[Coral-List] ICRS - local drivers and climate change

[Graham, Nick]

Dear coral-listers,

With the abstract deadline for ICRS 2020 fast approaching, please consider the following session, within theme 9, convened by Aaron MacNeil, Michelle Devlin, and me. Our goal for the session is to critically ask if, and how, local actions may buffer reefs from climate impacts, or help drive recovery.

Theme 9: How do local drivers mediate coral reef ecosystem responses to climate change?

Climate change is emerging as a major determinant of coral reef persistence, yet pervasive threats such as poor water quality and overfishing continue to cause widespread reef decline. While climate change itself is beyond any single jurisdiction, actions on local disturbances have the potential to substantially influence coral reef processes, and thus responses to and recovery from climatic threats. In this symposium we are interested in whether local management of ecosystem characteristics - ecosystem functioning, community structure, and responses through time - can moderate climate-driven reef degradation. We are interested in experimental and observational examples where local impacts do not moderate reef responses to climate change, and examples where mitigation of local impacts has improved reef resistance, recovery, or both.

Potential ideas of interest include:
- Is local driver management redundant in the face of climate change?
- Can changes in water quality mediate coral reef responses to climate change?
- What levels of fishing pressure, or types of management, determine continued ecosystem functioning?
- What are the responses and resilience of interconnected coastal systems including coral reefs, seagrasses, and mangroves?
- Do fishing and water quality interact to determine ecosystem responses to climate change?
- Can key functional groups (effect traits) be enhanced through managing local drivers?
- What novel approaches (co-management, gear exclusions, eDNA, remote sensing, modelling) can we learn from to help manage local pressures on reefs?
We also welcome theoretical or conceptual talks that highlight new or emerging ideas concerning multi-scale, multi-threat futures for coral reef ecosystems.

We hope to see you at ICRS 2020 and thank you for considering our session.

Best,

Nick


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Nick Graham

Professor of Marine Ecology
Royal Society Research Fellow
Lancaster Environment Centre
Lancaster University
LA1 4YQ, UK

Tel: +44 (0)1524 595054
Twitter: @naj_graham<https://twitter.com/naj_graham>
Website<http://www.lec-reefs.org/> | Webpage<http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lec/about-us/people/nick-graham> | Publications<https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=nTILkOoAAAAJ&hl=en> | Adjunct Prof @ JCU<http://www.coralcoe.org.au/researchers/nick-graham>

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