Five pager for sub-theme: Documenting and Understanding change
1 November 2011
SUB- THEME ‘DOCUMENTING AND UNDERSTANDING CHANGE’
(FIVE-PAGER)
State of knowledge
The discoveries made during the Census of Marine Life (CoML) highlighted our capacity
to expand marine biodiversity knowledge and provide new insight on marine ecosystems
(e.g. Costello et al. 2010). One of the most surprising results was that longterm data sets
are available for only a limited set of ecosystems and that several types of ecosystems
(such as the deep sea) and species-rich taxonomic groups, especially of smaller
organisms, still remain poorly studied. These major gaps currently impair our ability to
identify and understand species of economic and ecological importance. In addition,
CoML provided compelling data regarding threats to marine biodiversity. Results
highlighted that currently all studied regions are threatened simultaneously by several
human activities (Costello et al. 2010). Overfishing and pollution were identified as the
main threats to marine biodiversity, followed by invasive alien species, change in thermal
regime, acidification, and hypoxia, although their relative importance varied among
regions. The findings were replicated worldwide and were in line with efforts to map
human threats globally (Halpern et al. 2008).
However, we realized that little is still known about how these threats interact to impact
marine populations and ecosystems. Recent research suggests that human pressures have
a greater impact when they act in concert, rather than individually (Hewitt et al 2004,
Crain et al. 2008). For example, climate change may act together with direct human
pressures to impact marine species and populations. Our knowledge of these effects is
currently relatively poor, especially when considering the consequences of indirect
impacts on biodiversity that are mediated by changes in food webs related to species
interactions, life histories and behaviour. This knowledge is key to advance our
understanding of ecosystem services that are important for humans (such as provision of
food, cultural services, etc.) and for ecosystem health.
Studies of oceans past (e.g. Holm et al. 2010) have shed substantial new light on the
problem of shifting baselines. We now recognise that everywhere we look there is
potential to know much more about the past, and that we need to inform ourselves of the
past both to enrich our understanding of the present and to inform our future decisions.
One of the remarkable findings was that removals of large marine animals by humans
have reduced abundance of upper trophic levels by an order of magnitude (e.g. Lotze and
Worm 2009). Long-term trajectories building on historical data and future projections
revealed that human impacts on coastal environments have been similar across the globe,
even in quite different ecosystems (Lotze et al. 2006). While few exploitable marine
species have gone extinct, there is concern that entire marine ecosystems have been
depleted beyond recovery.
There have been also important efforts to monitor and study the status of marine
ecosystems against human stressors using ecosystem indicators and ecological modelling
approaches. A significant initiative regarding indicators is IndiSeas (“Indicators for the
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1 November 2011
Seas”), a collaborative international working group (www.indiseas.org) established in
2005 that provided an interface to facilitate interpretation and visualisation of data, and to
evaluate the exploitation status of marine ecosystems in a comparative framework (Shin
and Shannon 2010, Shin et al. 2010). The ecosystems considered span different
socioeconomic realities, vary in structure and environmental forcing, and include a range
of exploitation histories. The IndiSeas project represents the beginning of a global
comparative analysis and diagnosis of ecosystem status. In addition, ecological modelling
approaches, developing since the 1980s, have made important strides recently, with tools
such as the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) approach (www.ecopath.org). EwE software has
enabled marine research to advance our understanding of ecosystem structure and
function, and of the impact of human activities (Christensen and Walters 2004).
All in all, marine science has made a spectacular breakthrough in the past decade, both in
terms of promoting international collaboration, providing open access to large datasets,
and developing powerful analytical tools. Now, we need to use this knowledge, and
complementary knowledge of human pressures and impacts, to move towards a new,
integrated global view of marine biodiversity that will underpin the effective
management and sustainable use of our ocean ecosystems. For example:
• We need to understand the cumulative and combined impacts of human social
drivers and ecological pressures on past changes and present state, and use
that to calibrate our projections of future changes in marine biodiversity
(Cheung et al. 2009).
• We need to extend our global coverage to ocean regions that were not the main
focus of CoML or where less knowledge was available to fill substantial gaps
in knowledge, so that the level of different human-induced threats to marine
biodiversity can be identified and assessed (Costello et al. 2010).
