Europole Mer : research consortium on marine science and technology in Brittany

Climate change is unambiguous and its effects are clearly detected in all functional units of the Earth Climate change drives demographic and evolutionary processes that determine diversity within and among species. Recent rapid climate warming has resulted in changes, in particular, in the abundance, population structure and biogeographic ranges of a large number of marine indicator species. However, the response of the ecosystem will vary according to the number of species, the intra-specific diversity, but also to the nature of the interaction network and their connectivity. Climate warming induces alterations in organism interactions. For example, variations in temperature and precipitation ranges could result in new epizooty emergence. Similarly, loss of genetic diversity could lead to a decrease in the capacity of marine invertebrate populations to adapt to changing environment, associated with climate change.  Within marine anthropogenic ecosystems, this theme incorporates strong links with Human Sciences and society.

Confirmed speakers:
Jean-François Guégan (France): Biodiversity and global change: emergence of infectious disease in marine ecosystems
Jim Cloern (USA): Ecosystems and Climate Change: Responses of biological communities

Anne-Sophie Arnaud (France): Role and influence of marine genetic diversity facing climate change