Integrative Research Addressing Responses, Refuges and Rescue in Marine Ecosystems

Ocean Global Change Biology is a multidisciplinary field and includes investigators working in numerous marine ecosystems, ranging from the open ocean to coral reefs. The field also integrates numerous techniques and approaches to understand how populations of marine organisms will respond to the complex, multiple stressor scenario emerging in the contemporary world ocean, and in future ocean change that we expect in the coming decades.

The Ocean Global Change Biology GRC seeks to synthesize new research directions, and identify synergies across subdisciplines, using a boundary spanning approach to understand the response of marine organisms and ecosystems to environmental change. Held in 2014, the inaugural Ocean Global Change Biology GRC emphasized several core themes including the response of organisms to interacting multiple stressors, mechanisms of adaptation and phenotypic plasticity, and presentations reviewing modeling efforts and experimental design. The 2018 conference will continue to pursue these goals, and will include 3 new sessions designed to highlight emerging perspectives and research efforts in the field – the role of epigenetic mechanisms in rapid responses to environmental change, the utility of "multiple trait-based" approaches in ocean global change research, and an exploration of the potential for climate change refuges and rescue. Notably, one goal of the 2018 GRC is stimulate discussion that helps us move beyond description of the response of organisms, and lean towards integrating science into actions that might be viable in a conservation or management context.