• We need to better understand the rate of change in biodiversity and abundance of
different species in the deep seas and open waters, where new fisheries have
developed in recent years, and where there is growing interest in hydrocarbon
and mineral extraction as the price of such commodities continues to increase
(Ramírez-Llodra et al. 2011).
A full understanding of the impacts of human and environmental pressures on the world’s
oceans and their implications for the sustainability of marine resources will inform
managing authorities to better structure their policy and management strategies (Levin et
al. 2009). This will contribute to sustainable human usage of the world’s marine
resources for future generations, thereby ensuring that society benefits directly from the
proposed scientific research.
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Proposed research
Scientific objectives of research
One of the biggest tasks that society and managers face is to define and implement
methods to maintain or recover biodiversity, ensuring the sustainable use of marine
resources while the needs of human society continue to increase. Human populations will
continue to grow at least for the next few decades, increasing the demand for living and
non-living resources from the sea. How to meet this demand while maintaining marine
populations and ecosystems and aiding the recovery of depleted species is a big
challenge. The objective of this theme is to help determine how humans have, and are,
impacting biodiversity in the world’s oceans and to define what management strategies
might best assist in ensuring sustainable utilization of global marine resources. In
addressing this objective, every attempt will be made to include poorly studied regions
and marine ecosystems, so as to build a global understanding and synthesis.
Major questions to be addressed
i.
How do species diversity, distribution and abundance vary in relation to temporally
varying environments?
Outputs related to this research question will lead to significantly more advanced and
complex understanding of the diversity, distribution and abundance of species in the
World Ocean. Besides representatives of intermediate and upper trophic levels, every
effort will be made to improve our knowledge on micro- and meio-level fauna, incl. also
taxonomic identification. Ecosystems will include coastal to offshore and deep sea
environments, including localized ecosystems, and large marine ecosystems, at regional
and basin scales. Research efforts will target, as much as possible, different temporal
scales (e.g. millennial, centennial, decadal, annual) with application of new and
contemporary analysis techniques (e.g., barcoding) and modelling approaches (see
above). The new knowledge will be interpreted in the context of new understandings of
changing environmental conditions, in part gained from environmental proxies derived
from living (e.g. corals) and long dead organisms (e.g. midden material), which may lead
to new findings on previously unknown tolerance limits of organisms to abiotic
conditions, or new adaptive capabilities of species.
ii. How have marine ecosystems changed since first human impacts? How do the
effects of anthropogenic activities vary among different populations, species,
assemblages, and ecosystems?
Three main approaches will be used to address these questions. Firstly, archaeological,
historical and contemporary sources, aided by new technologies such as molecular
biological techniques and stable isotope analysis, will be used to improve our
understanding of human impacts on marine populations and ecosystems, including more
recently impacted remote and deeper marine habitats. Secondly, a range of marine
ecosystems will be examined along a gradient of exploitation, from protected (no-take
marine reserves) to highly exploited. Lastly, ecosystem modelling will be used to explore
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how human impacts have altered the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems
from pristine states to those observed today, and the underlying processes involved in
translating changes in biodiversity to changes in ecosystem functioning will be examined.
Addressing these questions will require not only in-depth knowledge of patterns and
processes at population, species, community, and ecosystem levels in response to external
forcing, but also advanced understanding about past drivers/societal choices that humans
have. External forcing includes a range of human pressures, natural environmental
fluctuations as well as directional climate change. Hierarchical ecological risk assessment
(Smith et al. 2007, Hobday et al. 2011) will be used to first determine the likely greatest
threats to ecosystems (grouped by different scales). Subsequently, focused studies of
these threats on biodiversity will be undertaken.
iii. What are the nature and scale of processes/mechanisms behind the reorganization
of marine community structure and assemblages caused by, and causing,
biodiversity changes and driven by human pressures on marine ecosystems?
