Download Calanus Dr. Stig Falk-Petersen,

Riddell Faculty Seminar Series presents:
Arctic Calanus and Climate Change
Is the Arctic Calanus species the most important animal in the Arctic Ocean?
Dr. Stig Falk-Petersen,
Akvaplan-niva & The Arctic University of Norway
Date: Thursday, December 4th, 2014
Time: 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Place: 223 Wallace Building
Abstract: The history of climate and plankton in high latitudes has shown that diatoms and copepods have evolved
during a period of global cooling when polar ice caps were formed and when marine production became more
seasonally pulsed (largely since the K-T extinction event 65 million years ago). The large seasonal oscillations of
abiotic factors in the Arctic is critical in structuring its marine biota and the biodiversity of its indigenous populations
and communities. The importance of the diatom => the copepod Calanus food chain in the Arctic pelagic food is
well documented and the lipid - based energy flux is one of the primary reasons for the large stocks of fish and mammals in Arctic waters. The increase in lipid
level from 10-20% of dry mass in phytoplankton to 50 - 70% in herbivorous zooplankton is probably one of the most fundamental specialisations in polar
bioproduction. The population size spectrum and energy content of the key Calanus species is therefore instrumental in structuring the biodiversity of Arctic
ecosystems. Understanding the climate variability is a key to understand the biology of Arctic animals and the biodiversity of Arctic systems.
Biography: Dr. Falk-Petersen is senior scientist at Akvaplan-niva and professor at the Arctic University of Norway. He is a high profiled polar scientist with a
long record of publications covering ecology, physical oceanography, biochemistry and effects of climate change on biological systems throughout the Arctic
Ocean. He is a Fellow of the Norwegian Science Academy for Polar Research, and a member of numerous networks of excellence including EUR-OCEANS,
ARCTOS, PAN-AME, and CLEOPATRA.
12:00 p.m. Free pizza lunch for graduate students with Dr. Falk-Petersen,
Dean’s Office Boardroom - 440 Wallace Building.
Phone: (204) 474-7252 | Email: [email protected]
facebook.com/UManitobaRiddellFaculty
www.umanitoba.ca/environment twitter.com/riddellfaculty