YOUMARES 11

From coast to deep sea: multiscale approaches to marine sciences

11.-13. SEPTEMBER 2013, OLDENBURG

From 11 to 13 September 2013, the University of Oldenburg (Germany) was the stage of the 4th edition of YOUMARES, a conference aiming to provide a platform for young maritime scientists. The conference attracted 150 attendees and involved 56 different universities and institutions.

The delegates mainly came from European countries, including the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Brazil, France and Iran. A total of 53 presentations and discussions were held in 15 sessions grouped around themes like Marine Plastic Pollution: From Sources to Solutions; What’s up with Coral Reefs and Marine Measurement Technologies: Science and Engineering stretching to Responses of Marine Fish to Multiple Envir​onmental Stressors. In add​ition to these presentations, a poster presentation was positioned hosting 35 posters in the reception hall. Organiser Johanna Wiedling expressed her appreciation for the oral presentations as the quality was high. “The presenters were mainly Bachelor and Master students and it was very motivating to see that so many different topics were addressed”, she explained.

Awards

On the Friday night, awards for the best posters and the best oral presentations were presented during the closing ceremony.

Best Posters

  1. Ramona Brunner – Session 9 – Who benefits the most? – Photosynthetic responses to light and nutrient enrichment.
  2. Pia Kegler – Session 7 – Stressing coral reefs – combined effects of organic pollutants and ocean warming.
  3. Astrid Böhmer – Session 10 – Responses of the cold-water coral Desmophyllum dianthus to future CO2 concentrations.

Best Oral Presentations

  1. Daan Mes – Session 9 – Light harvesting strategies of benthic cyanobacteria on a coral reef on Curacao.
  2. Megan Nowell – Session 6 – Composition, configuration or complexity: spatial metric to manage disturbed seascapes.
  3. Julia Hämer – Session 6 – Uptake, Transport and Deposition of Microplastics in Marine Isopods.

The winners were awarded book vouchers and small gifts from Springer.

Regional Keynotes

The event was opened by keynote presentations, which were all linked to aspects of the region and the Baltic area. Prof. Dr Antje Boëltius (Joint Research Group for Deep-sea Ecology and Technology, Germany) talked about her experience with Arctic coring research and challenges the melting ice cap poses to research. Oksana Udovyk (University of Stockholm, Sweden) presented risk approaches for chemical management in the Baltic. Chemicals and their handling can have important consequences on the ecology of the seafloor and her research creates a framework to handle it based on the REACH initiative. Dr Jörn Schmidt (Christian Albrechts University of Kiel, Germany) followed by sketching an ecological approach for fisheries management, which also has economic advantages. Particularly if fishermen are ready to make a small change, the advantages can be significant.

Excursions

The delegates were also given the opportunity to join one of the excursions. Two groups were able to take a trip on the research vessel Aldebaran. The sailing yacht is actually equipped as a TV studio, facilitating the broadcasting of research, thus widening the audience for the activities. Another group was welcomed to have a taster of oceanographic research on the research vessel Otzum. Workshops were held with the author Bernhard Kegel and there was a workshop on scientific publishing.

YOUMARES 4 Sessions

  1. Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) –small in size but large in impact: Basis of life in the world’s ocean
    Session chairs: Seibt, Stratmann and Stumm
  2. Aquatic microorganisms: between producers, consumers and pathogens
    Session chairs: Gärdes, Schwieder and Einsporn
  3. Marine plastic pollution: from sources to solutions
    Session chairs: Beilfuss and Wiedling
  4. Importance of coral reefs for coastal zones: services, threats, protection strategies
    Session chairs: Wolf and Jessen
  5. Fluctuations in cephalopod and jellyfish abundances: reasons and potential impacts on marine ecosystems
    Session chairs: Crespi-Abril and Keller
  6. Responses of marine fish to environmental stressors
    Session chairs: Kreiss and Michael
  7. The ecosystem approach and beyond: multidisciplinary science for sustainability in fisheries
    Session chairs: Kochalski, Schendel and Romagnoni
  8. Aquaculture: Fish feeds the world –but how?
    Session chairs: Steinberg, Schaefer and Meyer
  9. How to integrate blue biotechnology in food industry and medicine
    Session chairs: Gebert and Luellwitz
  10. Marine measurement technologies: Science and Engineering
    Session chairs: Gottschall and Heckmann
  11. Operational Oceanography
    Session chairs: Holinde and Schulz
  12. Methods and applications of ocean remote sensing
    Session chair: Karimova
  13. Coping with uncertainties in marine science – from crisis management to the n
    Session chair: Udovyk
  14. Marine Habitat Mapping: stretching the blue marble on a map
    Session chair: Caperucci
  15. What’s up with coral reefs?
    Session chairs: Den Haan and Brocke

YOUMARES Orga-Team

Johanna Wiedling, Franziska Preuß, Daniel Ritter, Anne-Christin Schulz, Ferdinand Esser, Lars Holinde, Marc Einsporn, Sebastian Rakers, Vera Golz, Lydia, Vincent Wilms, Sabrina Kalita, Liesa von Essen

Conference program

Overview of YOUMARES 2020 Sessions

Session 1: The microscopic engines of the oceans: role and strategies of marine microbes in a changing world
Hosts: Alejandra Elisa-Magaña, Belén Franco-Cisterna (University of Southern Denmark)

YOUMARES Detailed Program – Physical

Session 2: Assessing the real concentrations of microplastic and their actual effects on marine biota
Hosts: Lukas Novaes Tump (University of Oldenburg, Germany), Mel Constant (LASIR, Unversité Lille 1, France)

YOUMARES Detailed Program – Physical

Session 3a: Coral restoration & marine conservation
Hosts: Sarah Abdelhamid, Victoria Huk (University of Rostock, Germany)

YOUMARES Detailed Program – Physical

Session 4: Fjord systems: Ecology, bentho-pelagic coupling, and anthropogenic impacts
Hosts : Thomas Heran, Santiago Pineda (Alfred Wegner Institute, Germany)

Session 5a: How do marine key species respond to a rapidly changing environment?
Hosts: Jan Phillip Geißel (IMBRESea, Belgium)

Session 6: Extracting non-renewable resources from the oceans: challenges and opportunities from the perspective of social acceptance
Host: Roald Leeuwerik (Leibniz ZMT, Germany)

Session 7: Machine learning in the marine sciences: opportunities and challenges
Hosts:  David Greenberg, Moritz Mathis (Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht, Germany)

Session 8: Let’s talk business – career perspectives for scientists in the maritime industry
Hosts: Laura Eisenblatt (Maritime Cluster – Schleswig-Holstein)

YOUMARES Detailed Program – Physical

Open session: Interdisciplinary topics
Hosts: YOUMARES ORG Team

Further information

→ Book of Abstracts