Biotic interactions and their role in ecosystem-climate feedbacks

Scientific Programme

Biotic interactions and their role in ecosystem-climate feedbacks

Sunday, 14 May 2023

Arrival in Hamburg

5 - 5.15 p.m. Welcome address

5.15 - 6 p.m. Opening plenary talk

• Helmut Hillebrand (Oldenburg, Germany): "Biotic interactions, metacommunities and ecosystem functioning at the land-sea interface"

6 - 8 p.m. Welcome reception / icebreaker

Monday, 15 May 2023

9:00 – 10:30 a.m. Session 1: Microbial interactions & ecosystems functions

• Jennifer A. Rudgers (Albuquerque, USA): "Microbially mediated recovery from drought: A tale of two grasslands"
• Johannes Rousk (Lund, Sweden): "The microbial control of biogeochemistry in warming soils"
• Benton Taylor: "The symbiotic spectrum of plant-microbe mutualisms and the future of forest carbon storage"

10.30 - 11.00 a.m. Coffee break

11:00 – 12:30 Session 2: Terrestrial & marine ecosystem ecology

• Martina Doblin (Sydney, Australia): "Microscale interactions influence the ocean’s biological carbon pump"
• Paul Miller (Lund, Sweden): "Potential climate feedbacks inferred from modelled vegetation change and interactions in high-latitude ecosystems"
• Ellen Dorrepaal (Umeå, Sweden): "Expanding our understanding of plant-soil-microbe interactions in arctic ecosystems: redefining seasonality?"

12.30 - 2 p.m. Lunch break

2 - 3.30 p.m. Session 3: Animals & biogeochemistry

• Nico Eisenhauer (Leipzig, Germany): "Multitrophic communities and energy fluxes in a changing world"
• Shawn Leroux (St John's, Canada): "Mechanistic models linking biotic interactions to the carbon cycle"
• Thomas Hickler (Frankfurt, Germany): “The role of ungulate grazers in carbon cycle dynamics"

3.30 - 4.30 p.m. Coffee break with poster session 1

4.30 - 5.30 p.m. Discussion groups - Interdisciplinary crosstalk (in parallel)

• A: How to link marine & terrestrial ecosystem ecology?
• B: How to use analytical tools to study effects of biotic interactions on the climate system?

5.30 - 6.00 p.m. Group reporting and panel discussion

Tuesday, 16 May 2023

09.30 -10.30 a.m. Session 4: Carbon cycling in ecosystems

• Andreas Richter (Vienna, Austria): "Microbial growth drives carbon and nutrient cycling in soil"
• Neil Saintilan (Sydney, Australia): "The upper limits of tidal wetland adjustment to sea-level rise"

10.30 - 11.30 a.m. Coffee break with poster session 2

11.30 - 1 p.m. Session 5: Possible future directions

• Alga Zuccaro (Cologne, Germany): "Reductionist Approaches to a
  Molecular Understanding of Plant Microbiota Functions"
• Thomas Pugh (Lund, Sweden): "Developing model-based hypotheses of plant functional trait distributions across the world's forests"
• Kai Jensen (Hamburg, Germany): "Some knowns and many
  unknowns: How do biotic interactions affect ecosystem-climate feedbacks?"

1 - 2 p.m. Lunch break

2.00 - 2.30 p.m.

• Alexandra Z. Worden (Kiel, Germany): "Factoring in microbial interactions to understanding the marine carbon cycle"

2.30 - 3.30 p.m.

• Discussion groups - Interdisciplinary crosstalk (in parallel)

• C: How to experimentally explore effects of biotic interactions on
  the climate system?

• D: How to combine insights from molecular biology & ecosystem science?

3.30 - 4.30 p.m. Coffee break

4.30 - 5.00 p.m. Group reporting and panel discussion

5.00 - 5.30 p.m. Panel discussion on future directions for research

7 - 9 p.m. Conference dinner

Wednesday, 17 May 2023

9 am to 5 pm Fieldtrip to research sites (Elbe Estuary & North Sea coast)

• Poster Session I 15.05.23

• Poster session II 16.05.23