S6 Linking disciplines to advance mechanistic insights of species responses to climate change

Marine species from shallow to deep waters, are facing warmer, more acidified and oxygen depleted oceans, already causing rapid changes in species distributions, interactions and ecosystem function. Yet, species responses to environmental change and the likely ecosystem changes remain challenging to predict due to an insufficient mechanistic understanding of the underlying processes. Will oxygen limitation in warming water affect the energy budgets, growth and reproduction of marine species? How can we integrate acclimation, genetic adaptation, biotic interactions and multi-level species traits into future predictions? Which species traits and environmental factors matter? How do we account for temperature variability and extremes in experiments and models? What are the likely implications for population productivity, community resilience and fisheries management?
To make reliable predictions of climate change on marine ecosystems and to devise best management practices it is imperative to improve the mechanistic understanding through active interdisciplinary dialogue. This session aims to bring researchers from disciplines of physiology, ecology, genetics and modelling to discuss mechanisms that determine marine organism responses to climate change from individual to community level.

Symposium led by

Asta Audzijonyte
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania

Michael Oellermann
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania

Gretta Pecl
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania