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Workshop 6: Microbial Ecology (May 15-19, 2006)

Organizers: Frede Thingstad and George Jackson

Microbial ecology is the study of how micro-organisms interact with each other and with their environment. The whole field is thus a study of a dynamic system where properties of the system emerge from the constraints imposed by the chemistry of the environment, physical laws, and the biological strategies that have evolved in the interacting micro-organisms. The struggle to understand these interactions implies the analysis of phenomena occurring on spatial scales from that of viruses (10-8m) to that of ocean chlorophyll distributions (106m) and on time scales from milliseconds to a few billion years; for example, from the biophysical processes of photosynthesis to those of biological evolution. Such analysis creates an interface that demands insight into both biology and mathematics.

Microbial ecology is also a field that evolves rapidly. Molecular techniques have allowed experimentalists to address questions concerning, for example, microbial diversity, unanswerable with traditional methods. Micro-organisms unknown a few decades ago have been shown to be among the most abundant organisms on earth such as, for example, the tiny cyanobacteria dominating primary production in large parts of the ocean, and SAR11, a bacterium which is probably the most abundant organism on earth, but whose function in the ecosystem is still obscure.

The objective of this workshop is to describe areas in microbial ecology where the tools of mathematics have been used to provide insight into the phenomena.

Schedule

Monday, May 15
8:45-9:00am Welcome: Avner Friedman
9:00-9:45am Introduction: George Jackson
9:45-10:15am Discussion/Coffee Break
10:15-11:15am James P. Grover: Stoichometry in microbial food webs
11:15-1:00pm Lunch Break
1:00-2:00pm Jarl Giske: The use of Individual Based Models (IBMs)
2:00-2:30pm Discussion/Coffee Break
2:30-3:30pm Michael Dowd: Statistical methods in modelling (MCMC etc.)
3:30-4:30pm Summary discussion General principles
5:00-7:00pm Reception with poster presentations
Tuesday, May 16
9:00-10:00am Tom Curtis: Microbial distributions math perspective
10:00-10:30am Discussion/Coffee Break
10:30-11:30am Åke Hagstrøm: Microbial distributions, biological perspective
11:30-1:00pm Lunch Break
1:00-2:00pm Mary Lunn: Samples and Simulation
2:00-2:30pm Discussion/Coffee Break
2:30-3:30pm Andy Visser: The role of turbulence and small scale processes
3:30-4:30pm Summary discussion Probabilistic models/microbial distributions
7:00pm Public Lecture Series: Thomas Kiorboe: Blind dating: the secret life of pelagic copepods
Wednesday, May 17
9:00-10:00am Laurent Seuront: Small scale distributions of microbes
10:00-10:30am Discussion/Coffee Break
10:30-11:30am Thomas Kiørboe: Particle colonization
11:30-1:00pm Lunch Break
1:00-2:00pm Dick van Oevelen: The role of bacterial carbon in marine benthic food webs: Integrating experimental 13C isotope data with models
2:00-2:30pm Discussion/Coffee Break
2:30-3:30pm Alain Vezina: Inverse methods
3:30-4:30pm Summary discussion. Models and data.
Thursday, May 18
9:00-10:00am Mark Moore: Primary producers from the organism perspective
10:00-10:30am Discussion/Coffee Break
10:30-11:30am Dannie Grunbaum: Plankton models
11:30-1:00pm Lunch Break
1:00-2:00pm Jef Huisman: Light/plankton models/chaos
2:00-2:30pm Discussion/Coffee Break
2:30-3:30pm Joe Vallino: Does non-equilibrium thermodynamics govern metabolic network expression in microbial communities?
3:30-4:30pm Summary discussion: Phyto-Zooplankton.
6:00-9:00pm Banquet dinner at Holiday Inn
Friday, May 19
9:00-10:00am Bernie Boudreau: Modelling microbial diagenesis
10:00-10:30am Discussion/Coffee Break
10:30-11:30am Peter Jumars: Unsteady environments of benthic marine microbes
11:30-12:30pm Final summary discussion. Conclusions