Scientific sessions will include invited and contributed papers. Contributed papers will be selected for oral and poster presentation (Detailed schedule).

Posters will be on display from 12:00 on May 23. An evening poster session (with appetizers and drinks) will be held from 18:00-21:00 on May 25, when poster presenters are expected to be available to answer questions.

The size of a poster is 45" x 45" (or 115 cm x 115 cm). Posters must be removed at the end of the poster session at 21:00 of May 25.

There will be a Poster Reception on the evening of Wednesday, May 25, at the OSM venue in the Marriott Waterfront Hotel from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM. It is requested that poster authors be at their posters for at least one hour during the reception to answer questions. It would be appreciated if authors would post the times that they will be at their posters to facilitate planning of visits to posters by attendees.

S1 Session
Comparative studies of polar and sub-polar ecosystems

Convenors:
Erica Head (Canada)
Kohei Mizobata (Japan)
Koji Shimada (Japan)
Hyung-Cheol Shin (Korea)
Nils Chr. Stenseth (Norway)
Paul Wassmann (Norway)

Invited Speakers:
Jackie Grebmeier (USA)
Suam Kim (Korea)
Marit Reigstad (Norway)

Comparative studies have been one of the leading aspects of the ESSAS program. In this session results from comparative studies of entire ecosystems or of significant ecosystem components (zooplankton, fish, seabirds) will be presented. All papers should compare aspects of two or more systems. These can be among different polar or sub-polar seas or between sub-polar seas and other types of ecosystems, e.g. temperate, tropical, etc. Methods papers, as well as results from comparative studies, will be considered. Papers are sought on the similarities and differences in ecosystem structure and function and the processes that lead to these differences.

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S2 Session
New observations and understanding of eastern and western Bering Sea ecosystems

Convenors:
Rodger Harvey (USA)
Oleg N. Katugin (Russia)
Sang Heon Lee (Korea)
Mike Sigler (USA)

Invited Speakers:
Gennadyi Khen (Russia)
Franz Mueter (USA)
Phyllis Stabeno (USA)

This session is meant to showcase the recent major efforts in the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST) and the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program (BSIERP), as well as the compendium of new information provided in the most recent PICES North Pacific Ecosystem Status Report and studies that have been carried out in the Bering Sea by Russia, Korea, Japan and China. These papers will provide an opportunity to gain an overall perspective of the relative importance of various forcing mechanisms in driving marine ecosystem dynamics.

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S3 Session
Modeling marine ecosystem dynamics in high latitude regions

Convenors:
Enrique Curchitser (USA)
Geir Huse (Norway)
Shin-ichi Ito (Japan)

Invited Speakers:
Diane Lavoie (Canada)
Takeshi Okunishi (Japan)
Dag Slagstad (Norway)

This session will highlight different approaches to modeling the impacts of climate variability on high latitude marine ecosystems and their ability to support sustainable ecosystem services. Papers on different types of models will be accepted including mass-balance (ECOPATH) models, size-based models, rule-of-thumb approaches, minimalist models, individual based models (IBMs) and end-to-end models. Special emphasis will be placed on models that examine trophic interactions as well as models that link biogeochemical processes with higher trophic level production. Papers on methods for estimating uncertainties in model predictions are also encouraged.

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S4 Session (merged with S9)
Nutrients, biogeochemistry and acidification in a changing climate

Convenors:
Knut Yngve Børsheim (Norway)
Al Devol (USA)
Michiyo Yamamoto-Kawai (Japan)
Humio Mitsudera (Japan)
Jean-Eric Tremblay (Canada)

Convenors (from S9):
Ken Denman (Canada)
Christoph Heinze (Norway)
Yukihira Nojiri (Japan)
Jim Overland (USA)
Hans Pörtner (Germany)

Invited Speakers (from S4):
Lou Codispoti (USA)
Eva Falck (Norway)
Shigeto Nishino (Japan)

Invited Speakers (from S9):
Jim Christian (Canada)
Mishiyo Yamamoto-Kawai (Japan)

This session will focus on the sources of macro- and micro-nutrients in the sub-Arctic seas. How does the importance of the various pathways to primary production vary with season, and how do they affect the fate of the production? How do these differ between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans? How are these processes influenced by the presence of sea ice? Additionally, this session will include papers that discuss the responses of high latitude regions to either future climate or increasing acidification, or their combined response. Of particular interest are physical, chemical or biological thresholds or tipping points that will lead to large-scale changes in an ecosystem.

