Dear Colleagues,

It is our pleasure to bring to your attention the below session for the upcoming Ocean Sciences 2012 meeting in Salt Lake City.  We welcome and encourage your submissions to this session (due Oct. 7th, 2011), which is part of the broader special session category “Oil Spill, Gulf of Mexico”.

Sincerely,

Alan Leonardi and Rebecca Green

174: Ecosystem Science in the Gulf of Mexico: Knowledge Gaps, Science Needs, and Long-Term Plans for the Future
Organizers: Alan P. Leonardi, NOAA, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, alan.leonardi@noaa.gov; Rebecca E. Green, BOEM, Environmental Sciences Section, rebecca.green@boemre.gov
The Gulf of Mexico coastal and marine ecosystems provide a host of ecosystem services, including fisheries, global nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, and tourism and recreation. Recent events such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the 2011 Mississippi River flooding are dramatic examples of anthropogenic and natural stressors that are influencing this large marine ecosystem and that have exposed the limits of our knowledge of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. This session will explore these gaps in knowledge, examine the research and science needs to support a long-term adaptive ecosystem approach to understanding and predicting changes to the Gulfís natural and human-based components, and propose the framework(s) and activities required to meet these needs and close our knowledge gaps in the future. (3, 9, 14)