Ocean Ecologies and their Physical Habitats in a Changing Climate

The goal of the workshop is to bring together biologists studying ocean and polar ecologies; oceanographers, biogeochemists, and climate scientists studying the changing physical habitats; and mathematicians with ecological and physical expertise. The two-way feedback interactions between ocean ecological systems and their physical environments have the potential to dramatically impact both marine biodiversity, and the planetary response to the changing atmosphere. The types of mathematics used to model ecological and physical processes are typically quite different. One of the exciting aspects of this workshop, and a reason to run it at MBI, is that we anticipate interesting new mathematical challenges arising from combining these different approaches to focus on modeling the feedback interactions between the ecological and physical systems.
The workshop will focus on two main themes:

1. Polar and sea ice ecologies
2. Phytoplankton and the carbon cycle

These themes are particularly timely in that the impact of climate change on these systems has been quite pronounced. Moreover, these areas are further tied together through the interplay of a wide range of the length scales involved, from microscopic to many kilometers over oceanic regions. As with all aspects of mathematics and climate change, this is an emerging area, and part of the reason for running the workshop is to help identify the mathematical challenges and opportunities the emerging topics present.

Scientific Advisory Board

• Steven Ackley, Department of Earth & Environmental Science, University of Texas @San Antonio
• Stephen Ellner, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University
• Amala Mahadevan, Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University
• Emily Shuckburgh, British Antarctic Survey
• Walker Smith, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary
• David Thomas, School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, UK

Accepted Speakers

• Dorian Abbot (Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago)
• Stephen Ackley (Earth & Environmental Science, University of Texas at San Antonio)
• Robert Armstrong (School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University)
• Bruno Delille (Astrophysics, Geophysics, and Oceanography, University of Liege)
• Arjen Doelman (Mathematisch Instituut, Leiden University)
• Ken Golden (Mathematics, University of Utah)
• Alan Hastings (Environmental Science and Policy, University of California)
• Keith Lindsay (Climate and Global Dynamics, National Center for Atmospheric Research)
• Nicole Lovenduski (Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado)
• Irina Marinov (Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania)
• Peter Molnar (Centre for Mathematical Biology, University of Alberta)
• Emily Shuckburgh (Natural Environmental Research Council, British Antarctic Survey)
• Walker Smith (Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary)
• Cornelius Sullivan (Biological Sciences, University of Southern California)
• David Thomas (School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University)
• Jean-Louis Tison (Earth and Environmental Sciences, Universite Libre de Bruxelles)
• Martin Vancoppenolle (Georges Lemaitre Centre for Earth and Climate Research, Universite Catholique de Louvain)
• Ariane Verdy (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles)
• Patricia Yager (Marine Sciences, University of Georgia)
• Antonios Zagaris (Applied Analysis & Mathematical Physics, University of Twente)

Further information here