This will be an extension of the work undertaken in other themes in LiCO to look into the
processes and mechanisms that come into play when a marine ecosystem is restructured
due to impacts of human pressures on its biodiversity. Two different approaches will be
considered to understand the influence of human pressures on biodiversity: i) exploration
of the associated consequences for stability and resilience of food-webs, and ii)
exploration of consequences for management. Thus, close examination of species
interactions will be necessary. How (i.e. the processes involved) changes in biodiversity
and the structure of marine ecosystems translate into changes in marine ecosystem
functioning will be explored by means of food-web studies and trophic modelling, based
on existing studies undertaken around the world.
iv. How can we utilize data from the CoML and LiCO to evaluate individual and
cumulative anthropogenic impacts on marine ecosystems and their services?
To accomplish this task, several statistical and contemporary modelling approaches will
be applied within and across different ecosystems globally. For instance, comparison of
ecosystems along multiple gradients of human impacts will assist in identifying the
separate and combined impacts of these pressures and the nature of their interaction;
additive, multiplicative or synergistic (Hewitt et al 2004, Crain et al. 2008). Inclusion of
no-take marine reserves in these gradients will help to separate the effects of human
exploitation from the more generic impacts of climate change, pollution and other
widely-located human impacts. Further insight into the interaction between human and
environmental pressures will be provided by field studies and modelling studies that
investigate the relationships between several key pressures.
v. How do the number and identity of species in an environment influence its
capacity to resist or recover from natural and human disturbances
The need for accounting for the interaction between climate and fishing in driving
changes in ecosystems and biodiversity has been recognized (e.g. Perry et al. 2009). The
effects of climate change will be exacerbated by fishing, which erodes ecosystem
structure and can change ecosystems to function in a bottom-up controlled manner
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Five pager for sub-theme: Documenting and Understanding change
1 November 2011
(Odum 1985; Shannon et al. 2010; van der Lingen et al. 2006;). Thus, there is an urgent
need for management strategies that aim to maintain resilience of marine resources across
the full spectrum from individuals to species to communities to ecosystems (Perry et al.
2009; Planque et al. 2009). Case studies will be closely examined to serve as examples of
successes or failures to resist change and/or recover from major perturbations. General
patterns will be sought from these case studies. Ecosystem modelling studies will be
carried out to explore the role of capacity for ecosystem to resist or recover from
environmental and human-induced disturbances that may act at the various levels of the
ecosystem (individual-species-community).
vi. What is needed to achieve sustainability? Why do some management strategies
succeed but others fail to recover depleted populations and modified ecosystems?
How do recovery strategies vary for different species and ecosystems, and are
there any general patterns?
This task requires us to identify and reconcile the trade-offs associated with the
exploitation and conservation of biodiversity of marine ecosystems and the implications
for fisheries upon which society depends for food. We will use knowledge on the state of
marine ecosystems in the past to guide our investigations into what is needed to achieve
sustainability, given current ecosystem configurations and the nature of human impacts
(Nye et al. 2009). Several regional and global initiatives are working to establish
remedial policies and recover depleted species and populations. To achieve these targets
and develop credible plans for sustainable oceans will require not only learning from the
past, but also from recovery experiences and continuing exploration and expansion of
what is known about past and present recoveries (Lotze et al. 2011). We will follow two
approaches here. Firstly, we will synthesize existing knowledge to identify what
management strategies have succeeded and failed in the past, complementing Jones and
Schmitz (2009) and Lotze et al. (2011). Secondly, we will model the effects of different
strategies on a variety of species and ecosystems on a scale that cannot be undertaken
using an experimental approach. Indicators of recovery of populations and ecosystems,
including changes in biodiversity will be identified, examined and linked back to
management strategies and decisions.
Activities, Timelines & Deliverables at the Theme level
This sub-heme will build on the past and current research activities such as the History of
Marine Animal Populations (HMAP) and the Future of Marine Animal Populations
(FMAP), IndiSeas (‘Indicators for the Sea’) program, INDEEP (International Network
for scientific investigation of DEEP-sea ecosystems), initiatives of regional scientific
organisations (e.g. Northern Atlantic, Mediterranean, Pacific, Arctic, Antarctic), and of
other relevant new and ongoing projects (such as NF-UBC Nereus Program, EU FP7
project VECTORS, and Ecopath Consortium)
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Phase I: Engagement (activities needed from now until Aberdeen)
 Establish effective contacts and links with all relevant international marine
research organisations, consortia and global networks.
