7th ICES/PICES Zooplankton Production Symposium

We are living in the Anthropocene. Our oceans are warmer, more acidic, have widespread plastic and other pollution, and are subjected to increasing exploitation including overfishing. Zooplankton play a pivotal role in our oceans, as grazers of primary production, as drivers of carbon and nutrient cycles, and as prey for higher trophic level consumers including both harvested fish species and iconic marine mammals and seabirds. How zooplankton will respond to the dramatic changes in our marine ecosystems will impact the health and productivity of our oceans and our planet.

To better understand zooplankton in a changing world, ICES and PICES are holding the 7th International Zooplankton Production Symposium as a forum to discuss the latest zooplankton research. The ICES/PICES Zooplankton Production Symposium will bring together the top zooplankton researchers globally, showcasing recent advances. Understanding the current and evolving role of zooplankton will require new insights provided by:

• Assessing the impact on zooplankton of climate change, fishing, and pollution such as microplastics
• State-of-the-art sampling techniques such as DNA, imaging, and bioacoustics
• Biochemical methods applied to unravelling complex trophic ecology
• The application of cutting-edge approaches in zooplankton modelling, including size and trait-based biogeochemical and ecosystem models
• Revealing the role of microzooplankton in biogeochemical cycling and food webs
• Exploring the structure and functioning of macrozooplankton communities and their impact on carbon sequestration and trophic ecology
• Examining zooplankton in fisheries science, including dynamics of fish larvae, the impact of zooplankton on fish larval mortality and growth, and the commercial harvest of zooplankton
• Elucidating the vital role of zooplankton in polar environments
• Understanding the role of gelatinous filter feeders and jellyfish in carbon sequestration and trophic ecology
• The use of zooplankton as ecosystem indicators in a changing ocean

Our Symposium will be held over five days in the historic waterfront district of Hobart, Australia, during Autumn, from 17-22 March 2024. This event will be held in-person and provide the first opportunity since 2016 for zooplankton researchers to meet, build networks, and hear the latest science. We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely and will adapt our plans as needed.

More information is available here https://meetings.pices.int/Meetings/International/2024/ZPS7/scope