Biodiversity, Ecology, and the Biological Carbon Pump in the Ocean Twilight Zone

OTZ Symposium » Plenary Session

Plenary Session Details

Session 1: September 13-15
This session will focus on how we determine biomass in the mesopelagic, looking at the architecture of mesopelagic food webs, and understanding diel vertical migration.

  1. What is the biomass and distribution of the mesopelagic: how do we know? Who are the major contributors to biomass? How is biomass distributed?
  2. Diel vertical migration and biodiversity: who's migrating, how often, how does this change seasonally, annually?
  3. Food web architecture: what fuels the mesopelagic biomass, how are the epipelagic and mesopelagic connected, what are the predator prey relationships?

Confirmed speakers include:
Tracey Sutton, Nova Southeastern University
Mei Sato, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insitution
Kristina Gjerde, High Seas Advisor to the ICUN
Elizabeth Mendehall, Univeristy of Rhode Island
Annette Govindarajan, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insitution
Dhugal Lindsay, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Tom Langbehn, Unviersity of Bergen
Camrin Braun, Woods Hole Oceanographic Insitution

Session 2: September 18-20
This session will focus on the biological carbon pump, seeking to establish a benchmark figure for its magnitude now and to understand how it may change in the future.

  1. How large are the fluxes due to gravitational sinking and how well do we understand its drivers to predict their future magnitude?
  2. How significant is the transport of organic carbon to depth due to the physical circulation and how will anticipated changes in properties such as stratification affect this?
  3. How significant are the carbon fluxes associated with the vertical migration of organisms and how will these respond to changes in temperature and oxygen?
  4. What biogeochemical constraints are there on the magnitude of the biological carbon pump and what do they tell us about its future strength?

Confirmed Speakers include:
Chloé Baumas, Stanford University
Lionel Guidi, Institut de la Mer de Villefranche
Stephanie Henson, National Oceanography Centre
Svenja Halfter, NIWA
Santiago Hernández León, Universidad de Las Palmas
de Gran Canaria
Jessica Luo, GFDL
Mat Dever, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Jamie Wilson, University of Liverpool
Hervé Claustre, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche
Judith Hauck, Alfred Wegener Institute