 Establish contacts with other (in particular social) scientists to further develop this
sub-theme.
Phase II: Strategy Development (activities needed in the immediate short-term)
 Continue network building and further facilitation of contacts with HMAP,
FMAP, IndiSeas, Ecopath Consortium, INDEEP, ICES, PICES, CIESM and
CCAMLR.
 Continue planning of the Oceans Past IV conference to be held in Perth, Australia
in November 2012.
Phase III: Fundraising
Funding for meetings and workshops, and for modelling and fieldwork contracts, will be
sought from a variety of sources to facilitate the activities planned over the three year
period. Funding is required for several activities, including:
 A workshop in 2012 to prepare a global synthesis paper on changes in
biodiversity driven by human pressures;
 Publication in 2013 of Oceans Past IV Conference papers;
 A workshop in 2013 focusing on developing a common format for comparative
analyses of human drivers; and a second workshop to focus on synthesis review;
 Local/regional projects 2011-2014 on reorganisation of marine food webs
(biodiversity changes driven by human pressures);
 Analysis of the impacts of interacting and synergistic human impacts across
regional marine ecosystems;
 Comparative ecosystem modelling activities.
Phase IV: Implementation (activities to begin once funding is secured)
 Initiate planning for the Oceans Past V conference to be held in late 2014
(potentially to coincide with the end of Phase I of LiCO);
 Hold a workshop in 2012 to synthesize our broader understanding from regional
publications and ecosystem models as to the changes in biodiversity that have
been, and are being driven by a variety of human pressures;
 Publication in 2013 of Oceans Past IV conference papers;
 Review and undertake analysis of the impacts of interacting and synergistic
human impacts across regional marine ecosystems;
 Comparative ecosystem modelling activities to explore impacts of diverse human
stressors on different marine ecosystems under real and hypothetical fisheries
management strategies and under different scenarios of climate change;
 Undertake local/regional projects on the reorganisation of marine food webs in
terms of biodiversity changes driven by human pressures;
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 Preparation of reports and presentations (of relevance for managers) on possible
implications of various management strategies that might be adopted in an
attempt to reduce human impacts on marine biodiversity.
Phase V: Delivery
 Theme project meetings will be held regularly to review progress and ensure
synergies across the different activities;
 Joint theme sessions at relevant conferences (e.g., 3rd World Conference on
Marine Biodiversity, Oceans Past V and ICES ASC 2013 and 2014) will be
planned;
 Theme web pages (under LiCO) will be established to facilitate collaboration and
communication among project partners and with user groups and stakeholders.
b) Selected deliverables
 Communication to stakeholders of relevant information from studies by means of
the LiCO website;
 A synthesis paper on ‘Indicators for the Seas’ - examining fishing impacts on 19
marine ecosystems;
 A synthetic paper on the biodiversity in European Seas: Past, present and future;
 A synthesis paper on the interaction of climate change and multiple human
pressures influencing marine biodiversity;
 A paper reviewing the main human drivers responsible for marine ecosystem
modifications over time;
 A paper reviewing global experiences in recovery of depleted populations and
ecosystems;
 A paper on modelling the comparative recovery of several selected marine
ecosystems;
 A set of manuscripts examining the failure of autumn spawning herring to recover
in the Baltic Sea;
 A set of manuscripts on the indicator-based evaluation of the status of marine
ecosystems;
 A set of high-profile publications on marine environmental history (incl. the New
Zealand ‘Taking Stock’ project; books on the HMAP Asia and ´HMAP
Mediterranean and Black Sea project);
 A paper describing and ranking the main human impacts on the New Zealand
marine ecosystems;
 A paper on the centennial-scale exploitation of North Sea herring to serve as a
framing model for other regional studies.
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How will activities and deliverables advance sustainable ocean use?
