2014 – Edition

What Ecology can learn from natural and human-induced disturbances – A cross-system view

Presentation of the edition

The central topic of the colloquium is planned to change every year. Since this summer 2014 is the 10th anniversary of Ramon Margalef’s pass away, we would like to make this year’s colloquia very special, and the topic, exceptionally, will cross the marine boundary to reach a planet view, under the motto: “What Ecology can learn from natural and human-induced disturbances – A cross-system view”. The colloquia will include theoretical and practical activities, all within this central topic, as well as group discussion sessions.

The principal aim of this Colloquia is to enhance the exchange of ideas and to promote imaginative thinking by bringing together ecological knowledge from experts on terrestrial, limnetic and marine systems. Substantial interest has arisen during the last 20 years on global studies in the context of future scenarios. Despite this recognition, very few universities have courses considering cross-system approaches and even fewer international forums have been dedicated to merge experts on the ecology of different systems.

Organization

Margalef recognized the importance of the physical environment to understand the behavior of species and ecosystems. We believe this second Colloquia, to be held during the 10th anniversary of his passing, will be an excellent opportunity to foster lectures and discussions on the relevance of a cross-system perspective in Ecology. We expect to attain this important aim through a very dynamic Colloquia, with an important component of discussion, exchange of ideas and research.

The research institutions involved on its organization are the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM –CSIC), University of Barcelona (UB) and Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF). The Catalan Association of Oceanographers (ACOIO) will handle all organizational issues.

Content

The central topic of the 2014 edition is “What Ecology can learn from natural and human-induced disturbances – A cross-system view”. A total of 24 lectures will be given. Each lecture will extend over 1 hour and will typically be imparted by two senior scientists.

The Colloquia will be organized as follows:

A) Masterly lessons of one hour during mornings (25 hours).
B) Practical activities in the afternoon (12 hours); the student will be able to choose between computer courses on R and Matlab, with specific applications.

C) Open discussions on cross-system ecology topics (8 hours) .
D) Posters discussion. Participants are encouraged to bring along a 3’ presentation together with a poster describing their research. One full afternoon will be dedicated to discuss the students’ research.
E) Other activities. There will also be other activities, such as cultural activities within the city and a guided excursion to Natural Park of Medes Islands, in Costa Brava, including a boat trip and a diving or snorkelling activity or nautical activities at Mataró Harbor.

The lectures, discussion sessions and computer sessions will be imparted and supervised by researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM–CSIC), University of Barcelona (UB) and Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) together with several visiting scientists from other institutions. Additionally, each student group will be assigned to a scientist who will supervise his work on the selected research topic and there will be several young scientists who will help with the computer sessions.

program

Monday 7 July

Morning

Registration and welcome
Welcome Dr. Palanques
Introduction by Miquel Alcaraz

Afternoon

Student presentations
Icebreak beer

Tuesday 8 July

Morning

Topic 1:

Disturbances and evolution.
How do ecosystems self-organise over evolutionary time scales?

Conference Topic 1: Michel Loreau
Conference Topic 1: Simon A. Levin
Conference Topic 1: Antonio García Olivares

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 1
R/Matlab course

Wednesday 9 July

Morning

Topic 2:

Changing environmental pressures:
Adaptive responses versus evolutionary constraints?

Conference Topic 2: Christian Körner
Conference  Topic 2: Jaume Bertranpetit
Conference Topic 2: Daniel Sol

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 2
R/Matlab course

Thursday 10 July

Morning

Topic 3:

Thresholds and tipping points.
Adding pressures on Ecosystems and forcing inevitable ecosystem’s state change

Conference Topic 3: Erik Jeppesen
Conference Topic 3: Jordi Martínez-Vilalta
Conference Topic 3: Carlos Duarte

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 3
R/Matlab Course
Maritime Museum

Friday 11 July

Morning

Topic 4:

Looking at paleo-data.
What can we learn from past disturbance records?

Conference Topic 4: Jordi Catalan
Conference Topic 4: Eva Calvo
Conference Topic 4: Isabel Cacho

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 4
Posters

Monday 14 July

Morning

Topic 5:

Mitigation, Restoration and adaptive actions.
Are they sufficient and adequate?

Conference Topic 5: Josep Canadell
Conference Topic 5: Ramon Vallejo
Conference Topic 5: Eugenia Martí

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 5
Aplications R/Matlab

Tuesday 15 July

Morning

Topic 6:

Looking at Biosphere and Ecosystems’ complexity.
How adaptive to disturbances are complex systems?

Conference Topic 6: Salvador Pueyo
Conference Topic 6: Josep Lluís Pelegrí
Conference Topic 6: Frederic Bartumeus

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 6
Aplications R/Matlab

Wednesday 16 July

Morning

Topic 7:

Disturbance as an opportunity window.
How good or bad are disturbances for native versus alien species?

Conference Topic 7:  Joan Pino
Conference Topic 7: Joaquim Garrabou
Conference Topic 7: Emili García-Berthou

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 7
Aplications R/Matlab

Thursday 17 July

Morning

Topic 8:

Stochastic vs. rhythmic disturbances.
How do ecosystems cope with expected and unexpected disturbances?

Conference Topic 8: Juli Pausas
Conference Topic 8: Jofre Carnicer
Conference Topic 8: Pedro Cermeño

Afternoon

Discussion about Topic 8
Discussion syntesis
Closing dinner

Friday 18 July

Morning

Student communicating science (SCS)

Team

Mentors and coordinators

The lectures, discussion sessions and computer sessions will be imparted and supervised by researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM–CSIC), University of Barcelona (UB) and Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) together with several visiting scientists from other institutions. Additionally, each student group will be assigned to a scientist who will supervise his work on the selected research topic and there will be several young scientists who will help with the computer sessions.

Course directors

Celia Marrasé, ICM-CSIC
Josep Lluís Pelegrí, ICM-CSIC
Aurora Requena Guitiérrez, ACOIO
Elisabet Bonfill i Molina, ACOIO
Fernando Condal Domingo, ACOIO

Academical committe

Cèlia Marrasé, ICM-CSIC
Josep Lluís Pelegrí, ICM-CSIC
Josep Piñol, UAB-CREAF
Francesc Sabater, UB
Santiago Sabaté, UB-CREAF

Key participating scientists

Salvador Pueyo
Jordi Catalan
José M. Montoy
Eugenia Martí
Pedro Cermeño
Antonio García-Olivares
Jofre Carnicer
Eva Calvo
Frederic Bartumeus
Ramón Vallejo
Daniel Sol
Jordi Martínez-Vilalta
Joan Pino
Isabel Cacho
Emili García-Berthou
Joaquim Garrabou
Sergio Vallina
Núria Teixidó
Antonio Canepa
Joan Lluís Riera
Josep Lluís Pelegrí
Marc Gasser
Jaume Bertranpetit

Institutional support OF THE EDITION