Speaker: Professor Andrew Baird, Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University

Hosted by: Professor Timothy Ravasi, OIST Marine Climate Change Unit

Abstract: Molecular approaches have revolutionised our understanding of the systematics and evolution of most branches on the tree of life, including corals. Over the last twenty-five years molecular research has revealed that few of the 18 families and 111 genera recognised by Veron (2000) were monophyletic. New techniques and vision promise a more robust and consistent species level taxonomy, but it will take time and there is always likely to be some uncertainty. It is therefore important to establish when taxonomy matters and when it does not. (...)

Speaker: Jodi Thomas, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD Australia.

Hosted by: Professor Timothy Ravasi, OIST Marine Climate Change Unit

Abstract: The uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) by the ocean is causing seawater CO2 levels to rise, changing ocean chemistry in a process known as ocean acidification (OA). OA can affect a variety of physiological processes, life history traits and behaviours of fish and marine invertebrates. As invertebrates comprise the vast majority of marine diversity, are essential for key ecosystem processes and support human livelihoods, OA-induced effects of marine invertebrates could have ecological, social and economic consequences.(...)

The next ORC Assembly will be the last for the previous ORC representatives and the first for the new representatives! Please join us as we hand over to the new office.

Also on the agenda: Future plans of the new office, with plenty of time for discussion, and a report on the recent Faculty Assembly.

Casual discussion group based on pre-recorded theoretical ecology talks; all welcome! This week: Sebastian Schreiber (UC Davis). General theorems for coexistence and extinction in stochastic models.

Title: Context-dependence and generality in community ecology - two sides of the same coin?

Abstract: Community ecology is often derided for its lack of general theory. Factors limiting one population's growth can be insignificant elsewhere. While this flavor of context-dependence clearly impedes a predictive theory of ecology, it also paradoxically functions as a very general mechanism that maintains biodiversity. I will review how a context-dependent competition theory can clarify the general mechanisms underlying species coexistence and geographic range limits. I'll then riff on the theme of ecological context-dependence as it pertains to our unit members' work on carnivorous plants, pestiferous bats, and noxious roadside weeds.

https://groups.oist.jp/faculty-lunch

Casual discussion group based on pre-recorded theoretical ecology talks; all welcome! This week: André M. de Roos (University of Amsterdam). Dynamics of within-population structure stabilise complex ecological communities

Annual Inspection_Ultracentrifuges

Casual discussion group based on pre-recorded theoretical ecology talks; all welcome! This week: Vadim Karatayev (University of Guleph). Species heterogeneity can reduce the potential for alternative stable states in food webs.

PhD Thesis Public Presentation

Living electronics and fate of plastics

Organic electronics is a rising field, with novel applications including but not limited to stretchable solar cells, flexible display screens, and biosensors. The high performance of these organic electronics is enabled by the outstanding optoelectronic and thermomechanical features of organic semiconducting materials. As the field has progressed, bioelectronics has attracted increasing interest. Bioelectronics, merging manufactured electronics and biology, has emerged as a promising platform for translating electronic signals into ionic ones and vice versa, converting ionic signals into electronic signals (e.g., biosensors and ionic skins). As a result, in recent years, applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery, electrophoresis and physiology have been developed. As we look into the future of bioelectronics, “living” electronics that merge the synthetic and biological world, holds some interest.

Separate to the above, microplastics composed of various plastic and polymeric materials pose as a major global environmental issue that can cause detrimental consequences to marine organisms and across the food chain. We have been collaborating with researchers at UW to identify microplastics in marine organisms in the Puget Sound and have identified that not all organisms consume the same microplastics.

In both projects, we seek to initiate collaborations with those at OIST and look forward to initiating discussions with various units.  

Living electronics and fate of plastics

Organic electronics is a rising field, with novel applications including but not limited to stretchable solar cells, flexible display screens, and biosensors. The high performance of these organic electronics is enabled by the outstanding optoelectronic and thermomechanical features of organic semiconducting materials. As the field has progressed, bioelectronics has attracted increasing interest. Bioelectronics, merging manufactured electronics and biology, has emerged as a promising platform for translating electronic signals into ionic ones and vice versa, converting ionic signals into electronic signals (e.g., biosensors and ionic skins). As a result, in recent years, applications in tissue engineering, drug delivery, electrophoresis and physiology have been developed. As we look into the future of bioelectronics, “living” electronics that merge the synthetic and biological world, holds some interest.

Separate to the above, microplastics composed of various plastic and polymeric materials pose as a major global environmental issue that can cause detrimental consequences to marine organisms and across the food chain. We have been collaborating with researchers at UW to identify microplastics in marine organisms in the Puget Sound and have identified that not all organisms consume the same microplastics.

In both projects, we seek to initiate collaborations with those at OIST and look forward to initiating discussions with various units.