Call for talks in special session: Eco-evo in the Sea
Interactions between ecological and evolutionary processes (eco-evolutionary dynamics) have primarily been studied only in freshwater and terrestrial habitats. Let’s promote this field into the marine realm!
The Western Society of Naturalists is holding its 100th annual meeting this year in Ensenada on Oct 31 through Nov 3. I would like to propose a special session called “Eco-evolutionary Dynamics in the Sea” that features research related to interactions between ecological and evolutionary change in marine systems. This can include rapid evolution, microevolutionary change, and genetic and phenotypic variation within species. See full description below.
If interested,
- Contact Gina Contolini gcontoli@ucsc.edu by July 10 with a topic for your talk.
- Once approved, you can select the session during registration for the meeting, which opens August 1st at wsn-online.org
- More information about WSN: wsn-online.org, @WSN_Secretariat, #WSN2019, or on Facebook: Western Society of Naturalists
Session title: Eco-evolutionary Dynamics in the Sea
Session description:
An important synthesis between the fields of ecology and evolution rests on the idea that evolutionary processes can happen on the same timescales as ecological processes, allowing the two to interact. This leads to unidirectional and bidirectional effects of ecology and evolution on one another, termed “eco-evolutionary dynamics.” This field broadly includes any approach that links genetic or phenotypic variation to population dynamics, diversity, or ecosystem function, including topics like community genetics and niche construction. While eco-evolutionary dynamics may be critically important for maintaining diversity and stability of communities, the study of the bidirectionality between ecology and evolution has largely progressed only in freshwater and terrestrial systems. It is now time to push the frontier of eco-evolutionary dynamics into the marine realm, where scientists have more recently begun to appreciate the importance of intraspecific variation for communities and ecosystems. Talks in this session will focus on the effects of ecological change on evolutionary processes, the effects of evolutionary change on ecological processes, or the bidirectional interactions (feedbacks) between evolutionary and ecological change in a marine or estuarine ecosystem. Talks can also focus on rapid evolution, microevolutionary change, or genetic or phenotypic variation within species. All scales of study are welcome since eco-evolutionary dynamics can occur at the scale of genes, individuals, populations, communities, and ecosystems.