- Monday, 21 November -
Carlos Pedrós-Alió
Presenting: “Dipping into the rare biosphere”
Departament de Biologia Marina i OceanografiaInstitut de Ciències del Mar-CMIMA
CSIC, Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain
Dr. Pedrós-Alió scientific interests, revolves around understanding the ecology of aquatic microorganisms, as well as using genomics as a tool to generate hypotheses that can later be tested experimentally.In addition, he likes to study extreme or unusual environments to throw light on the functioning of more conventional ones. For example, hypesaline systems, karstic lakes, or the Polar waters to illuminate particular aspects of the ecology of microorganisms, that are more difficult to identify in temperate marine waters.
Sonya Legg
Presenting: ”Mixing generated by tidal flow over topography and its parameterization for climate modeling”
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Dr. Legg’s research focuses on turbulent mixing in the ocean, using numerical models to understand the processes involved in addition to evaluating the influence of small-scale mixing on large-scale ocean circulation and climate.
- Tuesday, 22 November -
Susan D. Shaw
Presenting: “Ocean pollution in an ecological perspective: Impacts of emerging contaminants on marine wildlife”
Marine Environmental Research Institute, Maine/ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, State University of New York, Albany, NY
Susan Shaw, DrPH, is a marine toxicologist, Doctor of Public Health, director/founder of the Marine Environmental Research Institute based in Maine, and Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York, Albany, NY. For two decades, Shaw has conducted pioneering research documenting the effects of hundreds of man-made chemicals in the ocean environment. In 2009, she co-authored the first comprehensive review of halogenated flame retardants in marine ecosystems of the American continents. She is credited as the first scientist to show that halogenated flame retardant chemicals used in consumer products have contaminated marine mammals and commercially important fish stocks in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Her research has influenced policy decisions in the US and abroad, including the Maine legislature’s decision to ban the neurotoxic flame retardant Deca, and the subsequent US phase-out of the chemical. In May 2011, Shaw received the Society of Women Geographers’ prestigious Gold Medal Award. Joining the ranks of Amelia Earhart, Margaret Mead, Jane Goodall, and Sylvia Earle, she is the 19th woman to receive the Society’s highest award in 78 years.
- Wednesday, 23 November -
Royal Seminar
Helmut Hillebrand
Presenting: “Species lost and species gained – how biodiversity loss and invasions affect aquatic ecosystems”
Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Oldenburg-Wilhemshaven
Currently a professor in Plankton Ecology at the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) at the Carl-Von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg (D), he finished his dissertation 1999 with a thesis on the “Effect of biotic interactions on the structure of microphytobenthos.” He spent four years as a postdoc at the Erken Laboratory of the Department of Limnology, Uppsala University (Sweden). His main research topics are the regulation of diversity in aquatic communities as well as the consequences of diversity loss for ecosystem processes. Additionally, he uses an ecological stoichiometry framework to analyze trophic interactions in aquatic ecosystems.
Linda Laikre
Presenting: ”The invisible biodiversity – noticed by few, needed by all”
Department of Zoology/Population Genetics, Stockholm University
Currently a professor at the department of population genetics, she is one of the leading experts on genetic dynamics on small populations and using genomics as tool in conservation research. Since 2000 she is a member of Sweden’s scientific council on biodiversity.
Ragnar Elmgren
Presenting: ”Ecosystem-Based Management for the Baltic Sea: From Slogan to Reality?”
Department of Systems Ecology, Stockholm University
Dr. Elmgren’s current research deals with adaptive management of nutrient discharges to the coastal zone, the ecosystem effects of Baltic cyanobacterial blooms and organic matter processing by Baltic benthos. He also coordinate Stockholm University’s strategic marine environmental project Baltic Ecosystem Adaptive Management, BEAM. He was among the 1360 contributors to the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment honoured by the 2nd Zayed Internation Prize for the Environment in 2005, received the Demel Medal of the Polish Sea Fisheries Institute in 2006 and in 2011 was awarded the Grand Prize of the Baltic Sea Foundation of Åland.
Ray Hilborn
Presenting: ”Sustaining and rebuilding world fisheries – How well are we doing?”
School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington
Ray Hilborn is a Professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington specializing in natural resource management and conservation. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in conservation, quantitative population dynamics and risk analysis. He co-authored “Quantitative fisheries stock assessment” with Carl Walters in 1992 and “The Ecological Detective: confronting models with data” with Marc Mangel, in 1997 and has published over 200 peer reviewed articles. He has received the Volvo Environmental Prize, the American Fisheries Societies Award of Excellence and the American Institute of Fisheries Research Biologists Outstanding Achievement Award. He is a Fellow of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.