Ocean Sciences 2002 Meeting

[Jennifer E Smith]

Friends and Colleagues,

	On behalf of myself, and John Runcie we would like to announce a
special session that we are convening at the ASLO and AGU 2002 Ocean
Sciences meeting this spring, Feb. 11-15th in Honolulu. We encourage you
to submit abstracts on research conducted in any field/area related to
nutrients and coastal ecosystems both tropical and temperate to session
OS42: Nutrient Dynamics in Coastal Ecosystems: Linking Physical and
Biological Processes (abstract follows). If you have any questions feel
free to contact myself, or John.

More information can be obtained on the following web page:
http://www.agu.org/meetings/os02top.html

Important Dates:
November 1, 2001 - Deadline for receipt of the Postal/Express Mail
Abstracts
November 8, 2001 at 1400 UTC - Deadline for receipt of the Electronic
Abstract January 11, 2002 - Deadline for pre-registration and housing
February 11-15, 2002 - 2002 Ocean Sciences, Honolulu, Hawaii
OS42 Nutrient Dynamics in Coastal Ecosystems: Linking Physical and
Biological Processes
Understanding the relative importance of natural and human-induced
elevated-nutrient events on coastal ecosystems is an important global
issue. As yet there are few clear answers. Considerable progress has been
made in our understanding of the hydrology of coastal waters, the ecology
of the organisms living in these waters and their physiology;  nutrient
dynamics have been an important component in many of these studies. Yet,
of these studies, few cross the traditional lines of discipline. In
temperate regions, upwelling and large scale physical processes have long
been shown to deliver substantial levels of nutrients to coastal
ecosytems, thereby supporting high biomass communities such as kelp
forests. In contrast, tropical marine communities are generally considered
to be nutrient limited where they exist on tightly recycled and newly
generated nutrients. However, recent research has shown that not all
tropical areas conform to this paradigm. The effects of localized and
large scale physical processes on tropical benthic or pelagic communities
remains largely unstudied. Anthropogenic nutrient imputs in both temperate
and tropical regions have often been suggested as the primary cause of
large scale phase shifts in benthic marine communities. The precise role
of nutrients in these ecosystem-wide changes remains largely debated. This
session is intended to be a forum where researchers from a variety of
disciplines present their views of how
best we can understand the real influence of elevated nutrients on coastal
ecosystems. An integral part of the session is to open the floor for
discussion in the form of open questions for any of the speakers in the
session. We hope to break down some of the barriers between researchers
traditionally working in separate fields.
Conveners: Jennifer Smith, University of Hawaii Manoa, 3190 Maile Way,
Honolulu, HI 96822 USA, Tel: (808) 956-3943, email: jesmith at hawaii.edu,
and John Runcie, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, P.O. Box 1346,
Kaneohe, HI 96744 USA, Tel: (808) 236 7477, Fax: (808) 236 7443, email:
runcie at hawaii.edu


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Jennifer E. Smith
Graduate Research Assistant
Botany Department
University of Hawaii Manoa
3190 Maile Way
Honolulu HI 96822

office (808)956-3944
email: jesmith at hawaii.edu
http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/GradStud/smith/JENHOME.htm
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