New approaches and technologies, as well as the increasing length of biological time series and greater scope of spatial coverage in marine plankton studies, are leading to advances in understanding marine plankton (at the population, assemblage, and community level) and their functions in the marine environment.
This theme session provides an opportunity to explore the breadth and scope of advances in marine plankton research, to identify knowledge gaps and research challenges, and, in a context of global change, to discuss future steps to increase our understanding of marine plankton in pertinent research areas.
Marine zooplankton, which typically have short generation times, are sensitive indicators of change in the ocean environment and ecosystem. Zooplankton variability at the population, assemblage, and community levels reflects the combined influence of a variety of processes, including direct temperature effects on species' physiological rates, ecological interactions with prey and predators, and physical transport.
They are increasingly looked to by researchers and managers for assessing the state of ecosystems and predicting potential future changes to ecosystems and their food webs.
This session will focus on changes in zooplankton assemblages and communities, exploring common and contrasting patterns among species responses to environmental and ecological changes that can provide perspectives on processes driving changes as well as potential effects on higher trophic levels.
The session welcomes papers using a broad variety of approaches, including empirical analyses of time series observations, numerical and statistical modelling studies, genetic approaches, and studies using new techniques for observing community changes.
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