There is clear and pressing need for ocean governance and policy-making based on
strong science. A clear understanding is required of how marine ecosystems have
changed over millennia and centuries under multiple and spatio-temporally varying
human interventions, how present human activities continue to threaten marine
ecosystems, how human activities act synergistically with climate variability and change,
and how different conservation and management strategies may enable ecosystems to
recover. As human impacts now extend into the most remote and deepest parts of the
world’s oceans, a global science initiative to address these questions in a holistic manner
is required, and the obtained knowledge should be used as scientific advice for marine
management. Piecemeal regional or national initiatives will not suffice.
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Literature cited
Cheung, WWL, Lam, VWY, Sarmiento, JL, Kearney, K, Watson, R, Pauly, D. 2009.
Projecting global marine biodiversity impacts under climate change scenarios. Fish
and Fisheries 10, 235–251.
Christensen, V, Walters, C. 2004. Ecopath with Ecosim: methods, capabilities and
limitations. Ecological Modelling 72:109-139
Crain, CM, Kroeker, K, Halpern, BS. 2008. Interactive and cumulative effects of multiple
human stressors in marine systems. Ecology Letters 11:1304-1315
Costello, MJ, Coll, M, Danovaro, R, Halpin, P, Ojaveer, H, Miloslavich, P. 2010. A
Census of Marine Biodiversity Knowledge, Resources, and Future Challenges. PLoS
ONE 5(8): e12110. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012110
Halpern, BS, Walbridge, S, Selkoe, KA, Kappel, CV, Micheli, F, D'Agrosa, C, Bruno, JF,
Casey, KS, Ebert, C, Fox, HE, Fujita, R, Heinemann, D, Lenihan, HS, Madin, EMP,
Perry, MT, Selig, ER, Spalding, M, Steneck, R, Watson, R. 2008. A global map of
human impact on marine ecosystems. Science 319:948-952
Hobday, AJ, Smith, ADM, Stobutzki, IC, Bulman, C, Daley, R, Dambacher, JM, Deng,
RA, Dowdney, J., Fuller, M, Furlani, D, Griffiths, SP, Johnson, D, Kenyon,
R, Knuckey, IA, Ling, SD, Pitcher, R, Sainsbury, KJ, Sporcic, M, Smith, T,
Turnbull, C, Walker, TI, Wayte, SE, Webb, H, Williams, A, Wise, BS, Zhou, S.
2011. Ecological risk assessment for the effects of fishing. Fisheries Research
108(2-3):372-384.
Hewitt, J, Anderson, MJ et al. 2004. Assessing and monitoring ecological community
health in marine systems. Ecological Applications 15: 942-953.
Holm, P, Marboe, A, Poulsen, B, MacKenzie, B. 2010. Marine Animal Populations: A
New Look Back In Time. In: Alasdair D. McIntyre (editor) Life in the World's
Oceans: Diversity, Distribution, and Abundance , Oxford, Blackwell. pp 3 – 23.
Jones, HP, Schmitz, OJ. 2009. Rapid recovery of damaged ecosystems. PLoS ONE 4,
e5653
Levin, PS, Fogarty, MJ, Murawski, SA, Fluharty, D. 2009. Integrated Ecosystem
Assessments: Developing the Scientific Basis for Ecosystem-Based Management of
the Ocean. PLos Biology 7:23-28.
Lotze, H, Lenihan, HS, Bourque, BJ, Bradbury, RH, Cooke, RG, Kay, MC, Kidwell, SM,
Kirby, MX, Peterson, CH, Jackson, JBC. 2006. Depletion, Degradation, and
Recovery Potential of Estuaries and Coastal Seas Science 312 (5781): 1806-1809
Lotze, HK, Worm, B. 2009. Historical baselines for large marine animals. Trends Ecol.
Evol. 24, 254–262.
Lotze HK, Coll M, Magera MA, Ward-Paige C, Airoldi L (2011) Recovery of marine
animal populations and ecosystems. Trends in Ecology and Evolution In press.
Odum EP (1985) Trends expected in stressed ecosystems. Bioscience 35(7): 419–422
Nye, JA, Link, JS , Hare, JA, Overholtz, WJ. 2009. Changing spatial distribution of fish
stocks in relation to climate and population size on the Northeast United States
continental shelf. Marine Ecology Progress Series 393:111-129.
