ABOUT US
The Scientific Community on Ocean Research, Working Group 149 (SCOR 149): Changing Ocean Biological Systems (COBS), has evolved to become an infrastructural project aiming to promote new methods for assessing the effects of multiple environmental factors upon organisms.
Scientists working on single environmental factors (eg. pH, temperature, & oxygen) realized that these single-factor experiments were not sufficient in accurately capturing the cumulative effects of ocean global change on biota, and that the current frameworks for assessing multiple driver effects were insufficient and logistically and statistically challenging.
SCOR WG 149 original members
From left to right: Ulf Riebesell, Sinead Collins, Jonathan Havenhand, David Hutchins, Jorge Navarro, Jean-Pierre Gattuso, Philip Boyd, Kunshan Gao
WE URGENTLY NEED TO DEVELOP A NEW GENERATION OF STUDIES BASED ON METHODOLOGY THAT WILL ALLOW US TO PROGRESS FROM:
· Single to multiple drivers
· Organisms to ecosystems
· Acclimation to adaptation
How it all started…
Climate models all project concurrent alterations to multiple oceanic properties, due to the effects of anthropogenic climate change. These projections are supported by a growing body of ocean observatory evidence demonstrating simultaneous shifts in life-sustaining properties such as temperature, CO2, O2, and nutrients. Hence, a major challenge for marine sciences is to determine the cumulative effects of such interactive and widespread alterations on organisms, communities and ecosystems.