Co-Convenors: Sinjae Yoo (SB), Atsushi Tsuda (BIO), Elizabeth Logerwell (FIS), Hiroya Sugisaki (MONITOR), Kyung-Il Chang (POC), Toru Suzuki (TCODE), Thomas Therriault (AICE), Hiroaki Saito (COVE), Robin Brown (SOFE), Igor Shevchenko (Russia), Fangli Qiao (China)

Invited Speakers:
Benjamin Halpern (University of California Santa Barbara, USA)
Kitack Lee (Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea)
William Li (Bedford Institute of Oceanography, DFO, Canada)
Reiji Masuda (Kyoto University, Japan)
Hans Paerl (The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
Ian Perry (Pacific Biological Station, DFO, Canada)
Hiroaki Saito (Tohoku National Fisheries Research Institute, FRA, Japan)
Xuelei Zhang (First Institute of Oceanography, SOA, China)

Human society depends on ocean ecosystems to meet many of its needs. The availability of marine ecosystem services to humans is important to sustain coastal communities and to ensure human health and well-being. Global warming, shoreline development, pollution, eutrophication, overfishing, non-indigenous species, and intensive mariculture are examples of anthropogenic stressors that affect marine ecosystems. These stressors can act alone or in combination to alter the structure, function, and productivity of marine ecosystems. Consequently, the potential for decline in the ability of the ocean to provide essential ecosystem services, as a result of synergies in natural and anthropogenic stressors, is a serious concern for human society. To advance ecosystem-based management and to mitigate the influence of stressors, there is a need to develop improved understanding of the echanisms of change in marine ecosystems. Improved understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and resilience will aid the development of practical methods to maintain and monitor ecosystem health. These are challenging issues for marine science and PICES will continue to promote research to address these issues through FUTURE.