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S5 Session
New insights from the International Polar Year (IPY) Studies

Convenors:
Ken Drinkwater (Norway)
Bill Montevecchi (Canada)
Sei-ichi Saitoh (Japan)
Jinping Zhao (China)

Invited Speaker:
Eddy Carmack (Canada)
Anthony Gaston (Canada)
Naomi Harada (Japan)

This session provides the opportunity to present new and exciting results from the IPY field studies conducted during 2007-2008. This includes physical, chemical and biological investigations in both the north and south polar regions. Contributions are sought from the ESSAS sponsored IPY consortium, Ecosystem Studies of Sub-arctic and Arctic Regions (ESSAR), as well as from other IPY programs.

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S6 Session
National ESSAS Programs: Recent advances and contribution

Convenors:
Ólafur S. Ástþórsson (Iceland)
Yasunori Sakurai (Japan)
Svein Sundby (Norway)
Kai Wieland (Denmark)

Invited Speakers:
Sen Tok Kim (Russia)
Orio Yamamura (Japan)

Several large national programs under ESSAS have been completed or are underway, including in Japan, the US, Iceland and Norway. In addition, several other countries are involved in ESSAS studies although having no formal nationally-funded project. This session provides the opportunity to present the results from all of the ESSAS programs. In particular, presentations that provide a synthesis of large or several smaller projects within a nation are especially encouraged.

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S7 Session
Anticipating socio-economic and policy consequences of global changes in sub-polar and polar marine ecosystems

Convenors:
Keith Criddle (USA)
David Fluharty (USA)
Mitsutaku Makino (Japan)
Ian Perry (Canada)

Invited Speakers:
Anthony Charles (Canada)
Mitsutaku Makino (Japan)
James McGoodwin (USA)

Polar and sub-polar marine systems are expected to be strongly impacted by anticipated climate change, and by anticipated economic development relating to fishing, tourism and, hydrocarbon exploration. Human socio-economic systems in these regions year-round or seasonally are finely tuned to their present environments, with few alternative livelihood opportunities, and are also expected to be severely affected by these changes. This session will explore the potential for anticipating socio-economic conditions in coupled polar and sub-polar marine social-ecological systems. It seeks to identify the key policy issues and what policies are needed as these regions experience climate-driven environmental changes and economic development, with the focus on marine-related issues. Policy needs will include requirements for monitoring and observing of the full coupled social-ecological systems. A comparative approach among the different communities and countries of these regions will enable separation of general from regional and local understanding and policy issues. Such an approach could include the roles of seasonal migrants into these regions for marine-related activities. The session specifically seeks papers that address anticipating marine socio-economic aspects of climate change and economic development, anticipated policy needs related to these issues, and the understanding and information needs (e.g. monitoring) required to forecast responses and to formulate policies. Comparative studies at a variety of spatial scales, as well as studies that examine interactions and feedback mechanisms between humans and the environment, are particularly welcome. Publication of a collection of these presentations in a relevant primary journal will be discussed.

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S8 Session
Interactions between Gadoids and Crustaceans: The roles of climate, predation, and fisheries

Convenors:
AnneDorte Burmeister (Greenland )
Earl Dawe (Canada)
Franz Mueter (USA)
Olafur Palsson (Iceland)

Invited Speakers:
Patrick Ouellet (Canada)
José M. (Lobo) Orensanze (Argentina)

In this session we seek papers that document and investigate the processes that lead to shifts between demersal fish, especially gadoids such as cod and pollock, and crustaceans, such as shrimp and crabs. What role does gadoid predation play on the dynamics of shrimp and crabs? How does this compare to the influence of climate regimes or the effects of industrialized fishing? How does the spatial overlap between gadoids and crustaceans change seasonally and annually? Papers that address these questions either within a single ecosystem or compare different sub-Arctic regions are sought.

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S9 Session (Merged with S4)
Future Climate Change and Ocean Acidification: Their potential impacts in high latitude regions

Workshops

Five workshops will be held on Sunday, May 22. Three are for a full day each, and two are for a half day. All are open to Registrants of the Symposium. People wishing to present material in a workshop should not only submit an abstract through the Symposium website, but should also contact the convenor(s) of the workshop.

