Robert B. Dunbar

Keynote, 20/1/16 @ 1400 hrs

Our oceans are warming at rates that are unprecedented in the last 10,000 years and to temperatures that may soon be unprecedented over the past 3 to 4 million years. More importantly for marine taxa, our oceans are also rapidly acidifying and will soon experience chemical conditions not seen for over 25 millions of years ago. In this talk, I will briefly review what is known about tropical and subtropical ocean temperatures over the past century to several thousand years and also examine ocean climate evolution over the evolutionary timescales of tuna. I will delve into the most fascinating features of the carbon system in seawater as a prelude to describing what we know about modern ocean acidification (OA) as well as past major OA events and their impacts. I’ll also provide information about follow-on impacts of oceanic climate change - dissolved oxygen levels, stratification, nutrient supplies, and productivity. Many larger and long-lived organisms like bluefin tuna have, until recently, lived in an ocean environment set to a cooler and more stable thermostat and chemostat. The changing ocean environment will present a new challenge to many of these species.

Contact:  R. Dunbar, Professor, Stanford University, USA, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.