NCEAS Roundtable Wednesday November 20 at noon
Camila Vargas Poulsen
Dear Community,
Mark your calendar for our upcoming Roundtable!
For this opportunity, Mack White from the Marine Consumer Nutrient Dynamic LTER Working Group will present on “Consumer nutrient dynamics of coastal marine systems in the wake of global change.”
When: Wednesday, November 20, at Noon
Where: NCEAS (1021 Anacapa Street), 3rd-floor lounge
Join us virtually by connecting to:
https://ucsb.zoom.us/j/468789779?pwd=aklaUWYrNkNHMDduY2xEWDFyWU03Zz09
Abstract
Increasing hydroclimatic variability as a result of global change is altering the population and community dynamics of marine animals. Given that animals are key recyclers of nutrients in many systems, these changes may have consequences at multiple levels of ecological organization with important implications for ecosystem function. Consumer-mediated nutrient dynamics (CND) are an integral part of biogeochemical cycles, but to-date long-term studies are lacking. Without long-term data across large spatial scales, it is difficult to predict how ecosystems will respond to shifting baselines, as well as increases in the frequency and severity of disturbance events. In this Roundtable, I will discuss ongoing research conducted by myself and other members of the Marine CND Synthesis Working Group to better understand temporal dynamics of CND across estuarine, seagrass, kelp forest, coral reef, and pelagic ocean environments. Specifically, I will discuss preliminary results of our work to address the two main objectives of our working group: (1) characterizing spatiotemporal patterns in the magnitude and stability of CND and (2) evaluating the resilience of CND to variable disturbance events. Our results highlight the importance of community structure and diversity at multiple levels of organization in mediating global change impacts to the ecosystem services of marine animals.
About the Speaker
Mack is a Ph.D. candidate at Florida International University whose dissertation research revolves around further understanding the role of fishes in the cycling of nutrients and flow of energy in the Florida Coastal Everglades (FCE-LTER). His synthesis research expands on this work, as well as his previous work on nutrient transport by spawning migrations of suckers. Mack holds a M.S. in Biology from Tennessee Tech University and B.S. in Environmental Science from Marshall University.
Find all the details of this event on the attached flyer