Perry IR, Cury P, Brander K, Jennings S, Möllmann C, Planque B. 2009. Sensitivity of
marine systems to climate and fishing: Concepts, issues and management responses.
Journal of Marine Systems 79 (3-4): 427-435.
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Planque, B, Fromentin, J-M, Cury, P, Drinkwater, K, Jennings, S, Perry, RI, Kifani, S.
2010. How does fishing alter marine populations and ecosystems sensitivity to
climate? Journal of Marine Systems 79: 403–417.
Ramirez-Llodra E, Tyler PA, Baker MC, Bergstad OA, Clark M, Escobar E, Levin LA,
Menot L, Rowden AA, Smith CR, Van Dover CL (in press). Man and the last great
wilderness: human impact on the deep sea. PLoS ONE.
Shannon, L.J., Coll, M., Neira, S., Cury, P.M., and Roux, J.-P. 2009a. Impacts of fishing
and climate change explored using trophic models. Chapter 8, pp. 158-190 in
Checkley, D.M., C. Roy, J. Alheit, and Y. Oozeki (eds.), Climate Change and Small
Pelagic Fish. Cambridge University Press 7.
Shin YJ, Shannon LJ. 2010. Using indicators for evaluating, comparing and
communicating the ecological status of exploited marine ecosystems. 1. The IndiSeas
project. ICES Journal of Marine Science 67: 686-691.
Shin YJ, Shannon LJ, Bundy A, Coll M, et al. 2010. Using indicators for evaluating,
comparing and communicating the ecological status of exploited marine ecosystems.
Part 2: Setting the scene. ICES Journal of Marine Science 67:692-716.
Smith, AD, Fulton, EJ, Hobday, AJ, Smith, DC, Shoulder, P. 2007. Scientific tools to
support the practical implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries management ICES
Journal of Marine Science 64 (4): 633-639.
Van der Lingen, C.D., L.J. Shannon, P. Cury, A. Kreiner, C.L. Moloney, J.-P. Roux, and
F. Vaz-Velho. 2006. p 147-184, Chapter 8 Resource and ecosystem variability,
including regime shifts, in the Benguela Current system. In: L.V. Shannon, G.
Hempel, P. Malanotte-Rizzoli, C.L. Moloney and J. Woods (Eds). Benguela:
Predicting a Large Marine Ecosystem. Elsevier, USA, Large Marine Ecosystems
Series 14. 410pp.
Initial participants
Dr. Lynne Shannon is a senior researcher at the Marine Research (MA-RE) Institute of
the University of Cape Town, undertaking ecological research and modeling in support of
the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF). Having a broad appreciation of the
dynamics and issues through the food web, she has constructed trophic models of the
Benguela region to provide an understanding of structure and functioning and changes in
the marine food webs off South Africa and Namibia, with a view to providing a basis for
EAF. A particular focus has been examination of the relative and combined effects of
fishing and environmental forcing on the ecosystem dynamics of the Benguela, including
regime shifts. She is exploring practical ways in which ecosystem considerations might
be incorporated into fisheries management in the Benguela, especially the use of
ecological indicators. Currently, Dr Shannon co-chairs an international working group
“IndiSeas2” (Indicators for the Seas) and works in the Marine Ecosystem Evolution in a
Changing Environment EU project (MEECE), where she further explores frameworks for
using ecosystem indicators for EAF, providing information on the anthropogenic and
natural drivers of ecosystem change, and integrating this into management.
Dr. Henn Ojaveer is a senior scientist at Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu,
Estonia. His current research agenda includes studies on the dynamics of intermediate
and upper trophic levels of the Baltic Sea ecosystem as a result of climate change and
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1 November 2011
variety human impacts; dynamics and impacts of invasive alien species; and indicatorbased evaluation of marine ecosystem dynamics. Henn is active (incl. at chairmanship
level) in various international expert groups (of ICES and HELCOM), acted as the Head
of the Lead Laboratory of the GEF financed Baltic Sea Regional Project and chaired
European Committee of the Census of Marine Life. He is national representative in the
ICES Advisory and Science committees. Has experience from several EU FP projects
such as MARBEF, EUR-OCEANS, INCOFISH, IMAGE and VECTORS.
