Hobart

Seminar Abstract

Wednesday 19 December 2007, 11.30am (Tas time)
CSIRO Auditorium, Hobart

Aditee Mitra
Institute of Environmental Sustainability
Swansea University, Wales
and
Managing Editor of the Journal of Plankton Research www.plankt.oxfordjournals.org

Eat to Live or Live to Eat? … Impacts of food quality & quantity in marine systems

Our knowledge of plankton dynamics have increased substantially over the past three decades especially after the recognition of the importance of the microbial organisms. However, plankton ecosystem models have failed to develop in keeping with the phenomenological as well as parametric data. These models and indeed sub-models of the different planktonic components are constructed based on the simple-to-complex ethos typically ignoring important aspects of trophic dynamics such as impacts of varying food quality and quantity on predator-prey interactions. Lack of consideration or indeed improper (dysfunctional) representation of predator-prey dynamics within plankton models has the potential to simulate erroneous outputs. Using phytoplankton as prey and zooplankton as predator, the implications of not considering integrated description of consumer growth dynamics coupled with incorrect representation of prey ingestion according to quality and quantity will be explored.

[back]

Location:
CSIRO = Marine Laboratories Auditorium, Castray Esplanade, Hobart

For further information, or to schedule a seminar, contact:
To schedule a seminar, contact:
Bernadette Sloyan, (Oceanographic seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5152
Thomas Kunz, (Biological seminars) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5076
Natalie Dowling, (Fisheries Modelling) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research
(03) 6232 5148
Jillian Enraght-Moony, (seminar administrator) CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research (03) 6232 5456
Sandra Zicus, Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC (03) 6226 7888
Margaret Hazelwood, Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS) University of Tasmania (03) 6226 2971

Last updated 21/12/07