Next Tuesday, the 26th February, Dr. Jorge García Molinos, will introduce the conference: “Reorganization of marine biodiversity under climate change: new challenges and opportunities”.

Dr. Jorge García Molinos is an Assistant Professor at the Arctic Research Center (University of Hokkaido in Sapporo, Japan). He holds a doctorate in Aquatic Ecology from Trinity College Dublin. Prior to his current position, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Trinity College Dublin, the Scottish Association for Marine Science, and the National Institute for Environmental Studies in Japan. His research investigates the links and mechanisms by which human activities are modifying patterns of biodiversity, from local to global scales. He uses empirical, theoretical and modelling approaches combining aspects from different disciplines such as macroecology, physiology, trait-based ecology, or climatology. His current work primarily focuses on the study of range shifts dynamics in marine biota in relation with climate change, and their cascading implications from community shifts to effects on ecosystem services. Results from this work have been published in top journals like Nature, Nature Climate Change or PNAS and presented as invited speaker at different international symposia.

Climate change represents a major global driver of biodiversity reorganization. This process is especially strong in the ocean where changes in species distribution and abundance due to climate change are reshaping biotic communities and modifying the way ecosystems function and the services they provide to us. During this seminar, we will take a look at this process of concatenated changes by reference to both global and regional examples. We will see how these changes represent new challenges and opportunities for the conservation of marine biodiversity and ecosystems and the development of adaptive and resilient communities to climate change.

The conference will be held at 12.00 h (CET) in Edificio Miralles (Sala I, Campus Universitario de Vigo) and followed in streaming through Campus do Mar TV http://tv.campusdomar.es/live