Frontiers of marine science.

0.12 MB·English

by  Webb, Thomas J.

Biol.Lett.(2011)7,324–326 methods used to study and manage these
doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.1120 environments.
Publishedonline5January2011
Community ecology
2. PATHWAYS TO UNDERSTANDING THE
MARINE ENVIRONMENT
Meeting report Frontiers of Science meetings are structured around a
seriesofdiscipline-themedsessions,withthreepresen-
Frontiers of marine science tationssettingoutthestateoftheartinagivensubject,
andastrongemphasisondiscussion amongthemulti-
disciplinary audience. Each member of the organizing
Thomas J. Webb1 and Elvira S. Poloczanska2,*
committee proposed important topics relevant totheir
1DepartmentofAnimalandPlantSciences,UniversityofSheffield, theme for wider consideration and one topic was then
SheffieldS102TN,UK
selected for each disciplinary session. Even at the
2ClimateAdaptationFlagship,CSIROMarineandAtmospheric
Research,EcoSciencesPrecinct,GPOBox2583,Brisbane,Queensland planning stage of this meeting, however, the inherent
4001,Australia interdisciplinarity of marine science was evident. For
*Authorforcorrespondence([email protected]). example, ocean acidification was formally presented
On 9–13 October 2010 early career scientists in the macrobiology session, but could equally have
from the UK and Australia across marine been placed in any of a number of different sessions,
research fields were given the opportunity to from climatology to chemistry to applied ecology.
come together in Perth, Australia to discuss the
This problem-centred approach to science typically is
frontiers of marine research and exchange ideas.
indifferent to traditional disciplinary boundaries
Keywords: ecosystem model; climate; (figure 1), and in addition blurs the distinction
retrospective data; collaboration between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ research.
Aswellastheinterdisciplinarynatureoftopicssuch
as ocean acidification, ocean circulation and geo-
1. INTRODUCTION engineering, a number of other common themes
Many of the challenges that face twenty-first century linkedthediversesessionsinthemeeting.Inparticular,
scientists, such as climate change and ecosystem the interdependence of physical, chemical and biologi-
research, are inherently interdisciplinary in nature [1]. cal processes across spatial and temporal scales as well
Perhaps nowhere is this better illustrated than in as the consequent complementarity of methodological
marine science, where the physics and chemistry of approaches applied by researchers.
the medium are inextricably linked with the biology
and ecology of ecosystems. Numerous feedback loops (a) Space
exist within and between biology and marine and The title of the mathematics session, Small things
atmospheric climate, which we are only beginning to matter, referred specifically to the role of eddy-scale
understand,e.g.[2,3].Inaddition,ourmarineenviron- turbulence within physical oceanography, and in par-
ment is under considerable stress, with every square ticular to the importance of considering such small-
kilometreoftheglobaloceanaffectedbyanthropogenic scale processes in regional and global climate models.
driversofecologicalchange[4].Climatechangeisfun- But the same sentiment summed up the microbiology
damentallyalteringmarinesystems,bringingchallenges session on Symbioses, which highlighted the vital, and
and costs for human societies and placing urgency on often poorly understood, role that microbes play in
the science community to provide the information and ocean ecosystems, in part through their intricate
understanding to drive policy and management relationships with multicellular organisms. Likewise,
responses [5]. Synergistic effects between climate and the GEOTRACES programme (www.geotraces.org),
other anthropogenic stressors such as pollution and introduced in the chemistry session, seeks to under-
exploitation are likely to exacerbate climate change stand the distribution of minute concentrations of the
impacts in the oceans [6,7]. Marine systems also face trace metals which underpin global biogeochemical
the unique threat of ocean acidification as atmospheric cycles. Of course, macro-scale processes also exert a
CO levels increase [8]. powerful influence on local phenomena (e.g. low fre-
2
The UK–Australia Frontiers of Science conference quency climate signals) and studies at this scale
was held in October 2010 in Perth, Western Australia, provide unique but necessary understanding in the
supported by the UK’s Royal Society and the context of global change [11].
Australian Academy of Science. The meeting brought
together 70 early career scientists (35 from each (b) Time
country) over 3 days to present the latest advances in The meeting involved delegates with primary interests
their fields, learn about research at the cutting edge in documenting the past, understanding the present
of other disciplines, and explore new opportunities and predicting the future of the marine environment.
for international and multidisciplinary collaboration. The interdependence of these three perspectives
AustraliaandtheUKhaveanextensiveandinterlinked was abundantly clear. For instance, information
history and both countries are considered maritime from the past can be used to inform our predictions
nations with their oceans contributing substantial of the future and develop hypotheses for testing in
social and economic wealth [9,10]. It is therefore models and experiments. Retrospective data, for
appropriate that these two countries came together to example from sediments and coral cores, can provide
consider the interconnectedness of the world’s evidence ofpastclimateorecosystemstates.However,
marine ecosystems, and the interdependence of palaeo-ecologists also require information from
Received25November2010
Accepted8December2010 324 Thisjournalisq2011TheRoyalSociety
Meeting report. Frontiers of marine science T. J. Webb & E. S. Poloczanska 325
How will fish populations respond to climate change?
reconstruction of past climate global and regional climate model
projections
How will the marine
instrumental records
climate change?
models of thermohaline circulation
species distribution modelling
palaeoecological
How are fish
studies of species habitat mapping
distributions related to
diversity
biodiversity surveys
the environment?
remote sensing
archaeology fisheries statistics
historical population projections What other factors
anecdote affect fish populations?
predictive ecosystem
models
years ago108 107 106 105 104 103 102 101 100 NOW 100 101 102 years in the future
Figure1.Questionsinmarinescienceareinherentlyinterdisciplinary.Forexample,toaddressthequestion,Howwillfishpopu-
lationsrespondtoclimatechange?requiresanunderstandingofclimatepast,presentandfuture,andhowenvironmentalfactors
such as ocean chemistry, productivityand physicalforcing influence the current distributions of fish and their predators and
prey.Inaddition,understanding ofother pressureson fishpopulationswillbeessential.Thesemayinclude pastandpresent
exploitationinfisheriesaswellasprobableresponsestoarangeofpolicyscenarios,andmayinvolvethecomplementaryexper-
tise of archaeologists, historians, social and political scientists.Eachofthese different disciplineswill bring its own methods,
including both empirical and modelling approaches. This interdisciplinary approach covers the requisite range of scales in
space (from individual fishpopulationstoglobal climate) andtime(from deep timetothe nearfuture).
analogousextantspeciestoinformtheirunderstanding Each of these multinational, multidisciplinary initiat-
of the fossil and sub-fossil record. One of the chal- ives blurs the boundaries between theory and
lenges highlighted at the meeting is the need to empiricism, with models driving empirical questions,
extend the temporal and spatial coverage of retrospec- and the resultant data feeding back into improved
tive data. Such data are required by climate system models of marine systems. A strength of the Frontiers
models, in order to enhance our understanding of cli- ofSciencewastobringtogethermodellersandempiri-
mate system dynamics, and by ecosystem models cistsindiscussionsfocusedongenericproblems,rather
which aim to predict climate impacts. Whole ecosys- than on specific methodologies. This approach offers
tem models can also be used to simulate conditions the best pathway to understanding the marine
in the past or produce predictions of the future. Such environment.
models can simulate the state of ecosystems without
exploitation or other anthropogenic pressures, con-
ditions often beyond our data records, so expanding
3. PUSHING THE FRONTIERS
our understanding of key processes [12].
Marine scientists face the challenges of working in a
medium that can be difficult to access and sample,
(c) Methods with large areas of the ocean still almost untouched
A major message from this meeting was the inter- by scientific surveys, e.g. [13,14]. Nonetheless, this
dependence of theoretical and empirical approaches. conferencehighlightedhowcollaborationsandtechno-
Models have been developed across a variety of scales logical advances are pushing the frontiers of marine
to give a global picture (e.g. physical and biological science. Cutting-edge technologies are allowing us to
oceanography, modelling ocean- or global-scale circu- collect information over large areas (e.g. ocean colour
lation) or more complex local detail (e.g. eddy-scale by satellite remote-sensing), thus allowing automated
processes, ecosystem dynamics). But the importance observing of marine life. Metagenomics, which link
of empirical studies remains key, for verifying model ‘old’ single-species empirical technologies and ‘new’
predictions, for deriving parameter estimates and for molecular biologies at community and ecosystem
suggesting future theoretical developments. Coordi- levels, have the potential to integrate across diverse
nated large-scale empirical programmes in the marine fields that may have previously lacked a genetics
environmenthavebeendesignedtoimprovethespatial perspective. The development of the kinds of
coverage of our understanding of patterns in the multinational, interdisciplinary networks of marine
biodiversity (e.g. the Census of Marine Life, www. researchers described above is rapidly advancing our
coml.org) and chemical composition of the oceans understandingoftheexchangesbetweenoceanicphys-
(e.g. GEOTRACES, www.geotraces.org) as well as to ical and biological processes. Finally, the way we
document the history of the Earth system (e.g. the manage the marine environment is changing moving
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, www.iodp.org). from single-species management to whole-ecosystem
Biol.Lett.(2011)
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