The "Trait-based Approaches to Ocean Life" international workshop was held October 5-8, 2015 at Waterville Valley Resort, New Hampshire, USA.
The trait-based approach to ocean life is emerging as a novel framework for understanding the complexity and function of marine ecosystems. Rather than considering species individually, organisms are characterized by essential traits that capture key aspects of functional diversity.
Following on a successful first meeting in Copenhagen in 2013, we will convene an Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB)-sponsored scoping workshop in New England in autumn of 2015. The workshop will bring together biologists, chemists, mathematicians, and physicists working on different aspects of trait-based descriptions of life in the oceans across all trophic levels and scales, from viruses to top predators and from fine-scale turbulence to global climate change. The aim is to stimulate discussions, forge new collaborations, and develop novel ideas on four principal themes:
Individuals – What are the key traits and trait trade-offs of marine organisms?
Scaling – How do we scale up from individuals to populations and ecosystems?
Emergent Patterns – How are biogeography, phenology, community structure, and the character of the biological pump linked to traits?
Adaptive Capacity - What are the implications for biological responses to global change?
We welcome abstract submissions on any aspect of trait-based descriptions of life in the oceans, from any methodological perspective, and encourage early career scientists and researchers from related fields to attend. The meeting schedule will include the formal program (including plenaries, research talks, discussions, and posters) and group meals, but also time for outdoor activities. Applications will be accepted beginning in spring 2015.
The workshop is made possible by support from the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry (OCB) program, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Simons Foundation, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Thomas Kiørboe (Technical University of Denmark)
Elena Litchman (Michigan State University)
Sonya Dyhrman (Columbia University)
Simon Jennings (University of East Anglia)
Hans Cornelissen (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Steering Committee
Ken Andersen (Technical University of Denmark)
Andrew Barton (Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Princeton University)
Stephanie Dutkiewicz (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Øyvind Fiksen (University of Bergen)
Mick Follows (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Colleen Mouw (Michigan Technological University)
Nicholas Record (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science)
Tatiana Rynearson (University of Rhode Island)
Please contact Mary Zawoysky (mzawoysky@whoi.edu) or Andrew Barton (abarton@princeton.edu) with any workshop questions.
SPONSORS
Ocean Carbon & Biogeochemistry Program (OCB), National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Simons Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
GETTING A HANDLE ON TRAITS
Hans Cornelissen (invited): Plant traits and biochemical cycling on land: parallels with marine ecosystems?
SESSION 1: Measuring and Detecting Traits
Heidi Sosik: Plankton traits from flow cytometry and imaging-in-flow cytometry
Adam Martiny: Microbiomes in light of traits: a phylogenetic perspective
Harriet Alexander: Functional group specific traits drive ecosystem state shift in the oligotrophic ocean
SESSION 2: Biogeography of Traits
David Talmy: The influence of viral reproduction strategies on marine microbial community dynamics
Tim Moore /Colleen Mouw: Approaches for detecting phytoplankton composition from space-based sensors
Fi Prowe: Effects of trade-off based zooplankton feeding in a global ocean ecosystem model
SESSION 3: Linking Observations and Models
Anna Hickman: Introduction
FRONTIERS OF TRAIT-BASED ECOLOGY IN THE OCEAN
Elena Litchman (invited): Trait-based approaches to microbial ecology and evolution
SESSION 4: Size as a Master Trait
Ken Andersen: Introduction
Karen Stamieszkin: Changes in North Atlantic copepod community size structure and fecal pellet carbon flux over 55 years
Subhendu Chakraborty: Correlation between organism size and trophic strategies
SESSION 5: Role of Physics on Setting and Linking Traits
Stephanie Dutkiewicz: Introduction
Lan Smith: Trait-based modeling of phytoplankton under realistic sub-scale variability
Marina Levy: The dynamical landscape of marine phytoplankton diversity
Bror Jonsson: The effect of advection on temperature adaptation by phytoplankton communities in the global ocean
Panel Discussion
Thomas Kiørboe (invited): How traits are interrelated through tradeoffs in zooplankton
BROADER CONTRIBUTIONS OF TRAIT-BASED APPROACH
SESSION 6: Contributions to Cross-cutting Principles in Marine Ecosystems
Simon Jennings (invited): Size- and trait-based structures and processes in marine ecosystems
Stephanie Dutkiewicz: Combining phytoplankton size and functional traits in a global ocean ecosystem model
Jorn Bruggeman: Traits of benthic fauna: from observations to community models
Susanne Menden-Deuer: The role of intra-specific trait variability in plankton biodiversity: a gametheoretic and model examination
Selina Våge: Combining internal and external pelagic prokaryote community control links biodiversity to ecosystem function
SESSION 7: Contributions to climate science and biogeochemical cycles
Stephanie Dutkiewicz: Introduction to panel
SESSION 8: Contributions to policy
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR TRAIT-BASED OCEAN SCIENCE
SESSION 9: From the gene to the ecosystem
Frederic Maps: Blurred lines between species in trait-based numerical approaches. A case study of Calanus hybrid
Elizabeth Harvey: Linking individual movement to population-level dynamics: strain-specific behaviors of Heterosigma akashiwo
SESSION 10: Summary and wrap-up
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