Dr. Vera Agostini is a senior scientist with The Global Marine Initiative of The Nature
Conservancy. She is an ecosystem oceanographer with 15 years of international
experience in climate and fisheries, providing technical expertise across a range of multidisciplinary efforts. Vera has held marine science positions across three sectors: nongovernmental, U.S and international government, and academic/educational. Her
experience ranges from broad policy and planning through comprehensive scientific
ecosystem research to site level community conservation program management. She has
worked on marine issues in a number of areas around the globe (the Mediterranean, the
Coral triangle, the Caribbean, the North Atlantic and the Pacific) and has been invited to
speak and chair a number of international meetings and workshop. Vera's work is
currently focused on integrating people and human well being into conservation.
Examples include marine zoning, ecosystem approaches to fisheries, protected area
network design and ecosystem- based climate adaptation.
Dr. Odd Aksel Bergstad is a principal scientist at the Institute of Marine Research,
Norway. He is interested in the population biology of fishes and ecology of fish
communities and the dynamics of populations and systems in relation to fisheries. For
many years his research and advisory activity has centred on the population biology and
ecology of long-lived deep-water fishes, deepwater fisheries impacts on ecosystems and
the development of comprehensive management approaches to balance exploitation and
conservation. In the period 2000-2010, Odd Aksel led the International MAR-ECO
project, a field project of the Census of Marine Life programme focused on mid-ocean
ridge ecosystems. He also worked extensively in ICES, as advisor to Norwegian
delegations to regional fisheries management organizations (RFMOs), and at FAO,
OSPAR and UNGA. He sees the value of communication of science to wide audiences
and won several awards for his dissemination efforts (2004 Norwegian Research Council
Award for Excellence in Communication of Science, the 2004 Institute of Marine
Research Prize for Public Science Dissemination, and the 2006 EU Descartes Prize for
Science Communication).
Prof. Villy Christensen’s research is focused on one question: will there be seafood and
a healthy ocean for our children and grandchildren to enjoy? The work is conducted
through the Nippon Foundation – UBC Nereus Predicting the Future Ocean Program,
where a suite of global models are coupled to evaluate impact of notably fisheries and
climate change on marine populations globally. This work involves participation in a
number of global initiatives focused on evaluating future scenarios for the oceans.
Further, Professor Christensen is the lead developer of the Ecopath with Ecosim approach
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and software, which is being used extensively throughout the world for ecosystem-based
management of marine areas. Through this he has worked with numerous colleagues
internationally and gained considerable experience with the ecology and management of
marine ecosystems.
Dr. Marta Coll Monton is a researcher at the Institute of Marine Science (Barcelona,
Spain). She is currently working on the EU Marie Curie project "ECOFUN: Analysis of
biodiversity changes on structural and functional properties of marine ecosystems under
cumulative human stressors". Her interest focuses on understanding how changes on
marine biodiversity have been translated into changes on ecosystem structure and
functioning, and on services to humans, and how these changes may impact ecosystems
in the future. She applies ecological modelling techniques using historical and fisheries
data, laboratory experiments and field data analysis. Dr Coll participated in the European
Committee of the Census of Marine Life, and she currently co-chairs the working group
on biodiversity indicators of the international working group “IndiSeas2” (‘Indicators for
the Seas’), and participates in the Ecopath Consortium and the History of Marine Animal
Populations project.
Dr. Kevin Friedland is a researcher with the National Marine Fisheries Service at the
Narragansett Laboratory in Rhode Island, USA. He holds a bachelors degree in ecology
from Rutgers College in New Jersey and a doctorate from the College of William and
Mary in Virginia. His dissertation research was on the distribution and feeding ecology of
Atlantic menhaden. He has done research on menhaden, bluefish, sea herring, sturgeon,
eel, haddock, and salmon. His publications cover a range of topics including: estuarine
ecology of fishes, functional morphology, feeding ecology, recruitment processes,
fisheries oceanography, stock identification, ecosystem ecology, and climate change. His
current research is on the effects of growth on the early maturation and survival of
Atlantic salmon and the factors controlling the recruitment of haddock. He has served as
chair of several ICES committees including the North Atlantic Salmon Working Group,
the Study Group on Stock Identification, and the ICES standing committee on
Anadromous and Catadromous Fishes.
