'Perspectives on the Salish Sea' at the IMERSS 2023 Annual General Meeting

The Institute for Multidisciplinary Ecological Research in the Salish Sea (IMERSS) invites you to join their Speaker Series:

PERSPECTIVES ON THE SALISH SEA at the IMERSS 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Saturday December 2nd @ 10:00 AM, with AGM proceedings to follow.

Join via Zoom link.

FEATURING

SEA STARS DON'T SUCK – David Denning 

David is a naturalist, climate activist, science educator and retired film-maker living on Salt Spring. In a previous life, he coordinated the Bamfield Marine Station Public Education Program, taught Marine Science courses for educators, and produced videos for biology education. He is a founding member of Nature Salt Spring and Salt Spring Community Energy. David will discuss his love affair with the phylum Echinodermata. "Back in my youth, it was as clear as clean seawater that starfish attached themselves to rocks by sucking with their tube feet." But what does science say now? And what are echinoderms telling us about the Climate Emergency we face? Spiny science topics ... 

EXPLORING THE ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN DIATOMS AND EELGRASS IN THE SALISH SEA – Andrea Jackman

Andrea Jackman is an undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia studying ecology. She is currently working in the Parfrey Lab investigating how marine microbes interact with primary producers such as macroalgae and seagrass. For the past few months, she has been working on identifying the diatoms present on eelgrass in the Salish Sea. Andrea will discuss the ecological significance of associations between diatoms and eelgrass and give an overview of preliminary results. 

IDENTIFYING DIATOMS FOR ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND NEW SPECIES REPORTS FOR THE SALISH SEA – Mark Webber

Mark Webber is a researcher and founding director of IMERSS based on Galiano Island. He collaborates with Elaine Humphrey at the Advanced Microscopy Lab at UVic, Laura Parfrey and her students at the Parfrey Lab at UBC, and a developing joint project with the Hakai Institute. His principal research interests and collaborations are centered around diatom taxonomy and ecology, to develop a first comprehensive diatom inventory of the Salish Sea. Mark will discuss the multifaceted process by which genus and species identifications are made, their use in ecological studies, and new marine diatom records for Western Canada and the Salish Sea.