Postdoc Lecture Series: Marine Mammals as Recorders and Sentinels of Climate Change

Location

Mother Rosalie Hill Hall, Room 135

Free

Large, migratory predators are often cited as sentinel species for ecosystem processes and climate-related changes, but their utility as indicators is dependent upon an understanding of their response to environmental variability. Documentation of the links between climate variability, ecosystem change and predator dynamics is absent for most top predators. Identifying species that may be useful indicators and elucidating these mechanistic links provides insight into current and past ecological dynamics and may inform predictions of future ecosystem responses to climatic change. Examples of this approach will be presented from both temperate and polar marine ecosystems. RSVP for the Marine Mammals as Recorder and Sentinels of Climate Change Postdoc Lecture.