Prof. Poul Holm is a professor of Environmental History at Trinity College Dublin. He
has chaired national and European committees such as the Danish Research Council for
the Humanities (2001-5), the European Society for Environmental History (2005-7), and
the EU DG Research METRIS group (2008-9). He has published on fisheries history and
marine environmental history; coastal communities and culture; and the Viking
settlements in Ireland. He was chair of the History of Marine Animal Populations project,
HMAP, of the Census of Marine Life. He is the lead author of "Marine Animal
Populations: A New Look Back In Time", Life in the World's Oceans: Diversity,
Distribution and Abundance, Oxford, Blackwell.
Dr. Alison MacDiarmid is a principal scientist with the National Institute of Water and
Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand. She was trained as a marine ecologist at
the University of Auckland’s Leigh Marine laboratory in north-eastern New Zealand. Her
PhD focused on the behavioural ecology of spiny lobsters and the recovery of
populations from the effects of fishing in coastal marine reserves. This focus carried
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Five pager for sub-theme: Documenting and Understanding change
1 November 2011
through into her work on the effects of fishing on lobster reproductive ecology when she
joined NIWA in Wellington. This exposure to a broad range of fisheries resulted in
Alison becoming increasingly interested in the effects of fisheries on ecosystem
functioning. Alison leads New Zealand’s first attempt to determine the overall extent of
human impacts on its coastal and shelf ecosystem since humans first settled in 1250 AD.
This project is due for completion in 2011. Other recent projects include those to map
New Zealand’s coastal marine environmental values and to assess anthropogenic threats
to New Zealand marine habitats from salt marsh to the abyss.
Prof. Brian R. MacKenzie, from the Technical University of Denmark, Charlottenlund,
Denmark and Centre for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, University of
Copenhagen, Denmark, is a professor of Marine Fish Population Ecology whose research
interests include natural and anthropogenic (climate change, fishing) effects on fish
populations and marine ecosystem processes, and marine macroecology. He has been
principal scientist and work package leader in HMAP-CoML and several EU projects
(Networks of Excellence, Marie Curie programmes, etc,). He has published >50
publications in internationally peer-refereed journals; publications have been cited by
colleagues > 1000 times. He has supervised/co-supervised 4 Ph.d. students and 4 M. Sc.
students.
Dr. Camilo Mora is an associate professor at University of Hawaii, Department of
Geography. From 2005 to 2010 he was a post-doctoral fellow and researcher with the
Census of Marine Life’s Future of Marine Animal Populations initiative. As part of his
work with the Census, he carried out research and analyses on the causes and
consequences of marine biodiversity change. He has worked and collaborated with
various institutions, such as Dalhousie University, SCRIPPS Institution of Oceanography,
University of California San Diego, and University of Auckland. Dr. Mora research
interests include biogeography, threats to biodiversity, global conservation assessments
and methods for macro-ecology.
Dr. Bhavani Narayanaswamy is a lecturer in deep-sea ecosystems at the Scottish
Association for Marine Science (Scotland, UK). She is currently working on three
seamount related projects 1) UK’s NERC funded “TopoDEEP: Impact of the Geometry
of Submarine Landscapes on Deep-Sea Biogeochemistry”, 2) EU “HERMIONE: Hotspot
Ecosystem Research and Man’s Impact on European Seas” and 3) UK’s NERC funded
“SWIR: Benthic Biodiversity of seamounts in the southwest Indian Ocean”. Her interest
is in community ecology, specifically focussing on how different environmental
parameters influence standing stock, diversity and composition of deep-sea fauna, in
particular the macrofauna whether it be on seamounts, the continental margin or on the
abyssal plain. She is also interested in using historical samples that were collected to
determine whether changes in climate are having an impact on continental margin
macrofaunal community structure, composition and diversity.
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