The ocean, climate and society

Course description and objectives

The ocean is an increasingly important source of protein for a growing human population, but at the same time under constant pressure from climate change, pollution and fisheries activities. In this course we will discuss how the ocean and the organisms living in it are affected by these factors, focusing on how ocean warming and acidification, pollution and fisheries influence the future productivity of the ocean.

Course objectives

1. Summarize the recent IPCC-report and how it describes the consequences for marine ecosystems under the predicted climate change.
2. Discuss how climate change will affect the productivity of the ocean, and the production chains we depend upon for fisheries and aquaculture.
3. Develop an understanding of how climate change and human activities influence fundamental processes in marine organisms and ecosystem functioning from microbes to fish.

Targeted students, prerequisites and ECTS

The ocean, climate and society is targeted at PhD students interested in marine ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture, and climate change. It is a two weeks course which will include plenary activities, lectures, in addition to presentations on students’ own papers.

The reading list includes relevant papers and core parts of the IPCC report, and must be read prior to the course. It will also form the basis for a written paper (5000 words) on a specific topic in agreement with one of the course leaders. The essays should be typed, double spaced, 1.0~1.5” margins on all sides, and 12 size font. Deadline for delivery will be specified by the course leaders, and the papers will be graded as pass/not pass. Students are required to attend all course sessions and participation in the plenary events is also mandatory. The programme will be published on the web. 10 ECTS will be awarded upon successful participation and completion of the full programme, including an essay approved by the course leaders.

Course leader

Øyvind Fiksen
Professor, Department of Biology, UiB and the Hjort Centre for Marine Ecosystem Dynamics.

Invited lecturer

Keith Brander
Emeritus, DTU Aqua, Denmark

Lecturers

Svein Sundby
Senior researcher, IMR

Dag L. Aksnes
Professor, Department of Biology, UiB

Anders Goksøyr
Professor, Department of Biology, UiB

Katja Enberg
Program leader, Adjunct professor, IMR

Christian Jørgensen
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, UiB

Aud Larsen
Principal Researcher, Uni Research

Stein Kaartvedt
Professor, Section for Aquatic Biology and Toxicology, University of Oslo

Mark Powell
Professor, Department of Biology, UiB

Reading list (preliminary)

1. Brander, K. 2015. Improving the Reliability of Fishery Predictions Under Climate Change. Current Climate Change Reports, 1: 40-48.
2. Barange, M., Merino, G., Blanchard, J. L., Scholtens, J., Harle, J., Allison, E. H., Allen, J. I., et al. 2014. Impacts of climate change on marine ecosystem production in societies dependent on fisheries. Nature Climate Change, 4: 211-216
3. van Wesenbeeck, B. K., Balke, T., van Eijk, P., Tonneijck, F., Siry, H. Y., Rudianto, M. E., and Winterwerp, J. C. 2015. Aquaculture induced erosion of tropical coastlines throws coastal communities back into poverty. Ocean & Coastal Management, 116: 466-469.
4. Pörtner, H.-O., D.M. Karl, P.W. Boyd, W.W.L. Cheung, S.E. Lluch-Cota, Y. Nojiri, D.N. Schmidt, and P.O. Zavialov, 2014: Ocean systems. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 411-484.
5. Hoegh-Guldberg, O., R. Cai, E.S. Poloczanska, P.G. Brewer, S. Sundby, K. Hilmi, V.J. Fabry, and S. Jung, 2014: The Ocean. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part B: Regional Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Barros, V.R., C.B. Field, D.J. Dokken, M.D. Mastrandrea, K.J. Mach, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L. White (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 1655-1731.
6. Drinkwater, K.F., Miles, M., Medhaug, I., Otterå, O.H., Kristiansen, T., Sundby, S., and Gao, Y. 2014. The Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation: Its manifestations and impacts with special emphasis on the Atlantic region north of 60°N. Journal of Marine Systems, 133: 117-130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2013.11.001
7. Hollowed, A.B., and Sundby, S. 2014. Change is coming to the northern oceans. Perspectives. Science 344 (6188): 1084-1085. 6 June 2014.
8. Landa, C.S., Ottersen, G., Sundby, S., Dingsør, G.E., and Stiansen, J. E. 2014. Recruitment, distribution boundary and habitat temperature of an arcto-boreal gadoid in a climatically changing environment: a case study on Northeast Arctic haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus). Fisheries Oceanography 23(6): 506-520.
9. Poloczanska, E.S., C.J. Brown, W.J. Sydeman, W. Kiessling, D.S. Schoeman, P.J. Moore,K. Brander, J.F. Bruno, L.B. Buckley, M.T. Burrows, C.M. Duarte, B.S. Halpern, J. Holding, C.V. Kappel, M.I. O'Connor, J.M. Pandolfi, C. Parmesan, F.B. Schwing, S.A. Thompson, and A.J. Richardson, 2013: Global imprint of climate change on marine life. Nature Climate Change, 3, 919-925
10. Holt RE and Jørgensen C.  2015. Climate change in fish: effects of respiratory constraints on optimal life history and behaviour. Biol Lett 11.
11. Opdal AF and Jørgensen C.  2015. Long-term change in a behavioural trait: truncated spawning distribution and demography in Northeast Arctic cod. Glob Change Biol 21: 1521-1530.
12. Pörtner HO. 2010. Oxygen- and capacity-limitation of thermal tolerance: a matrix for integrating climate-related stressor effects in marine ecosystems. Journal of Experimental Biology 213: 881-893.
13. Poloczanska ES, Brown CJ, Sydeman WJ, Kiessling W, Schoeman DS, Moore PJ, Brander K, Bruno JF, Buckley LB, Burrows MT, Duarte CM, Halpern BS, Holding J, Kappel CV, O/'Connor MI, Pandolfi JM, Parmesan C, Schwing F, Thompson SA and Richardson AJ.  2013. Global imprint of climate change on marine life. Nature Climate Change 3: 919-925.
14. Thingstad, T. F., and others. 2008. Counterintuitive carbon-to-nutrient coupling in an Arctic pelagic ecosystem. Nature. 455: 387–391 (including supplementary)
15. Larsen, A., Egge, J. K., Nejstgaard, J. C., Di Capua, I., Thyrhaug, R., Bratbak, G., and Thingstad, T. F. 2015. Contrasting response to nutrient manipulation in Arctic mesocosms are reproduced by a minimum microbial food web model. Limnology and Oceanography, 60: 360-374.
16. Duarte, C. M., Holmer, M., Olsen, Y., Soto, D., Marba, N., Guiu, J., Black, K., et al. 2009. Will the Oceans Help Feed Humanity? Bioscience, 59: 967-976.
17. Duarte, C. M., Fulweiler, R. W., Lovelock, C. E., Martinetto, P., Saunders, M. I., Pandolfi, J. M., Gelcich, S., et al. 2015. Reconsidering Ocean Calamities. Bioscience, 65: 130-139.