Ocean Sciences 2018 Conference session on predators & ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

The 2018 Ocean Sciences Meeting will take place 11-16 February 2018 in Portland, Oregon.  The meeting is an important venue for scientific exchange across broad marine science disciplines, with sessions on all aspects of oceanography.  We would like to call your attention to a session we will be chairing entitled “Advances in approaches to monitoring the occurrence, distribution, behavior, and ecology of top predators” (IS001). This session has been convened at the Ocean Sciences meetings since 2010, and it provides a wonderful opportunity for researchers studying a variety of taxa (including marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and fish) to meet, exchange ideas, and explore commonalities in research methods, scientific questions, and conservation efforts.  Please consider submitting an abstract and attending the meeting.  Abstracts are due by 6 September 2017.

Abstracts can be submitted here: https://agu.confex.com/agu/os18/preliminaryview.cgi/Session28622. The submission deadline is 6 September 2017, 11:59 P.M. EDT.

Session ID: 28622
Topic Area: Ecology and Physical Interactions
Session Description: Physical oceanography is a fundamental determinant of micro- and macroecology in our oceans, driving vertebrate distributions and interactions through bottom-up processes. Understanding how oceanographic processes influence marine vertebrate distribution and ecology is not only of key interest to ecologists, but is also necessary for effective species conservation and management. A wealth of correlative studies have revealed the strong links between oceanography and vertebrate ecology, however holistic understanding of the mechanisms underlying these relationships remains limited due to the complex nature of these dynamic processes. The rapid advancement of animal tracking technologies, coupled with sophisticated ocean modeling and monitoring tools, now allow researchers to better interrogate these drivers. In this session we solicit contributions on established and potential mechanisms linking ocean biophysics to vertebrate distribution and ecology, from disciplines spanning physical oceanography to community ecology. The research shared in this session will highlight data sources, methods, and areas of opportunity to foster further cross-disciplinary research on marine physical-ecological systems.

We welcome a broad range of current research related to this topic. Examples of marine mammal research that would fit well include identifying the drivers underlying associations between marine mammals and mesoscale ocean features (e.g. Della Penna et al. 2015, Scientific Reports), or applying mechanistic models to predict marine mammal density or distribution based on physical or biotic factors (e.g. Pardo et al. 2015, PLoS ONE).

Primary Chair:  Briana Abrahms, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Environmental Research Division, Monterey, CA, United States
Co-chairs:  Stephanie Brodie, Elliott L. Hazen and Isaac D Schroeder, NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Environmental Research Division, Monterey, CA, United States