New Frontiers in Antarctic Marine Biology Symposium

University Of Alabama At Birmingham, Birmingham AL

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal will support a symposium entitled "New Frontiers in Antarctic Marine Biology" at the 2020 Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) meeting will be held 3-7 January in Austin, Texas. SICB has approximately 3000 members whose research interests span a wide range of biological topics and their annual meetings are widely advertised and attended. Topical areas will include, among others, the recent dramatic ecological impacts of climate changes across multiple trophic levels in Antarctic seas, advances in molecular and physiological aspects of cold adaptation in marine algae, invertebrates, and fish, the role of chemical ecology in structuring nearshore macroalgal-mesograzer interactions in communities of the Antarctic Peninsula, revising phylogeographic patterns in Antarctica in the age of 'omics,' and advances in the use of biogeochemical markers to track diets and movement of Antarctic marine predators. The unique marine environment of Antarctica provides an exciting opportunity to showcase a broadly based symposium on aspects of the biology of its rich and diverse marine life. Not only are the topics in the proposed symposium timely and to be presented by leaders in the field, they will encompass cutting edge science, novel techniques, and future directions. The presentations will be of pertinence to biologists (graduate students, post-docs, and research faculty) working in temperate and tropical marine environments, as well as polar marine environments This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.