Previous Meetings

Polar ecosystems: physiological and ecological responses to rapid change (University of Herts, St Albans, Thursday 11th Sept, 08:30 to 13:00)

Challenger is co-sponsoring this particular themed session within the 'Annual Meeting of the British Ecological Society, University of Hertfordshire (St Albans), Tuesday 8th to Thursday 11th September

The Polar regions are experiencing rapid climate change. They contain the three regions where air temperatures are increasing most rapidly and it is apparent that this is driving change in ecosystems on land and in the oceans. Large scale processes such as loss of sea ice and permafrost are driving ecosystem changes that are of global significance because of the impact on living resources, biodiversity and the whole earth system. The effects of climate change are not experienced evenly in the Polar regions. In the Arctic warming is ubiquitous, while In the Antarctic rapid warming is confined mainly to the Antarctic Peninsula region. Both the Arctic and Antarctic are remote regions where ecological response to climate change is less well understood than elsewhere but where systems may be particularly vulnerable. The effects of these changes have already been demonstrated to be severe in some groups and large ecosystem effects are already apparent. Mechanisms of response to acute changes have been identified but factors such as adaptation rates and ecological balance require urgent attention. The prospects from individuals to ecosystems remain poorly determined, but polar systems are globally significant. Developing integrated understanding across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales and from genes to ecosystems is fundamental to understanding the likely consequences of the changes that are already occurring. In this session we aim to bring the community together to identify the key current issues and provide the opportunity to develop the interdisciplinary, multi-scale and bipolar synthetic approaches needed.

Keynote speaker and title: Prof Andrew Clarke (British Antarctic Survey)
Confirmed speakers: ~
Dr Michael Burrows (Scottish Association for Marine Science)
Dr Peter Convey (British Antarctic Survey)
Dr Geraint Tarling (British Antarctic Survey)

 For further information on the programme, go to here.