem functioning in the context of climate change.
A detailed seminar programme and further information can be found here.
- Venue
- Oceanlab