Date

Session Announcement and Call for Abstracts
Impacts of Climate Warming on Polar Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems
ASLO Aquatic Sciences Meeting 2009
Nice, France
25-30 January 2009

Abstract Submission Deadline: Friday, 3 October 2008

For further information about the conference please go to:
http://www.aslo.org/meetings/nice2009/index.html

For further information about this session please contact:
Susana Agusti
Email: sagusti [at] uib.es

Mikael Sejr
Email: mse [at] dmu.dk


Abstracts are invited for session 54, "Impacts of Climate Warming on
Polar Marine and Freshwater Ecosystem," to be convened at the ASLO
Aquatic Sciences Meeting 2009, 25-30 January 2009, in Nice, France.

The 4th International Polar Year (IPY, March 2007 - March 2009) is
taking place at a time when climate warming is clearly affecting polar
regions. Warming rates and the associated ice loss appears to be
accelerating in the Arctic and some regions of Antarctica. Provided the
critical role of ice cover in determining the functioning and traits of
polar aquatic ecosystems, marine and freshwater, rapid ice loss is
expected to severely impact these ecosystems at multiple levels. Ice
loss will affect the radiative balance of polar waters, affecting their
thermal and light environments, including UV. Ice loss will intensify
air-water interactions in polar ecosystems, and will also severely
impact all species, from microbes to megafauna, depending on ice as
habitat. Warming, together with ice loss, will affect the key biological
and biogeochemical processes supporting aquatic polar ecosystems, and
may induce ecological regime shifts in these ecosystems, derived from
possible losses of polar biodiversity, together with an increased
vulnerability to invasions from exotic species.

This session aims at providing a forum to present and discuss, both
through oral presentations and posters, results on the Impacts of
Climate Warming on Polar Ecosystems, allowing scientists concerned with
benthic, pelagic, freshwater and marine ecosystems to interact and
exchange information. This session is financially supported by the
Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation.

The abstract submission deadline is Friday, 3 October 2008. To submit an
abstract please go to:
http://www.aslo.org/meetings/nice2009/start_process.html

For further information about the conference please go to:
http://www.aslo.org/meetings/nice2009/index.html

For further information about this session please contact:
Susana Agusti
Email: sagusti [at] uib.es

Mikael Sejr
Email: mse [at] dmu.dk