Tupper Link & Registration desk outside Theatre B&C

Theatre B

Molecular windows into ocean productivity Marine phytoplankton are responsible for nearly half of the primary productivity on Earth. This talk will describe the molecular underpinnings of how these tiny photosynthesizers grow, support marine ecosystems, and respond to change. Using examples from the Southern Ocean and the Scotian Shelf, I’ll show you that phytoplankton need their vitamins, too, and discuss what that means for ocean productivity. Then we’ll move North and, using examples from the Arctic, I will show you how we can use measurements of proteins to understand how these plankton are likely to respond to melting glaciers and other aspects of global change. I will share stories of what its like to do molecular research at sea and in remote environments, including with indigenous communities, and how my views on this work evolved as I became a mother and a field researcher on the frontlines of climate change.

Tupper Link & Registration desk outside Theatre B&C

Theatre C

Theatre B- Biology

Tupper CHEB C170

Climate change is already altering ecosystems in ways that are directly observable, and one of the most rapidly-changing ecosystems is the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. For large, highly migratory marine predators such as sharks, movement into new areas is not constrained by physical barriers but by their own environmental tolerances. When environmental conditions change to become more favorable, these species are likely to be among the first to shift into newly-available habitat. This situation has already moved beyond the hypothetical, as several shark species have already been documented expanding their distribution and becoming more common where once they were considered rare or unheard of. Here I will review findings from my own work and others’ to demonstrate that sharks and other highly migratory marine predators can serve as early indicators of marine ecosystem change.

Theatre C

Theatre B- Biology

Tupper Link

Tupper CHEB C170