W1 Workshop (Full Day, May 22, 9 AM to 5:30 PM)
Biological consequences of a decrease in sea ice in Arctic and Sub-Arctic Seas

Convenors:
Anne Hollowed (USA)
Harold Loeng (Norway)

Invited Speakers:
Trond Kristiansen (Norway)
Hyunju Seo (Korea)

This workshop will review life history information and habitat associations to assess the risk of immigration and settlement of new biological populations in the Arctic and surrounding shelf seas in response to the retreat of sea ice. Criteria necessary to establish new species in the Arctic Ocean and surrounding areas will be developed and compared to expected conditions based on climate scenarios. Ways for cooperation in information sharing between groups charged with managing the Arctic will be explored and the results of the workshop will be reported to both PICES and ICES scientists working on these issues.

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W2 Workshop (Full Day, May 22, 9 AM to 5:30 PM)
Arctic-Sub-Arctic Interactions

Convenors:
Ken Drinkwater (Norway)
Thomas Haine (USA)

This workshop will build on the work of the Arctic-Subarctic Ocean Fluxes (ASOF) community that has focused on quantifying the fluxes around the Arctic and the successful IPY session on Arctic-Subarctic connections: Ecosystems and biodiversity at the Oslo IPY Conference in June of 2010. It will bring together several disperse groups that are studying these fluxes and their biophysical effects, including: ESSAS that has concentrated on the Subarctic and the effects on the marine biota, especially fish; those working on the benthic-pelagic coupling and the biogeochemistry in the Barents and the Greenland shelves; those looking at the interaction between the Chukchi Sea and the western Bering Sea; scientists who during the IPY studied the effects of the Bering Sea on the Western Arctic; and other interested scientists. The object is to identify the gaps in our knowledge and to highlight what research can be carried out over the next few years to fill some of these gaps in our understanding of the effects of the interactions between the Arctic and Sub-Arctic and to coordinate the research on these issues. Areas of interest include physical, biogeochemical, and food web studies.

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W3 Workshop (Full Day, May 22, 9 AM to 5:30 PM)
Zooplankton life histories: Developing metrics to compare field observations and model results in order to predict climate effects

Convenors:
Erica Head (Canada)
Andrew Leising (USA)
William Peterson (USA)
Jaimie Pierson (USA)

This workshop will bring together researchers interested in understanding how climate and life history patterns of zooplankton interact to produce the observed distributions and abundances of key species found throughout the boreal Sub-Arctic and Arctic seas. The Workshop will build on work funded through the GLOBEC Pan-Regional Synthesis project, which is exploring how species pairs of copepods in the genus Calanus co-exist in the Atlantic and Pacific basins. That work is a combination of modeling efforts and data analysis, and combines both abundance and distribution data with vital rate data on reproduction, feeding, and development. This workshop will facilitate expansion of that work beyond a single genus. We seek enhanced collaboration within the community to further the understanding of how zooplankton life histories are affected by climate change. Of special interest will be the influence of ice cover and the prediction of the effects of reduced ice cover under global warming. Participation of researchers studying climate affects on zooplankton prey and predators is also encouraged.

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W4 Workshop (Half Day, May 22, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM)
Comparative analyses of gadid and crustacean dynamics across subarctic ecosystems

Convenors:
Earl Dawe (Canada)
Franz Mueter (USA)

This half-day workshop aims to summarize and synthesize the main findings to date of comparative analyses regarding the effects of climate and predator-prey interactions on gadid and crustacean stocks across subarctic ecosystems. The focus will be on studies conducted under the auspices of ESSAS Working Group 4, but the workshop is open to anyone conducting comparative analyses on fish and crustacean stocks in subarctic seas. As a secondary goal, we will discuss future directions for comparative studies of fish and crustacean resources across subarctic systems and the future of Working Group 4.

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W5 Workshop (Half Day, May 22, 1:30 – 5:30 PM)
Comparative Analyses of Marine Bird and Mammal Responses to Climate Change

Convenors:
Rolf Ream (USA)
William J. Sydeman (USA)
Yutaka Watanuki (Japan)

This workshop will focus on how to best integrate ongoing and new research on marine birds and mammals into long-term PICES and ESSAS programs and objectives; the overarching goal is to produce a strategic vision and plan for activities of the PICES MBMAP over the next 5 years. Specific workshop objectives include (1) producing an outline of potential new goals reflecting climate change impacts on marine birds and mammals in the northern hemisphere, (2) design and implementation of sub-groups to work on specific areas of interest including (i) models of climate impact (e.g., NEMURO.BIRD), (ii) conservation of threatened and endangered species, and (iii) communication, and (3) initial writing of strategic plan documents. The workshop will include some oral presentations, but the emphasis will be on discussions leading to planning documents.

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